Instead, says co-frontman Jesse Hughes, the band members aspire to play death metal as if they were The Eagles.

The band was formed in 1998 by Hughes and his best friend from high school, Josh Homme, best known for leading the Queens of the Stone Age. "Rock 'n' roll is the f-------- best job in the world," Hughes said in a phone interview as he walked down Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Eagles of Death Metal became a distraction to Homme after the Queens of the Stone Age had a rock radio hit with "No One Knows" in 2002. But now that the Queens are on a hiatus, Homme and Hughes have recorded "Heart On," their third album, released Oct. 28.

Both groups can be described as experiments in heavy riff-based stoner-rock. As for his participation, Hughes was modest. "I rode my friend's coattails," he said. "I have the ability to appreciate what I have."

Hughes recently received what he called the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to create a menu item at Denny's, a restaurant he said he has lived in for years.

"A boy like me has no place handling food," Hughes said, but he met with Denny's executive chef - after learning that Denny's does in fact have an executive chef - and created "Heart on a Plate." The dish, which was on the all-nighter menu for a limited time, consisted of heart-shaped pancakes on top of chocolate sauce, covered in raspberry sauce and white chocolate chips.

Hughes said he chose the white chocolate chips because he didn't want to be called a racist - and also because he considers them "yummy."

Opening band The Duke Spirit is from London and was scheduled to open a winter tour with Scars on Broadway until that gig fell apart. Within an hour of the tour cancellation, Duke Spirit drummer Olly Betts said, Homme called the band and asked it to open for the Eagles of Death Metal. "It was brilliant," said Betts.

The English band, fronted by a woman, is a band much like the Eagles of Death Metal in that both pay a huge debt to the fuzzy grunge of the early 1990s. The band has another connection to its tourmates: Its latest album, "Neptune," was produced by Queens of the Stone Age producer Chris Goss.

Goss brought The Duke Spirit to his home recording studio (with only one swamp cooler) in the middle of the Mojave Desert. "It was the hottest place on Earth," Betts said. "But it wasn't like Abbey Road. It wasn't uptight."

That might serve as a metaphor for the tour, which seems the opposite of uptight.

David Burger writes about popular music. Contact him at dburger@sltrib.com or 801-257-8620.

Eagles of Death Metal

When » Nov. 5. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Where » Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, Salt Lake City

Tickets » $15 in advance, $17 day of, at SmithsTix