Maynard Vs Homme, A Perfect Circle?

Troy Van Leeuwen is currently Josh Homme's right-hand man on guitar in Queens Of The Stone Age. Previously he was in A Perfect Circle with creator Billy Howerdel and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Troy seems perfectly happy with Queens Of The Stone Age and their latest effort Era Vulgaris, but we asked him about working with Homme versus working with Maynard.

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Troy says he's more familiar with Josh.

Troy On Billy Howerdel And A Perfect Circle

"I would say of course they're different, but I have more experience working with Josh actually than with working with Maynard. With Maynard it was very short amounts of time working with him. I didn't really per-se get in deep with him. He'd show up and do his thing and then bail and do Tool when I worked with him so...Josh is more...we're in there every day, every hour, every year, every lifetime."

As for the next A Perfect Circle record, Troy said that he may be tied up, but people should keep an open mind for the solo album by APC creator Billy Howerdel.

Troy On Working With Josh Vs Maynard

"I don't have any plans for it. I know that Billy is finishing up a record of his own stuff. It's basically A Perfect Circle without Maynard singing. It's Billy singing instead, so it's still the same great music, and everybody will be surprised by his voice. It's really pleasant. That's what's going on with that. It's not really A Perfect Circle anymore. I always try to make time for other projects and stuff, but there's so much going on with Queens right now that it's hard to divide my time to do other stuff."

Queens Of The Stone Age's "Sick, Sick, Sick," was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for the 50th annual awards. The song goes up against tunes by Evanescence, Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, and Tool, which features the aforementioned Maynard James Keenan.

Comments

[Bootsy 4 Prez]

As much as Id like another APC CD iunno it wont be the same without maynard.

[registered_user]

troy gets to work with sick bands

[Caustic]

Buuuuh. APC is not releasing another record. Howerdel's solo album = exactly that. Damn, people need to let go. I hate how this article puts a spin on things that would have the Labour Party green with envy.

[NightEmbers]

registered_user wrote:

troy gets to work with sick bands

i know and hes not really that good

either way a imagine the ashes divide or whatever its caleed is gonna be pretty D@MN good

[punkrockjoe]

Has anyone checked out troy's signature guitar? I own one and it's awesome.

[broodthefire]

Troy is a very respectable musician, and he fit very well into both Queens and APC. I'm not surprised if he favours working with Josh Homme, Josh is more laid back and not as defensive when making music. Plus, the title of the article kind of suggests a feud between Maynard and Josh - which is highly unlikely. They're friends, and Josh is seen on Adam Jones' myspace page with Tool in the recording studio.

Btw, how many suits does Troy have? Too many or not enough?

[jammoe]

Bootsy 4 Prez wrote:

As much as Id like another APC CD iunno it wont be the same without maynard.

I agree, but - it wouldn't be the same, but it'd probably be a different kind of awesome. I don't know though, I'll have to hear it.

[flambe chicken]

punkrockjoe wrote:

Has anyone checked out troy's signature guitar? I own one and it's awesome.

well colour me jealous!

i went to see qotsa the other night, and he didn't really use one that much...

[sowhat360]

I've seen queens in concert twice now by accident ( a festival and they opened for rage)...i think they're flat out horrible....no energy whatsoever to the shows

[anty]

no energy haha did you watch them acoustically. hommes always digging intot he music and dancing around enjoying himself, no energy you stupid ****, did you go see mogwai?

[Demoncleaner 23]

I really love Queens of the Stoneage albums but they seriously do suck live, Josh just cannot sing live he needs to give up with Queens and make some new Kyuss Records, That would be badass!!

[tobythechimp]

wow i never thought id see people hating on josh homme. For me hes one of the most influential musicians of the modern day. And just coz he dont go nuts when hes onstage doesnt make it suck. Its more about the audience and the music at Queens shows. He knows that and doesnt prance around like a headless chicken because he aint a muppet like that. Josh doesnt have to be running around to be cool. He IS the KING of cool.

[Doragg]

I don't see APC going anywhere without Maynards voice. I wouldn't listen to APC if it wasn't for that voice, many hardcore Tool or APC fans would probably say the samething. His voice is amazing.

[grungeisdead312]

mann i miss APC..but i heard billy's new demo song on his myspace...it sounds promising and i hope its as good as their old stuff

[Mr. Altoid]

NightEmbers wrote:

registered_user wrote:


i know and hes not really that good

*Tim Allen grunt*

[Powerhouse]

I hate misleading article titles.


I would imagine Maynard would be interesting to work with. He's very intelligent, and if you've seen his interviews, he has quite a sense of humor.

[rebreh]

Not a fan of a perfect circle. But tool is my favorite band

[f1sk]

tool used to be one of my favorite bands but it just seemed like they were trying to ride on the nostalgia towards the end

and apc just plain fell off, I mean c'mon, emotive? was maynard serious? pucifer also sucks, not everything maynard touches is gold, in fact more often than not it sucks. hes not trent reznor or omar rodriguez

[Michelangelo193]

Why do people keep pressing the question of whether or not APC will get back together? We all know how come-back albums work out, and I'd rather leave it where it is than have an album that was worse than their alright, but generally mediocre album eMOTIVE. Anyway, I do like Troy.

["Tele" Steve]

Howerdel sang one of the songs on eMOTIVE and I must say, I didn't like his voice.

[tilinmyowngrave]

personaly, i think billy has a wicked voice...

