The Smoking Section caught up with blessed British soul child Joss Stone while she was busy mixing her first great album, in the bowels of New York’s Electric Lady Studios. “I made two records that are so-so — some of those songs even irritate me,” says Stone, referring to 2003’s Soul Sessions and 2004’s Mind, Body & Soul. “But in those days, it was like, ‘Just sing, honey.’ ” This time around, the nineteen-year-old Stone is writing her own songs and taking a greater role in the process. She’s also found a kindred soul in producer Raphael Saadiq. “He’s the first person to get me,” she says. “This album is me finally letting it out.” Stone told everyone around her — parents, managers, friends and even her dogs — to bugger off as she immersed herself in recording sessions in the Bahamas. The result? Dynamic and personal cuts like “Music,” which features a rap spot from Lauryn Hill; “Girl They Won’t Believe It,” where she belts as if the Isley Brothers had a long-lost sister; and the feel-good jam “Nothing Better Than.” “I was ready to go home, go to school and become a midwife,” says Stone, whose hair is now pink. “But now I finally have a record I can listen to and not cringe. And this is not some ‘Promiscuous Girl’ shit. This is real.”
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Just like us back in the late Eighties, Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes was “one of those dumb kids who actually sought out the Robert Williams cover of Appetite for Destruction,” he says, alluding to the original robot-rape-scene illustration. “I just wasn’t satisfied with the skull and cross. I wanted the real deal.” So it was big news on November 15th when Hughes got a call asking if his Eagles would open for Guns n’ Roses on their U.S. arena tour, which runs through December. “It was like a sock to the jaw,” says Hughes. “This is huge! I hope I can make Axl proud.” Eagles part-timer Josh Homme will emerge from studio seclusion — he’s hammering away on a new Queens of the Stone Age record — to join his side project on a couple of dates, where they’ll bust out cuts from the Eagles’ Death by Sexy, the sexiest album of 2006. (And check out the hilarious making-of DVD — DVD by Sexy — which includes Hughes’ friends staging a real-life intervention for his addiction to rollerblading.) It seems as if the stars have aligned for Hughes. His only remaining conquest? Britney. “I’ve purchased every tabloid announcing Britney’s departure from K-Fed,” he says. “Seriously, though, I’m here for her.”
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On Thanksgiving, the Smoking Section gave thanks to Brian Wilson, who gave us two amazing shows in Manhattan in the days before our turkey feast. It was also a thrill to meet the extra-special guest star, original Beach Boy Al Jardine, after the first gig. “Standing next to Brian was a ball,” says Jardine, who looked spiffy in his old, recently unearthed Beach Boy duds. “I opened the wardrobe closet, and it smelled like the backstage of a Beach Boys concert forty years ago.” Pet Smells!