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Tell me a little about your nickname, The Devil. I know you have many monikers...
Well, The Devil…see, I was a really little kid-small. I actually had hormone therapy and shit to help me grow, and I got picked on a lot (had a smart mouth) and I would also become viciously and unbelievably venomously angry when people picked on me, so I couldn’t get vengeance in conventional ways, like fighting, so I had to come up with interesting ways. On one occasion, one of the ways that I came up with to get back at somebody caused my best friend, Joshua Homme, to go “You’re the fucking Devil.” And that stuck.

So what’s it like on tour? Does the band share the same kind of dynamic as the album?
Well you know everything recorded is an entirely different animal then when it’s alive. And the recording process is this magic animal; it’s like a clubhouse of rock that Joshua and I get into and then kind of like he’s like the head of our gang and I have my own ship; it’s called the Eagles of Death Metal. That’s the best way to describe it. So, I sure as shit ain’t going to share the glory with him ‘cause I’m a vain son of a bitch. But as much as he can play, he does; it’s just he’s got his hands full, you know?

So, there’s rumor there’s a new album in the works.
There’s actually two new albums in the works.

Other than your solo album?
Yeah, there’s my solo album; I think I’m going to call it Honky Kong with a picture of me in a rad Speedo going like this [shows off arm muscles] with two hot chicks dressed as Mario and Luigi in hot-pants over-all jumpsuits with mustaches jumping over barrels. And then as soon as we’re done with that we’re going to record a new Eagles album tentatively titled Ladies Only, which will have a picture of Josh and I sucking each other’s dicks as hard as we can.

Way to make it awkward. So, actually, one of the first times I heard you guys was on Guitar Hero.  I played “Wanna Be In LA” over and over and over ‘cause I wanted to get the special bonus on that.
That’s fucking rad, dude, I’m sorry, but I think that’s fucking cool because the new radio is Guitar Hero, the new radio is songs in movies, the new radio is songs in commercials.

So, do you embrace some of this new social-networking technology and all that? The Twitters and the Facebooks and the whatnots?
You know I used to do a lot of drugs and when I was high all the time, definitely; Craigslist, Facebook, and Myspace were useful tools in getting laid, for sure. But I like actually talking to a girl with my mouth, so I’ve been getting into that lately. So, I’ve been using the social-networking tools just for social stuff.

I read online that you list Little Richard as one of your biggest influences. Why so…how so? And is that true?
That’s absolutely true. I mean, the way I look at rock ‘n’ roll is clearly obvious through the fact that our band is called The Eagles of Death Metal. The way I see it, real death metal, scary shit, isn’t dudes dressed in Kabuki makeup singing like the Cookie Monster, dude. Real fucking death metal is a dude like Little Richard showing up in a lime-green silk suit and scaring the fuck out of the world so bad that they would hold rallies to burn his records. I mean, Elvis is the king of rock ‘n’ roll, but he’s the king of rock ‘n’ roll because the fact that the first half of his first record is Little Richard covers. I mean, who else can sing about a transvestite blow-job in the middle of an alleyway and hiding from your boyfriend? A bald-headed Sally? He saw Aunt Mary coming? Uncle John? It’s about a “John” getting his dick sucked by a bald-headed Sally and doesn’t want his “Aunt Mary,” his boyfriend, to come find him. Nobody gives a fuck about that because he was that scary, dude. That’s rock ‘n’ roll, man. I mean, even Bill Haley and the Comets. “I’m like a one-eyed cat peepin’ in the seafood store.” What the fuck you think he’s talking about? Pussy, bro, he ain’t talking about an actual tuna sandwich.

Yeah, sweet. How about as far as the new album, like, more details?
It’s just more Quentin Tarantino-izing of classic-rock radio. I mean, there ain’t nothin’ new under the sun and I don’t want to be different than anybody, but I do want to be the same as fuckin’ Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Angus Young, and even a little bit of…I love Doo-Wop and that’s why this record that I’m doing with Money Mark is kind of like Doo-Wop via Gary Newman.

So, I also read, online today when I did my little last minute research, your bass player is not doing too good.
Brian is in the fight of his life, he’s stricken with cancer, you know? I can tell you right now that the sort of cancer that is curable and he just had a successful surgery to remove a giant tumor out of his intestine…gone. This is the kind of cancer that normally hits people when they’re, like, 80. So, it’s really rare and in the past month he’s already gained 10 pounds. Like, his head is so positive. We talked to him on the phone yesterday, hours after surgery, you know what I mean? If anyone can and will lick it, it is Brian. I mean, we’re a really tight gang; we’re a family and we love each other very much and we’re all going through this with him and we’re gonna beat it. And in the meantime…’cause Eagles of Death Metal is kind of like the Special Forces of rock ‘n’ roll: when we have a man down we surround him and then we call someone else to come in and kind of, you know, “do their duty” because, really basically, if you know The Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat” and “Brown Sugar” you know every fucking song I’ve ever written, completely. Probably words and all.

Any last words to our…
Just remember that every night with Eagles of Death Metal is ladies night and I look forward to seeing you on the streets, we can talk about politics. I actually am a licensed family therapist specializing in female problems, whatever they may be. So…

Is that true?
Yeah, of course. So, I encourage you to get down with it. And, also, I encourage you to support our troops.

Interview by Itay K.