TROY VAN LEEUWEN
Troy Van Leeuwen (born January 5, 1970) is an American rock musician and producer. He is best known as the guitarist for the rock band, Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA), for which he has served since 2002. He is also known for his work with the seminal rock band Failure, and with alternative rock supergroup A Perfect Circle, as well as recordings with QOTSA members’ side projects such as the Desert Sessions, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal, and the Gutter Twins. Van Leeuwen created his first side-project, Enemy, in 2005; Sweethead, in 2008; and Gone Is Gone, in 2016. He toured with Iggy Pop supporting his album Post Pop Depression made with QOTSA bandmates Josh Homme and Dean Fertita. (More from Wikipedia)
Natasha Shneider passed away on July 2, 2008 after being stricken with cancer. The news was first broken on the MySpace site of the band Sweethead; Troy van Leeuwen, who had been a second guitarist with Queens of the Stone Age, is a member of that band and had been a close friend of Shneider. As shown on Wikipedia, the post read: “Natasha Schneider [sic], musician extraordinaire, former actress, singer of the ground-breaking band Eleven, and one-time Queens of the Stone Age keyboard player, died today at 11:11 am of cancer. She was a brilliant, beautiful, and ballsy woman who will be missed deeply by all those who knew her. Send your loving thoughts her way in the universe.”
(April 2015/2)
