Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Interview date: June 19, 2007
While cleaning out the dusty corners of my drawer, I dug up the last bit of it and found a recording of the moment I got to stroll past a crowd of fired-up fans into the backstage area of the Zagreb Radar festival, then sit down on a chair and wait for the man who left his mark on a huge chunk of the alternative sweets in my music collection. Troy Van Leeuwen is not a star who shines in the center of the spotlight. He’s a man of the shadows, but on his rich musical journey he’s had the honor of playing with some of the most important musicians of our time. Among them are the gray eminences of A Perfect Circle, where he wove his mastery of coloring musical undertones alongside Maynard James Keenan, the frontman of TOOL, and the mastermind and guitar guru Billy Howerdel. His latest trip, which promised only a short stop but dragged on a bit longer than expected, is a years-long cohabitation in the rather turbulent collective of Queens Of The Stone Age. This year they released the record Era Vulgaris. I intended to talk a bit about that, and above all about his vision of music. After a few minutes of waiting, the elegantly dressed man with glasses finally walked up to me, and the mute images I’d nursed of him until then finally got the sound of words and a reserved but still forceful personal musical philosophy.
RockLine: You already played here in Slovenia a few years ago.
Troy: Did we happen to get a chance to chat back then?
RockLine: No, unfortunately I didn’t have that honor back then. It’s a great honor and pleasure to do it now, at this gig.
Troy: Well, hello.
RockLine: Welcome to the festival here in Zagreb. What were your impressions after playing in Ljubljana, and what are the quiet wishes you’re nursing, or what do you expect from playing on the stage of Zagreb’s Radar Festival?
Troy: Ljubljana was a completely new experience, since the show at Križanke in Ljubljana was our first gig on your soil, and what stays with you after an intense show like that? A bunch of crazy fans. And I mean crazy in a totally positive way. Zagreb is also something new. I love playing new places. Already after Ljubljana I had a strong feeling that we’d have to come back, so I really hope it happens soon.
RockLine: And when can we actually expect that return to our neck of the woods?
Troy: We were supposed to play there not long ago. The last time it came up was this year, but planning shows and the places where we’re supposed to play can be pretty tricky, one of the less thrilling chapters of the music business. We’ve got Ljubljana planned, at least I hope so, for the next visit to Europe. I’d also like to visit Prague again. Wishes are one thing, and what’s actually possible is another, you know…
RockLine: In the few years since your musical birth, or rather, since Josh started dreaming about the road ahead after Kyuss and turned those dreams into the first seeds of what you are today, QOTSA have come so far that you can hardly play small clubs anymore. Does that mean playing in front of huge crowds suits you better?
Troy: I wouldn’t say I personally prefer big crowds. Both, small and big shows, mean the same to me. Festivals the size of the one here in Zagreb are one of a kind. We’ve also played in front of smaller crowds. Say, around 2,800 people. I’d count that as a club show. A big club, though. And nothing beats that either. It’s everybody packed in tight together, the smell of sweat, enjoying music as such in a close bond of oneness, together. It’s easier to connect with the audience and feel its pulse, and that’s a one-of-a-kind feeling too. I love both, but I still hope we get to play more clubs, even several nights in a row. That’s better than playing one giant show and impersonally moving on, but it’s impossible to predict that right now.
RockLine: I’ve already heard you present material from the album Songs For The Deaf. After two albums, here comes Era Vulgaris. In your opinion, what’s the common thread, or what’s at the heart of the album? What kind of story?
Troy: There’s actually no rock-solid concept tying everything into a whole. It’s just individual pieces, songs that came roaring out of complete nothingness, or became what they are in the studio where we recorded them and played them in the moment. The recording tempo was spontaneous, and suddenly we got to the point of deciding on the title of the record. The idea was to immortalize that moment of cohesion with the name Era Vulgaris. It’s our vision of modern times and modern rock. That’s something we all share, and whatever it says, it says it in that moment. Today. Now. Here. In my opinion, it’s a fitting way to put it. It’s the state of QOTSA, which even we ourselves see as nothing other than existing here and now. It’s not a critique of the times we live in as something vulgar. And we’re not saying the times we live in are total crap, either. You have to accept the modern age of technology and coexist here and now.
RockLine: And if you compared Era Vulgaris with past albums, say, with Lullabies To Paralyze…
Troy: We Queens are an experiment, and every album is a differently connected whole, and that’s exactly the point, because you always have to level up, grow and change, test the limits of what you can do. That’s precisely why fans who feel something for a particular record can’t convince us to blindly repeat it twice in the same way. It’s about constant renewal, and if we didn’t do that and became predictable, then the joy I get from the work now would be gone completely, and I’d drift away from the project.
RockLine: How do you see the constant lineup changes around the unstable core of the band?
Troy: It’s an art, and it’s about connecting a few individuals. When the chemistry is happening, the side effects are always both positive and negative, and up to now the core of the band as we are today has stayed unchanged for three years. So it’s a good combination of individual elements. And the new players are able to add new layers and new bits of musical surprise and contribute to the evolution I mentioned earlier. The might of Queens Of The Stone Age keeps growing, leveling up and developing. And in our drive to level up, we’re growing artistically along the timeline too.
RockLine: As a fan of A Perfect Circle: after everything that’s been said in the media, can we still hope that you’ll get APC back together and record a new album?
Troy: All I can say is that I’m in pretty regular contact with most of them, with Maynard, Billy and the others too. TOOL are one of Maynard’s main musical preoccupations right now, and it was always an unbalanced David and Goliath fight if you compare APC and TOOL. Billy is still constantly creating new music. It won’t carry the name A Perfect Circle, but fans of that band will no doubt like the new creation. The only difference is that on this project Billy himself sings instead of Maynard. As for the chances of us getting back together: I can’t predict or announce that right now. All I can say is that I respect these people unconditionally, and if the possibility ever comes up, or the opportunity shows itself, I’ll unconditionally jump on board for another round of working together.
RockLine: And one last thing, the closing act of the interview: what’s the message you’d like to send to our readers right now?
Troy: Right now? I don’t totally remember anymore (laughs). I’d just say: enjoy these modern times to the fullest!
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