I really don't get the QOTSA - Red Fang point of referrence beyond that likely a considerable amount of QOTSA fans would dig Red Fang. Certainly any QOTSA fans who also like KYUSS (I'm a QOTSA fan, BTW - I just find the comparison a bit of a marketing reach and am weary of it). They could reasonably lump Soundgarden in there as well, if only to spark a little curiousity. At least no one has likened them to Nickelback on some really bad 'Shrooms or something. Not sure if I'd be able to stand for that.
Every single album review of Red Fang's Whales and Leeches has some sort of Queens of the Stone Age referrence. In the right context it may be entirely well-founded to compare the two bands, but it's nothing immediate to me at all. Rather, I see it as a mere 'blanket statement' to use as a point of referrence and depending on a given song, Soundgarden is at least as similar to Red Fang as QOTSA. It becomes a matter of marketing the band as album reviews are quoted and Queens of the Stone Age is familiar. I think the comparison to Nickelback on really bad 'Shrooms is probably more accurate than either QOTSA or Soundgarden as the members of Nickelback might actually write some good songs if they were tripping out really bad and about to die.
OK - so to revisit my previous post about the RED FANG - QOTSA comparison - After repeated listenings (and with the notion of comparison planted in my head now, as opposed to my first couple of listens where I had no other thought than "Hell yeah ... New Red Fang tunes!") I must admit that I do see the validity of the comparison (But also feel like saying "F@^% you f@^%ing journalists, you just ru...ined it for me"). The way the songs are structured sound very much like songs that might appear on a given QOTSA release. But the band doesn't really sound like QOTSA much at all. And the production isn't at all like any QOTSA I've heard. Maybe if a Brontosauras had done the production of 'Songs For The Deaf', it might've sounded similar to 'Whales and Leeches'. The Red Fang sound is just so damn bottom heavy that I'd imagine a Brontosauras could've helped them find their sound. That would be an unlikely task for Nickelback to achieve no matter how hard they were tripping. They'd have to have that Brontosauras on the hard stuff as well. It just wouldn't ever happen. So scratch that notion. But I still stand by my own interjection of Soundgarden also being a viable comparison in the proper context (as well as just about any good, capable hard rock act for the sheer sake of marketing a band's sound). I'll expand upon that in a way that would completely erase QOTSA from thought and consideration with this : Bad 'Shrooms aside, How about 'Dimension Hatross' era Voivod meets 'Louder Than Love' era Soundgarden with the strung-out Brontosauras handling the final mix? Nevermind that none of the bands sound anything like Voivod did beyond some of the abnormalities of song structure and unusual guitar parts that a guy named Piggy pretty much innovated, Voivod hasn't even really sounded like Voivod since about 1989 either.
On the plus, I did catch Queens of the Stone Age on Conan and didn't think of Red Fang one time.
