NOT-QUITE-KYUSS “THINKING OF” MAKING A NEW ALBUM

One of these men will not be on the new Kyuss album. Guess which one?

Kyuss Lives!, the ridiculously monikered Kyuss non-reunion which replaces Josh Homme with some dude no one has ever heard of, are apparently “thinking of doing another record,” according to this interview with vocalist John Garcia. I object to the use of the word “another” because in case these dudes haven’t noticed, they’ve never made a record before, but I’d like to think that the phrase “thinking of”* means “it’s not written in stone yet,” “there’s still time to stop the madness,” and “we said this to gauge the reaction of fans, possibly as represented by an incredibly smart, exceedingly handsome Jewish blogger from New York.”

So, assuming that Garcia was, indeed, trying to get a message to me to see what my thoughts were, I’d like to now respond by saying: I don’t think this is a good idea.

Look: like I said before, we don’t know this Bruno Fevery fellow who is taking Josh Homme’s place. So maybe he’s awesome, and maybe the album will be awesome. But as Andrew Bonazelli points out in the January 2011 issue of Decibel, Homme is Kyuss’ “most famous expat.” And it’s not like they found someone we all already know is SUPER FUCKING AWESOME to replace him. Rage Against the Machine hired Chris Cornell for a reason; ditto Velvet Revolver recruiting Scott Weiland (and I’d assume that a large part of the reason VR still hasn’t found a replacement for Weiland is because they haven’t found someone of his stature to fill his shoes… I forget who said it originally, but if some nobody were the singer for VR, they’d just be Slash’s Snakepit Version 3.0).

My point is that the task of making a Kyuss album which lives up to the expectations and legacy set by the old Kyuss albums will always be an uphill battle (which is why so many reunited acts, like At the Gates, refuse to even consider heading back into the studio), and making a new Kyuss album without Homme will definitely be an uphill battle where there’s millions of orcs running downhill attacking you — and making a new Kyuss album without Homme and with Some Random Dude will be an uphill battle where there’s millions of orcs running downhill attacking you and it’s raining so you keep slipping in the mud and you can’t see very well and, oh yeah, there’s a minefield on the hill, too.

And if you don’t believe me, than answer this question quickly without looking on Google or Wikipedia: What is Rod Jackson up to these days?

-AR

*Later in the same interview, Garcia says “we’re going to do another record.” I’ve chosen to ignore that statement in the hopes that there’s still time to STOP THE MADNESS!!!

Thanks to Craig for the tip!