Troy Dean Van Leeuwen (born January 5, 1968 in Los Angeles, California)[1] is an American musician and producer. Van Leeuwen began playing music at young age and started playing guitar at age 13. Soon Van Leeuwen was playing in various local bands such as Jester, 60 Cycle and later Failure. During this time, Van Leeuwen also worked as a session musician for various bands and met guitarist Billy Howerdel, who later recruited Van Leeuwen to play guitar in his and Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's alternative rock supergroup A Perfect Circle. The band's debut album Mer De Noms became the highest ever debut for a rock band, with 188,000 copies sold in its first week.[2]
After recording three tracks on A Perfect Circle's second album, Van Leeuwen successfully auditioned for Josh Homme's Queens of the Stone Age, and was welcomed into the band as their second guitar player. In addition to guitar, Van Leeuwen was also required to play lap steel and keyboards. Since joining the band in 2002, Van Leeuwen has recorded two studio albums - Lullabies to Paralyze in 2005 and Era Vulgaris in 2007 - as well as recorded with various band members' side projects such as The Desert Sessions, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal and The Gutter Twins. He created his first side project Enemy in 2005, but currently is with his new side project, Sweethead.[3]
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Van Leeuwen was born January 5, 1968 in Los Angeles, California. His first instrument was the drums, but after realizing that he could not sound like his idol John Bonham of Led Zeppelin,[4] he switched to playing guitar at age 13.[5] In the late 1980s Van Leeuwen played in Jester, a successful southern California band fronted by vocalist Eric Book. Jester released an EP, which is the earliest and most rare recording of a 16-year-old Van Leeuwen. He then played in a small band called Little Boots, with which he recorded a number of demos and played a few shows before the band's breakup. His next band was 60 Cycle, which released their debut "Pretender" in 1995, and their self titled album the following year. It was during his time in 60 Cycle that Van Leeuwen met Kellii Scott, and the two started working on a project (later to be known as Enemy). Van Leeuwen went on to play in Failure. The band released three records and didn't enjoy any commercial success, but was praised by critics as a talented and almost revolutionary group.[6] It was during a tour with Failure when Troy met former Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme, who was presently playing rhythm guitar with The Screaming Trees. After the breakup of Failure, Troy went on to be a session musician and recording engineer, working with groups such as Orgy, Crazy Town, Coal Chamber and KoRn.
It was during his time as a session musician that Troy met Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who offered him a spot in his and Billy Howerdel's new band A Perfect Circle. Due to the band's lineup of talented musicians and good chemistry, Troy accepted the invitation. The band played their first show at LA's Viper Club Reception on August 15, 1999. After playing shows in Los Angeles, the band entered the studio to begin work on their debut album.[7] Soon drummer Tim Alexander was replaced with session drummer Josh Freese; however, Alexander's performance can still be heard on the album version of the song "The Hollow". After completing the recording of the band's debut album, Mer de Noms,[8] the band began touring, initially as the opening act for Nine Inch Nails in 2000. Later the band embarked on a number of headlining tours around the world, including the Canadian festival, Summersault.[9] Mer de Noms was released on May 23, 2000, while the band was on tour. The album marks the highest ever debut for a new rock band, selling over 188,000 copies in its first week, and appearing at number four on the Billboard 200.[2]
On A Perfect Circle's second album Thirteenth Step, Troy recorded guitars for only three tracks before successfully auditioning for a spot in Josh Homme's Queens of the Stone Age. After outperforming Jeordie White and others in the audition, Troy was welcomed as the band's second guitarist for their Songs For The Deaf tour. Besides playing guitar, Troy also performed on lap steel guitar, keyboards, backing vocals and occasionally bass guitar. Due to the band's schedule, Troy had only one week to learn 30 songs before the tour began. For the European leg of the album's supporting tour, Dave Grohl left to return to his main band Foo Fighters. He was replaced with former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who (along with Troy and Homme) has remained with the band ever since. Songs for the Deaf was a critical and commercial success,[10] and the singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on both radio and MTV. The tour culminated in a number of headline dates in Australia in January 2004.
