Josh Homme has spoken out about how late AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young inspired him when he was first starting Queens Of The Stone Age.

AC/DC confirmed the death of their founder and former guitarist at the weekend, when Young died at the age of 64 after a battle with dementia. The likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Brody Dalle, Van Halen, Biffy Clyro, Ryan Adams and many more spoke out in tribute of the rock icon.

Now in an interview with Mojo, Homme has discussed how he tried to emulate Young’s ‘robotic’ style of rhythm guitar when he left Kyuss for The Screaming Trees, before discovering kraut-rock and landing on the idiosyncratic sound of Queens Of The Stone Age. 

“I wanted to see what it was like when you just played one thing until you got lost in a trance,” said Homme. “One note is so much more difficult than 50. That’s what I learned in [The Screaming Trees], because I was playing rhythm, I was trying to play like Malcolm Young, trying to play a riff like a robot.

“So I had the first Queens record written, this robotic trance stuff, and then my friend Hutch, our sound man who has turned me on to so much music, was like cough… and plays me Can, Neu!, Wire… I was like, “What?” really disheartened.”

Malcolm Young, 1995

Earlier this week, AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson also paid an emotional tribute to Young – honoring him for his ‘legacy that no one can match’.  

Meanwhile, QOTSA are currently in the midst of a UK tour in support of their acclaimed 2017 album ‘Villains‘. After kicking off with a blistering opening show at Wembley at the weekend, the band then hit a spot of bother when Manchester Arena took issue with Homme smoking while on stage.

Queens Of The Stone Age tour and tickets

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