Queens Of The Stone Age Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Queens of the Stone Age closed out last week’s Grammys ceremony as part of an all-star line-up that was rudely interrupted during the televised broadcast. The band’s guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen speaks to RNZ’s Sam Wicks about the experience.
“For us it’s a f*ck you, ‘cause it’s like, why invite us to play at the Grammies if you’re just gonna show Delta [Airlines] commercials over it? I mean we would never have signed on for that.”
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens Of The Stone Age Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Queens Of The Stone Age – nominated for Best Rock Album – was performing with Nine Inch Nails, Fleetwood Mac’s Lyndsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl, when the closing credits began to roll.
“We were up there just doing our thing … We’re like the hooligans at the prom … We were just rocking and rolling, so we didn’t know anything until Alessandro [keyboard player for Nine Inch Nails] said something … it was a big disappointment.”
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor voiced his anger in a Tweet playing on the ceremony’s tagline: “Music's biggest night. . . to be disrespected. A heartfelt F*CK YOU guys.”
Van Leeuwen says he’s ‘not much of an awards show guy’ and nor is Reznor, however they worked really hard to put the performance together, “For us it was a lot of work and we had to cut our song to fit into their box – and we did – and then they f*cked up the box anyway.
“I don’t know who to blame, and at this moment I’ve stopped caring. I’m back doing what I want to do … and I think our fans know who we are and they’re pissed and I love that … they’re on our side.”
Watch the televised performance:
