Cochlear Implant

Thanks to Almost Famous, we all now know that rock stars probably won’t be completely honest with music journalists — that they all have secrets to hide and that “the enemy” is the last person with whom they’ll share the raw goods.

Luckily for us, Jesse Hughes isn’t a typical rock star, and he has no problem with blatant honesty. The Eagles of Death Metal singer is about as candid about himself as it’s possible to be; he wears his heart on his sleeve, as it were. And here comes the segue: Heart On, EoDM’s latest, is so titled because of Hughes’ absolute dedication to... yep, saying what’s on his mind. Sometimes recklessly so.

“Eagles of Death Metal are a lot of things to us,” he begins. “One of the things it has always been is a philosophical statement on taking it fucking easy. You know what I mean? Relaxing. I’m not here to talk about global warming. I don’t fucking give a shit about saving whales. I just wanna shake my dick and have a good time.”

Wow, no coaxing whatsoever and already he’s talking about shaking his dick around. Let’s press further: if the Eagles of Death Metal aren’t out there holding hands across America or waving signs at a peace protest — this is a band, after all, that once recorded a song called “Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddamn)” — how do they fit into the whole rock ’n’ roll kingdom?

Hughes thinks that since he entered the business late, his perspective is a bit more rounded than other musicians. He has no patience for pretension in rock and roll and he seems to have made it a way of life of be pretty much as raw as possible. “That sense of entitlement is what I’m talking about — if you think that way, you’re fucked,” he says with a laugh. “The rock business in general takes itself too fucking seriously and when I talk about not taking it so seriously, I am talking about when people backstage aren’t allowed to look at the star, or aren’t allowed within 50 feet of the person. They’ve got to have trees imported to the backstage — that lame-ass shit.

“I mean, dude, this is the coolest fucking job in the world, period. I mean nobody deserves this job, ever. So when you get to do it, I think you have an absolute obligation to be nothing but the coolest motherfucker to everyone you see. You have no right to be a dick when you get to do what I get to do.”

Is it possible to be cocky yet humble at the same time? I think Hughes may have pulled it off; he has absolute confidence in himself, and yet no illusions about his place in the world. “I’m just a rock fan like everyone else,” he concludes. “I’m just a monkey that gets to play the guitar. The lack of joy in rock ’n’ roll is painful. I’m living the fucking dream and I’m dreaming to live.”