Desert Sessions

I see the Reindeer Section is treated as a full band, but the similarly-structured DS is still treated as a solo Josh project.

How can I help get Desert Sessions fleshed out to reflect the band it really is?

I don't really see Desert Sessions and The Reindeer Section as comparable. Granted, they're both big collectives, but I can't find anything suggesting that Desert Sessions is a "band" per se. Even the official site simply refers to this as "recording sessions organized by Joshua Homme." And here's a quote from the bio:

"The Queens is an exercise in something," explains Homme. "There are things [we’re writing now] that the Queens will do someday, but I think that when you're a band, you need to move slowly in order to hold hands with whoever is into you. Because it can't be so wide that people who've been into you don't know what's happening. It requires these outside projects."

So Homme doesn't even consider this a "band".

Compare what's been written about the Reindeer Section:

[www.epitonic.com] http://www.epitonic.com/artists/thereindeersection.html
"...Lightbody ran around drunkenly asking people if they would join his band The Reindeer Section."

[www.bbc.co.uk] http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/music/2002/06/24/reindeer.shtml
"...the 27 person strong band..."

Note also that RS has released two albums with some lineup continuity and even maintains a MySpace page listing "band members" (now down to 15) who even tour together:

[www.myspace.com] http://www.myspace.com/thereindeersection

Here's my final test: Have the Desert Sessions participants ever been in the same place at the same time, let alone posed for a group photo like the Reindeer Section?

[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Reindeer_Section.jpg

I don't think that quote of Josh immediately disqualifies DS as a band. He points out that QOTSA was his long-term (major-label) project that has a certain direction, and his "outside projects" do not have the same constraints.

DS works thusly: Josh invites people to Rancho de la Luna and they collaborate on an album. It's not a months/years long project of flying tapes around the world or doing studio work over a network. Most of the DS pairs of releases were recorded over a one-two week period, helped greatly by the fact that the band moves into the Ranch for that time.

Here's an ad for 7/8 that lists the "featured players" that includes Josh's name, i.e. "all these people including Josh" NOT "Josh plus these people".

[hobbs1767.tripod.com] http://hobbs1767.tripod.com/photos/ds7-8ads.html

Here is the 9/10 band:

[www.rekordsrekords.com] http://www.rekordsrekords.com/gallery/pics/dinner_time.jpg

The only major person missing is Joey Castillo, but perhaps he's the one who took the shot. Here's Joey at Pioneertown with some of 9/10:

[www.rekordsrekords.com] http://www.rekordsrekords.com/gallery/pics/A_visit_to_Pioneet_town_2.jpg

Desertsessions.com includes an archived live performance by the 9/10 band (News page, scroll to "Watch Desert Sessions's performance of I Wanna Make It Wit Chu on Later with Jools Holland").

Finally, here's a collage of the band rehearsing for their appearance at Coachella:

[www.rekordsrekords.com] http://www.rekordsrekords.com/qotsa/gallery/pics/guitar10.jpg

I admit I'm not all that familiar with Reindeer Section, but there are a few entries in the database that seem to show that bringing a group of people together for the sole purpose of generating an album's worth of material is enough to qualify the collective as a band, regardless of the permanence of said collective. (Dudes of Wrath is a good example, and they only did two songs!)

These quotes might suggest that band status is appropriate and/or that Josh Homme isn't even on all the songs:

[www.magnetmagazine.com] http://www.magnetmagazine.com/interviews/desert.html :

Is there anyone who’s kind of in charge of all this?
I rope it all together, but I would hardly say that qualifies me as being in charge.

Yeah, I’m like a party coordinator. A scientific caterer. And I think it’s good that way because I woke up and walked down the road from the place I was staying to Rancho De La Luna, which is where the studio is [in Joshua Tree] and this guy Alain Johannes had recorded a song in its entirety and had done five tracks by noon. He really understood it well. He was left to his own devices. If we’re there, we work together; if not, you work alone. But it’s not really work. It’s just get it all out.

[www.thefade.net] http://www.thefade.net/transcripts/0208xxjosh.html :

Q. The Desert Sessions - how did that influence the way you and Nick wrote this album?

I think the Queen's records are more like a very focused Desert Sessions than anything else because they are a collaboration and we're sort of like party coordinators more than anything, because we bring in people.

[www.basetendencies.com] http://www.basetendencies.com/interview/NMESept03.html :

"This is about a creosote bush, which is a kind of plant that grows in the desert. It's like a song someone from the movie deliverance would play. For this song, Alain Johannes and Dean Ween had met each other for about four minutes. Alain just walked over to Dean with a guitar and said 'Hi, my name's Alain, here's a guitar.' They sat on the porch and did this song. Pigfuckers."

I'm assuming the info presented by myself and Mark is not enough to get the band in.

What other information is needed to get DS included as a band?