Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is stepping away from the mike and manning the drums for his side project Eagles of Death Metal, who release their debut, Peace, Love, Death Metal, on March 23rd.

Joining frontman Jesse "the Devil" Hughes and guitarist Tim "Tipover" Vanhamel (from Belgian rock outfit Millionaire) has been a healthy reprise for Homme, who is used to running the Queens show. "I'm just the drummer, and to have one role is a great feeling," he says.

EODM began five years ago following an evening spent in Hughes and Homme's hometown of Palm Desert, California. "It started as a joke," Hughes says. "We were responding to a drunk guy saying Poison was death metal. I said, 'Dude! That's like the Eagles of death metal.' Josh dared me to go write what I thought that was. It took him five years to finally convince me to come to Hollywood."

The group laid down the tracks last year in a Los Angeles studio. Stopping by to contribute to the album were multi-instrumentalist and sometime QOTSA contributor Alain Johannes ("Wasting My Time," "San Berdoo Sunburn"), organist Natasha Shneider ("Who Will Love the Devil") and Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle ("Speaking in Tongues"). "Natasha and Alan perform vocals and assorted things," Hughes says. "Brody did handclaps and general rock & roll inspiration. It was like guerilla warfare. The whole band is set up like a militia unit. Whoever's there and can do it, will do it."

Since the Eagles of Death Metal's first recorded output was on Homme's Desert Sessions series, they may turn up at California's Coachella festival, where Desert Sessions are booked as a live act on May 1st. But aside from securing producer/musician Chris Goss (Kyuss, Queens) and Johannes, Homme said he is still working out the performance's full details. "One of the coolest things about music is surprising people and having no expectations other than being presently surprised," he says. "I don't even quite know what it's going to be."

Homme will begin work on the next Queens of the Stone Age album this spring. However, he plans to do so without co-founder and bassist Nick Oliveri and part-time singer Mark Lanegan. Homme announced that the band members had "parted ways" last month.

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