Troy's first recording with QOTSA was Lullabies to Paralyze. The band entered the studio with long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes, who replaced Nick Oliveri on the album. Troy aimed to fill in some of the gaps in the music were he felt the sound could be expanded through atmospheric and ambient textures made by guitar, lap steel and piano.[4] The album (the title of which is taken from a lyric in Mosquito Song from Songs for the Deaf[11]) featured several guest appearances, most notably ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who performed backing vocals and lead guitar on "Burn the Witch" and the ZZ Top cover Precious and Grace. Despite reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, Mark Lanegan recorded vocals on new tracks, and appeared with the band on the supporting tour when scheduling and his health permitted. The album was leaked onto the internet in February 2005, and was aired by Australian radio on 3 March 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. The album was then officially released on March 22, 2005 in the USA, and debuted as number 5 on the Billboard Music Chart: the greatest initial success of any QOTSA record to date. On November 22, 2005, the band released a live album/DVD set called Over the Years and Through the Woods, which featured a live concert filmed in London, and bonus features (including rare videos dating from 1998 to 2005).
After touring to support the album, the band headed back into the studio in July 2006. A year later, Troy reported that the band had written new material that was "still in its infancy",[12] which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. This matured into their 2007 release Era Vulgaris, to which Van Leeuwen contributed a significant amount of material. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top,[13] and wittingly, deceased humorist Erma Bombeck.[14] Josh Homme described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker".[15] Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007[16] and released in June 2007 in the U.S.[17] The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June.[18] Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Raconteurs) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider respectively.[19][20]
In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy"[12] which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP.[21] Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions."[22] It was since reported however that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at this time.[23] In a September issue of NME Magazine, Josh Homme stated that he was going back to make the new QOTSA and Desert Sessions records along with remastering the 1998 self titled album for an early 2009 release. Homme also stated Queens' new album is going to be a "desert orgy in the dark".
In 2005, Troy released Hooray For Dark Matter with his sideproject Enemy. The album features bassist Eddie Nappi from the Mark Lanegan Band, and his former bandmate from Failure Kelli Scott on drums (who had replaced Quicksand's Alan Cage). Troy describes Enemy as his "big, dumb rock trio",[24] and "a vehicle driven by pure and utter disgust of mediocrity and general frustration with the human condition". During Troy's time with A Perfect Circle, Enemy recorded a five track demo in what Troy called "Guerilla-style recording" at various studios.[25] The band (unusually) offered to be signed by a record label by advertising for the princely sum of $250,000 on Ebay.[25] Enemy was ultimately signed by Control Group/TCG, who released their debut album. After joining the Queens of the Stone Age, Troy also has contributed music to band members' various side projects: such as The Desert Sessions, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal, The Gutter Twins and Mark Lanegans soloalbum album Bubblegum. After the Era Vulgaris tour's end, Troy began touring with his current side project, Sweethead.
According to Troy, the Queens of the Stone Age (and Homme in particular) have a "veil of secrecy" regarding their exact setup, in order to maintain a unique guitar sound. However, Troy eventually disclosed some information regarding his gear.[26] He favors semi-hollow guitars due to their natural resonance. To prohibit "bad feedback", he stuffs pieces of foam into the F-holes of some. All of his guitars are fitted with a variety of Seymour Duncan pickups,[27] most often Customs or JB. His guitars are tuned in standard 440, D tuning and C tuning. He uses Ernie Ball 10 to 52 for standard tuning, and heavy jazz gauge 12 to 58 for lower tunings.[28] Troy has also said that his live rig is considerably different than what he uses during recording, due to the fact that he considers most of his vintage equipment too unreliable for touring.[29]
In addition to guitar and lap steel, Troy has also plays a Clavia Nord Electro keyboard during live performances and recordings. After Nick Oliveri's departure from the band, Troy has also played an Epiphone Rivoli bass (or, alternatively, a Custom Yamaha SA-bass[30]) during several Queens of the Stone Age recordings and tours following Lullabies to Paralyze. For the Era Vulgaris album, Troy was the primary lead guitarist—although he also occasionally contributed with keyboards, lap steel, bass, and back up vocals.[31]
"I like to have stuff in the studio that's vintage and I like to keep things as pure as possible. But when it comes to the road, I like to use stuff that works consistently. I don't like stuff that's vintage and cool, but breaks down. So that's why I'll use a switching system and new pedals. I don't care about using vintage pedals over new pedals. The difference live is so minute. First of all, you're in a hall or a theater which changes the sound. Then it's going through a mic, then through a PA. And live, it's not as much under the microscope as in the studio. "
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"A lot of guitarists only use solos to define who they are. I can shred when I need to, but, ultimately, I'm interested in playing what the song needs—even if that means not playing at all."
Van Leeuwen has appeared on wide range of albums from various bands and performers from a wide range of genres.[34][35]
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| Preceded by Brendon McNichol |
Multi-instrumentalist for Queens of the Stone Age 2002–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by no one |
Rhythm guitarist for A Perfect Circle 1999-2003 |
Succeeded by Danny Lohner |