Joey Castillo

Joey Castillo
Castillo performing with Queens of the Stone Age in 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Joseph William[citation needed] Castillo
Also known as	The Sexy Mexi Joey C
Born	(1966-03-30) March 30, 1966 (age 55) Gardena, California, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal, stoner rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, violin, theremin
Years active	1984–present
Associated acts	California Breed, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal, Mark Lanegan, Zilch, Wasted Youth, Goatsnake, Danzig, Sugartooth, BL'AST!, Mark Lanegan Band, Mondo Generator, Desert Sessions, Son of Sam, Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts, Tim Armstrong, Nine Inch Nails, Zakk Sabbath, Trash Talk, The Bronx, The Hives, Bloodclot, Royale Daemons, Plan B Circle Jerks

Joseph William^{[citation needed]} Castillo (born March 30, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known for being the drummer of the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age from 2002 to 2012. He is currently a member of Circle Jerks, The Bronx and Zakk Sabbath, with former bands including Danzig, Wasted Youth, Eagles of Death Metal, California Breed, Sugartooth, Zilch, and Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts.

From 1994 to 2002, Castillo was the drummer of Danzig, recording three studio albums with the band before joining Queens of the Stone Age in 2002 to tour in support of their breakthrough album, Songs for the Deaf. He recorded two albums, Lullabies to Paralyze (2005), Era Vulgaris (2007), and half of ...Like Clockwork (2013) before being fired by founding member Josh Homme during the process.^[1] Since leaving Queens of the Stone Age and Homme side project Eagles of Death Metal in 2012, Castillo joined California Breed, replacing founding member Jason Bonham, joined Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts, touring with the band before the singer's death in 2015, and joined three groups with former Queens of the Stone Age bandmate Nick Oliveri: supergroups Bloodclot (with John Joseph of Cro-Mags and Todd Youth, former Danzig and Murphy's Law guitarist), Royale Daemons (with Wino), and historic punk band Bl'ast.^[2][3][4] Castillo also has joined Zakk Wylde-led Black Sabbath cover band Zakk Sabbath.

In 2018, Joey joined The Bronx, after founding member Jorma Vik left to play with Castillo's former band Eagles of Death Metal. The following year, he toured in a session capacity with The Hives, and joined the reunited hardcore punk band Circle Jerks in anticipation of a fortieth anniversary tour celebrating their debut, Group Sex.

Musical career[]

A native of Gardena, California, Castillo began playing drums at age 15, when his grandmother loaned him the money to buy a drum kit. His playing is influenced by War, Al Green, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Black Flag. He started off his drumming career by joining the Los Angeles punk band Wasted Youth in 1984. After recording two albums and several tours, he left Wasted Youth and joined Sugartooth in 1991. During the summer of 1994, he formed a short-lived punk rock band called Chronic Halitosis.^[5] They played punk covers of bands like Misfits and Black Flag.^[6]

In 1994, Castillo left Sugartooth and joined Danzig, having turned down previous offers from Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies.^[7] He worked as Chuck Biscuit's drum tech circa '90-'93 and finally replaced him as live drummer on the '94 tours, following the release of Danzig 4p. From that point on, he was (with exception for Glenn) the only constant Danzig member for almost ten years, performing all percussion duties on Blackacidevil (1996), Satan's Child (1999) and I Luciferi (2002). In 1996, he was featured on Robert Trujillo's solo album, and in 1998 he joined Zilch.^[8] He replaced Goatsnake's original drummer after his departure in 2001, but that was short lived when they split up shortly after.^[9] Castillo auditioned for Guns N' Roses in 1997, but did not join the band.^[10] In 2001 he did backing vocals and drums for some tracks on Son of Sam's album Songs From The Earth.

Castillo joined Queens of the Stone Age without an audition, playing through half a song (Avon) at an informal rehearsal before frontman Josh Homme walked out of the room, returned saying "I just fired the drummer. The tour starts tomorrow," and offered Castillo the gig. Castillo also played on Mark Lanegan's solo album Bubblegum and Eagles of Death Metal's second album Death by Sexy.^[11]

On June 25, 2017, Castillo, along with Trent Reznor, Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, Robin Finck, Atticus Ross, and Alessandro Cortini appeared as "The Nine Inch Nails" in Episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return on Showtime, performing an alternate live rendition of the song "She's Gone Away" which previously appeared on Nine Inch Nails' 2016 album "Not the Actual Events"^[12]

In 2015, he was a touring replacement for Jason Bonham in the Glenn Hughes project, California Breed. Bonham quit before the tour to join Sammy Hagar and Hughes wanted the tour that supported Alter Bridge to continue as planned.

Personal life[]

Castillo has two drumkits which belonged to Chuck Biscuits and considers them his most prized possessions. Castillo currently resides in Silver Lake, California with his three children and his wife.^[13]

Joey Castillo and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age performing at the Southside Festival near Tuttlingen, southern Germany, June 24, 2007

Equipment[]

Castillo currently uses Tama drums, pedals and hardware, Zildjian cymbals, Vater sticks and LP equipment. Castillo is famous for his use of the LP Jam block. The tone of the jam block appears solo at the outset of the Queens of the Stone Age single "Little Sister" from the album Lullabies to Paralyze, Castillo's first studio album with the band. In 2018, he switched back to Tama after over ten years with Oxnard, California's Drum Workshop and five years with San Pedro's Q Drum Co. Pre-QOTSA he was known to use Tama drums, Paiste cymbals and Easton sticks.^[14]

Post QOTSA Gear[]

Q Drum Co drums (Clear seamless Acrylic or Black Stain Mahogany)

• 26"x14" Bass Drum
• 14"x10" Rack Tom
• 18"x16" Floor Tom
• 14"x8" Aluminum Plate Snare

DW Hardware

• DW 6710 straight cymbal stands (3x)
• DW 5000 Hi-Hat Stand
• DW 9000 bass pedal

Zildjian Cymbals

• Zildjian 24-inch K Light ride
• Zildjian 21-inch K Crash Ride
• Zildjian 20-inch K Crash
• Zildjian 16-inch K Light Hi Hats

Vater Sticks

• Vater Rock, Power 5B and Power 3A

Remo Heads

• Snare: Remo Emperor X
• Toms: Remo Clear Emperor's
• Bass: Remo Clear Powerstroke III with Falam Slam

QOTSA Era Gear (2002–2012)[]

Era Vulgaris tour equipment (2007–2008)[]

Castillo used larger sized tom drums than ever before, while moving to a smaller bass drum, the opposite of the Lullabies-era configuration. He continued using Vic Firth sticks, DW drums with OCDP clear acrylic shells, DW pedals and hardware, but switched from using Paiste to Zildjian cymbals.

Lullabies To Paralyze tour equipment (2005–2006)[]

For the Lullabies tour, Castillo continued to use DW drums, Paiste cymbals and Remo heads. Though during this tour he started using Vic Firth sticks instead of Vater. Joey also dropped his second floor tom and LP bongos during this tour and added on a LP jamblock to his drumkit. From this tour and on, he would use the toms to play "Better Living Through Chemistry" during the verses. During the Lullabies tour Joey started removing his bottom heads on both his toms To achieve the "concert tom" sound which gave his toms a punchy, fatter sound

Songs for the Deaf tour equipment (2002–2004)[]

Castillo used DW drums and hardware, Paiste cymbals and Remo heads during the Songs for the Deaf tour, occasionally using PDP kits for one off performances.

Discography[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joey Castillo.

• LPmusic.com - LP Music page of Joey Castillo