APC are reforming in the future, maynard and billy have already confirmed that they want to do another after billys solo record. maynard is still touring with tool, so when tool have finished the tour, and billy has finished his album... you can bet there will be one.

AS for homme. I prefer kyuss to QOTSA...

QOTSA kinda sucked after songs for the deaf. Basically after nick left... he had a wicked voice.

and on the topic of emotive, i think its ****ing brilliant. They have re-invented songs and made them their own, and in my opinion, they sound really good. their cover of lennons Imagine is dark and gives the song a totally new edge.

Im happy to see another APC album before the next tool one, seen as they take about 6 or 7 years to make lol.

[jravolta]

Josh Homme = the only cool ginger.

[recliner33]

I'm glad to hear that Troy wants to stay with the queens. APC is a great band but the queens need Troy more, they went through enough lineup changes in the past.

[Castlebravo]

Maynard Vs. Homme? At first I thought my two favorite musicians had gotten in a fight.

Anyway, QOTSA, APC and Tool are all amazing, and I hope that APC records another album.

[Zar938]

i love josh, i agree with whoever said that he's one of the most influential artists currently in mainstream rock (i'm saying as apposed to music as a whole, not just 'oh indie bands are better", think about classical music composers, i'm sure someone can argue hes not the most infuential musician thoughout all genres)


i love almost all of his works, especially with queens, but i would also have to agree that they are pretty bad live, i saw their live dvd, and it did not look like a show i would have fun at

[emr_steelmech]

"I know that Billy is finishing up a record of his own stuff. It's basically A Perfect Circle without Maynard singing. It's Billy singing instead, so it's still the same great music, and everybody will be surprised by his voice.

Yeah, surprised at how much better Maynard really was. Still, the album might be worth it. You know I think quite a few of these bands like Queens, APC, NIN, etc. are actually just one big band, and they assign different musicians to each division for a year or whatever, then trade back later. Its really comical if you think about it, but with amazing results.

[Guitar_Poet]

ill probably check it out even if maynard isnt singing. interested to hear billy's vocals. if the music is unchanged, itll be really badass either way.

[Cerpin_Taxt21]

All you who are hatin on Josh Homme and Queens live playing ability are smokin major rocks because I've seen them twice and never been rocked harder in my life...

[qotsa1998]

Josh is an awesome musician, quite influential. Troy is a good guitar player, and can work in some awesome slide parts in their songs. Im not too familiar with tool or APC. Queens have gone thru soo many line-up changes, its pretty crazy. Nick was with em for a while and did play on their most popular CD, but i doubt he was such a big influence when it cane to writing that they suck b/c of not having him. personally, the new cd did go in some strange directions, but personally, 3's and 7's is one of their best songs. I have seen live videos, and b/c Josh is both singing and playing guitar, all he can do is dance a little. which, of course, doesnt seem like theres alot of energy in him, but there is.

[any14doomsday]

I dont know what you guys are talking about, the queens bad live? I got to at least two shows a month, in big and small places, and I must say the Queens are fantastic live. You need to catch them as headliners in a medium sized venue. Thats the way to experience the Queens.

[Demoncleaner 23]

Queens of the stoneage should be good in every size venue, to bad they're not. And for the dude who says everything omar rodriguez is gold your ****ing retarded, the last 2 mars volta cds sucked mad balls

Check.

[Stampede]

registered_user wrote:

troy gets to work with sick bands

Indeed he does. Homme is a genius.

[dirtymexican863]

emr_steelmech wrote:

Yeah, surprised at how much better Maynard really was. Still, the album might be worth it. You know I think quite a few of these bands like Queens, APC, NIN, etc. are actually just one big band, and they assign different musicians to each division for a year or whatever, then trade back later. Its really comical if you think about it, but with amazing results.

I must agree, they're all within a similar genre (a great one I might add). Howerdel's voice isn't bad, but he's not Maynard.

[MinistryRules08]

Bootsy 4 Prez wrote:

As much as Id like another APC CD iunno it wont be the same without maynard.

Its not another APC record, its Billy Howerdel solo CD.

[the_bi99man]

anty wrote:

no energy haha did you watch them acoustically. hommes always digging intot he music and dancing around enjoying himself, no energy you stupid ****, did you go see mogwai?

I saw QOTSA

[the_bi99man]

Wow that was retarded. It kinda post my comment before i was done. Anyway what I was saying is that I saw QOTSA last year at Lollapalooza, and they pretty much sucked there, as well. Don't go hating on people just because they saw a bad show by an either-way mediocre band.

[Spluff]

the_bi99man wrote:

Wow that was retarded. It kinda post my comment before i was done. Anyway what I was saying is that I saw QOTSA last year at Lollapalooza, and they pretty much sucked there, as well. Don't go hating on people just because they saw a bad show by an either-way mediocre band.

You went to Lollapalooza and you're complaining about mediocre bands? As the old robot saying goes - does not compute.

[ghostofhendrix]

I'm sorry but....why is Rihanna on UG? lol

[recliner33]

ghostofhendrix wrote:

I'm sorry but....why is Rihanna on UG? lol

WTF are you smoking? I don't see her anywhere.

[HukedAnFonix]

Billy Howerdel's new band is going to be called Ashes Divide. He's not keeping the APC name, as of now. If you want to hear a sample of one of their new songs, go here: http://www.myspace.com/ashesdivide
Troy's pretty much right that Ashes Divide sounds like APC.