Eagles of Death Metal @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC | Pics

April 7, 2005

Tuesday night (April 5th, 2005), Eagles of Death Metal (EODM) played Bowery Ballroom. It was their fourth, and biggest, show in NYC (I think), and about a week after Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) played Webster Hall. The EODM are just one of a multitude of bands that make up the family most famously represented by QOTSA. Most of that family has participated one way or another in the Desert Sessions, and that’s actually where the EODM made their first appearance. The most direct link EODM has to QOTSA is Josh Homme. He sings in QOTSA. He plays drums in EODM, but apparantly not anymore. In fact, EODM’s lineup was different by three. New bassist. New guitarist. New drummer. I think most of the crowd shared my confusion when we noticed the person behind the drums was female (and therefore definitely not Josh). Did it matter? No. I think they may actually be better without him: more proof that they’re not just a celebrity side project.

According to the Desert Sun, the new bass player is Brian “Big Hand” O’Connor, and on drums was Samantha Maloney from Hole and Motley Crue. Samantha, who’s from NYC, had her whole family up in the balcony. We know because more than once the spotlight was put upon them on Jesse (the singer)’s command. Are the changes permanent? I don’t know. Maybe not. Both missing members (the band used to just be three people) are touring with Queens of the Stone Age too (Josh and Tim).

The show was great. The place was almost sold out. Everyone was real into it. The encore was classic – tons of girls from the audience got on stage (as you can see in the pics). This post goes out to the ladies.