Demon Cleaner is a song by American rock band

Kyuss Kyuss ( ) was an American rock band, formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987. The band disbanded in 1995, and since then, members of Kyuss have gone on to form or play in several notable bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, D ...

. It was released as the first single from their third album ''

Welcome to Sky Valley ''Welcome to Sky Valley'' (also known as ''Sky Valley'' and ''Kyuss'') is the third studio album by American rock band Kyuss. It was released on June 28, 1994, through Elektra and Chameleon Records. Background and composition ''Welcome to Sky ...

'' in 1994. It was written by the band's guitarist

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

Release

Released as a single in September 1994, "Demon Cleaner" was Kyuss' biggest hit. The

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to the single, "Day One (To Chris and Dave)", is apparently dedicated to surviving

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

band members

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician and activist. He was the bassist and co-founder of the rock band Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the band Nirvana in 1987 along with drummer Aaron Burckhard, wh ...

and

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

as it was released after the death of Nirvana band leader,

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

. In 2000, the song "Demon Cleaner" was re-released on '' Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss'', which although was promoted as a "best of" album was actually mostly a collection of b-sides, live tracks and rarities.

Reception

In their review of ''Welcome to Sky Valley'', ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' tells the reader to "cleanse your mind with "Demon Cleaner"". A review by the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The pu ...

'' stated "Psychedelic hard rock enthusiasts rejoice! Elektra Records treats you to more groove-infested rock from Kyuss with the release of "Demon Cleaner", a four-song EP featuring three live tracks recorded at the Marquee Club in Hamburg. Squirrely guitar licks layered with Sabbath-styled rhythms, severe drum bashing and haunting vocals await you when you throw this puppy on." In a retrospective review, ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 60, ...

'' stated, "This song has got it all, you're spellbound from the first second. The vocals on this track are amazing." '' Paste'' rated it number 4 in their ''8 Best Josh Homme Songs''. ''

Guitar.com BandLab Technologies is a Singaporean company that operates a social music platform, called BandLab, and also owns a variety of music-related brands. Founded in 2015, these include Harmony and Heritage Guitars; ''Guitar.com'', ''NME'', ''Uncut'' ...

'' included it in their ''11 Essential Stoner Rock And Metal Tracks To Hear In 2021''. ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' described the song as having a ''monster groove''.

Music video

A review of the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

by ''CMJ'' stated that ''Kyuss produces a pretty dark racket. Unsurprisingly, the band's latest video is filled with characters of sinister and curious''.

Personnel

John Garcia John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

– lead vocals, producer *

– guitar, backing vocals, producer * Scott Reeder – bass, backing vocals, producer *

Brant Bjork Brant Bjork (born March 19, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is perhaps best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss. Bjork played in Vista Chino, along with ...

– drums, producer

Track listings

Australia CD, Europe CD1 (limited edition), Germany CD #"Demon Cleaner" – 5:11 #"Day One (To Chris and Dave)" – 1:50 #"El Rodeo" – 5:24 #"Hurricane" – 2:49 Germany CD2 #"Demon Cleaner" – 5:11 #"Gardenia" (Live) – 6:46 #"Thumb" (Live) – 4:38 #"Conan Troutman" (Live) – 2:18 UK 7" (limited edition) #"Demon Cleaner" – 5:11 #"Freedom Run" (Live) – 7:54 US promo CD #"Demon Cleaner" – 5:11

Charts

Cover versions

"Demon Cleaner" has been covered live by American rock band

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

Use in other media

"Demon Cleaner" featured in the 2009 videogame '' Guitar Hero: Metallica''.

Legacy

Swedish

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep. ...

band, Demon Cleaner, took their band-name from the Kyuss song.

References

{{Kyuss Songs written by Josh Homme 1994 songs