Jesse Hughes (musician)


Jesse Everett Hughes is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the rock band Eagles of Death Metal, with whom he has recorded four studio albums and a live album.

Early life

Jesse Everett Hughes was born in Greenville, South Carolina on September 24, 1972. At age seven, he moved with his mother Jo Ellen to Palm Desert, California. In high school, he met Josh Homme, and they became good friends after Homme stopped a bully from picking on Hughes. He graduated from Greenville Technical College with a degree in journalism and worked as the manager of a video depot in Palm Desert for several years.

Career

Eagles of Death Metal

Hughes and Homme formed Eagles of Death Metal in 1998. Hughes credits Homme with saving his life, claiming that during the recording of the second Eagles of Death Metal album Death By Sexy, he fell into serious drug addiction and that Homme not only drove him to rehabilitation, but paid for it as well.
On November 13, 2015, Le Bataclan theatre in Paris was attacked by terrorists while Eagles of Death Metal were performing. The band escaped via the backstage area, but their merchandise manager Nick Alexander was killed. The attacks killed 89 fans at the theatre and 130 people elsewhere in Paris.

Other projects

Hughes is one of the characters in the book Sex Tips from Rock Stars by Paul Miles published by Omnibus Press in July 2010.
In September 2011, Hughes released Honkey Kong, his first solo album under the nickname Boots Electric. It was released on Dangerbird Records.
In 2015, Hughes appeared in the Björn Tagemose-directed silent film Gutterdämmerung alongside Iggy Pop, Grace Jones, Lemmy, and Henry Rollins.
In 2020, MUSE TV and Culturally Obsessed announced Hughes as their Senior Reporter.

Musical equipment

Hughes is currently endorsed by Maton guitars and Orange amplifiers.

Guitars

Hughes is divorced and has a son named Micah.
Hughes uses many different nicknames, including "J. Devil", "The Devil", "Boots Electric", and "Fabulous Weapon". In November 2008, he revealed that his bandmate Josh Homme gave him "The Devil" nickname when he was 13: "I used to get picked on a lot, and when I would get picked on severely, or if it really made a point to me, I would get vengeance, but I would get vengeance in the way that I could, which was mostly clever and all consuming. Joshua once witnessed me in the moment I was about to enact vengeance upon someone, and he just said, 'You're the fucking devil dude,' and it stuck."
In a November 2008 interview, Homme described himself and Hughes as "socially liberal but government conservative guys". While Homme's political views would become more left-wing over the following years, Hughes became more right-wing and revealed in December 2013 that he had even "wanted to be a Republican politician" in his youth.

Controversies

In October 2015, the documentary The Redemption of the Devil gave a behind-the-scenes look at Hughes' life. While generally well-received, the documentary mostly gained attention for Hughes' erratic behavior, which included beginning a relationship with a former porn actress and getting ordained as a minister with the Universal Life Church. Most notably, one scene shows him breaking down crying because he has been barred from seeing his son due to his drug abuse, but this is immediately followed by a scene in which he snorts an unknown substance and starts ranting about how he deserves respect because he is a "rock star".
In February 2016, Hughes made a series of controversial statements blaming Islam, liberal values, and French gun control laws for the November 2015 Bataclan attack, as well as claiming that Muslims " in the streets" during the attack. He also speculated that it was an inside job, claiming that security personnel who did not report to the venue that day "had a reason not to show up". He and his band were then dropped from the lineup of two French music festivals. Bataclan management said that Hughes and his manager were refused entry to the venue when he tried to visit on the anniversary of the attack, but he claimed this was not true and that he never tried to enter.
In January 2017, Hughes' former friend Andrew Julian Vega obtained a restraining order against Hughes after he sent Vega death threats.
In March 2018, Hughes attacked the March for Our Lives protesters on Instagram, calling them "pathetic" and "disgusting vile abusers of the dead". He accused the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who participated in the protest of "exploiting the death of 16 of our fellow students for a few Facebook likes and some media attention" while accusing one of them, Emma González, of treason. He later deleted the posts amidst widespread criticism and apologized five days later, saying, "I was not attempting to impugn the youth of America and this beautiful thing that they accomplished. I truly am sorry, I did not mean to hurt anyone or cause any harm."

Selected discography

YearBand or artistAlbum
1998The Desert SessionsVolumes 3 & 4
2002Fatso JetsonCruel & Delicious
2004Eagles of Death MetalPeace, Love, Death Metal
2004Jesse HughesA Pair of Queens
2005Queens of the Stone AgeLullabies to Paralyze
2006Eagles of Death MetalDeath By Sexy
2008Eagles of Death MetalHeart On
September 2011Boots Electric Honkey Kong
2011 on MiracleBoots Electric Untitled 4-song 12-inch LP
2015Eagles of Death MetalZipper Down