''Gamma Ray'' is the debut EP by Gamma Ray, a musical project by former

Kyuss Kyuss ( ) was an American stoner rock band formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987, and considered one of the pioneers of the genre. After disbanding in 1995, a number of band members have gone on to form or play in several notable bands in ...

guitarist

Josh Homme Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is best known as the founder and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...

, released in 1996 by

Man's Ruin Records Man's Ruin Records was an independent record label owned and founded by San Francisco Bay Area artist Frank Kozik. In total, the record label released over 200 singles and albums, with most of the artwork designed by Kozik. After the 1995 rele ...

. After the breakup of Kyuss in 1995, Homme recorded the Gamma Ray material in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

with producer

Chris Goss Chris Goss is an American record producer and musician. Best known for producing records for Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, he is regarded as an important figure in the development of stoner rock and desert rock genres. Goss is also the ...

, bassist

Van Conner Van Patrick Conner (March 17, 1967 – January 17, 2023) was an American rock musician, best known as the bassist for Screaming Trees. Career As a bass player in high school, Conner formed the band Explosive Generation with his brother Gary ...

, and drummer

Victor Indrizzo Victor Indrizzo (born September 23, 1967) is an American session musician, primarily known for playing the drums, as well as a songwriter and producer. Indrizzo was born in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He has toured, recorded and worked wit ...

. Former Kyuss singer John Garcia contributed backing vocals to the track "Born to Hula". After the release of the EP, Homme received a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

order because the name Gamma Ray was already in use by a German power metal band. He changed the name of the project to

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

, and both of the ''Gamma Ray'' tracks were re-released the following year by Man's Ruin on the '' Kyuss / Queens of the Stone Age'' split EP, which featured some of the final studio recordings by Kyuss and debuted the "Queens of the Stone Age" moniker for Homme's new project. The split EP also included a third track from the ''Gamma Ray'' recording sessions, "Spiders and Vinegaroons". Both tracks from the ''Gamma Ray'' EP were later re-recorded by Queens of the Stone Age. "If Only Everything" was re-recorded under the shortened title "If Only" for Queens of the Stone Age's debut album in 1998, while "Born to Hula" was re-recorded and appeared as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

on "

The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" is the first single from Queens of the Stone Age's second album, ''Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age album), Rated R''. It was released in the summer of 2000 through Interscope Records in Europe as a standard sing ...

" single from the band's 2000 album ''

Rated R Rated R refers to movies (and also to TV shows and video games in certain systems) that have been given a "restricted" rating according to one of the following film rating systems or classification boards: * Australian Classification Board * Canadi ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the EP's liner notes. *

– vocals, guitar, bass guitar on "Born to Hula",

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

, producer *

– bass guitar on "If Only Everything" * Vic "The Stick" Indrizzo – drums * John Garcia – backing vocals on "Born to Hula" *

– producer *Floyd –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

*Jay – recording engineer

References

{{Queens of the Stone Age 1996 debut EPs Queens of the Stone Age albums Man's Ruin Records EPs Albums produced by Josh Homme Albums produced by Chris Goss