Josh Homme - Queens of The Stone Age - 2022

Credit: Spotify

Josh Homme “wasn’t able to make music” after entering “self-imposed exile” due to grief

Wed 24 May 2023 15:21, UK

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme “wasn’t able to make music” for a period after losing several people close to him which sent him into “self-imposed exile”.

In the last six years since Queens of the Stone Age released Villains, Homme has lost many close friends including Mark Lanegan and Taylor Hawkins. “There were many more that I lost,” he told Visions in a new interview.

“In the last few years I have mourned seven deaths, including those of people really close to me. So by the time the pandemic started, I was in self-imposed exile. I wasn’t able to make music at that time – I wasn’t mentally or emotionally ready for it.”

He continued: “I’ve lost friends, lost my family, and seen the devastation that grief can wreak. In fact, the pandemic has been a blessing in that regard, because it has asked each of us the same simple question: tell me the things that are absolutely important to you, because that’s all you need. Of course the album has a certain complexity, but it actually consists of very simple parts. It’s built from blocks that are a lot dumber than the ones I’ve used in the past.”

Homme was also asked whether Queens of the Stone Age would continue like Foo Fighter if they lost a band member. The frontman replied: “I think the Queens are positioned to resist things that happen to them and incorporate the experiences they have into their own art. It’s the nature of the Queens to always change. Accepting change is part of our DNA. In the case of the Foo Fighters, I think they just have to keep going – to honour Taylor because there’s no way they can love him more than they do. When a person’s journey on this planet comes to an end, I believe that all who remain behind have an obligation to move on.”

In addition to dealing with grief, Homme has been embroiled in a well-publicised divorce from Brody Dalle and custody battle over their children. Earlier this year, he released a statement that read: “In March 2022, the Los Angeles Family Court awarded Joshua Homme sole legal custody of all three children, and they are currently under the care of their father and paternal grandparents. Dalle was granted supervised visitation with their youngest child in the interim.”

It continued: “Joshua Homme will remain the sole legal guardian of all minor children until a custody hearing in the fall of 2023, at which point a more permanent solution will be determined by the Los Angeles Family Court.”

Queens of the Stone Age are scheduled to release their new album In Times New Roman through Matador on June 16th. The new offering was recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La and at Homme’s Pink Duck studios. Unlike Villians, which was produced by Mark Ronson, In Times New Roman was self-produced by the band, with Mark Rankin handling mixing.

Listen to new single ‘Emotion Sickness’ below.