Josh Homme discussed how Queens of the Stone Age’s new album Perfecth marks a turning point for the band, speaking on NME. The frontman explained his view of an artist’s career as three distinct phases, each with its own purpose and challenges.
Homme was asked what the album’s position as the start of the band’s third act means to him and how he approaches the music from this new place.
Question: “Josh, you’ve said that this new album, Perfecth, is the beginning of the band’s third act. What does that mean to you, and how do you approach the music from here?”
“Well, I just felt that if the Catacombs should ever happen, then it would signal a moment to pivot,” Homme said. “I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but I’ve always felt that every artist has three phases that you go through. It’s important not to rush through them.”
“When you’re starting out and you think you’re doing things that the world has never seen before, which is a thought that only someone in their twenties could have. Then the second phase of this you understand where you’re at and you start to understand what’s possible and start to push boundaries.”
“For me, that second phase was war and attack, to push buttons and look for chaos and thrive in that. That third act is about searching for peace somehow, and taking part in being a part of not just your own peace but others as well; allowing things that were maybe terrifying previously to just be terrifying and accept them, but what do I know?”
The remarks came as Homme discussed the album Perfecth and what it represents for the band’s future direction.
The Catacombs of Paris performance in July 2024 served as the defining moment that led Homme to view Perfecth as the beginning of the band’s third act. Queens of the Stone Age played a completely acoustic set in the historic underground tunnels, an experience Homme described as the realization of one of his teenage dreams. The concert was recorded and released as the film Alive in the Catacombs, along with an accompanying documentary called Alive in Paris and Before.
The Paris Catacombs experience had a profound impact on the making of Perfecth. During the recording and filming in the underground tunnels, Homme was seriously ill and in intense physical pain. Shortly after the July 2024 performance, he underwent emergency surgery, forcing Queens of the Stone Age to cancel the remainder of their 2024 European tour. Within about 20 hours of performing in the Catacombs, Homme was being sedated and put under for the operation.
Perfecth finds the hard rock band turning down the volume and ruminating on all of love’s dimensions. The album was produced by Homme and bassist Michael Shuman and was born from sessions recorded in places from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Homme described the production as “very raw, very natural sounding,” and the record was preceded by the single “Easy Street,” which featured Nikki Lane and marked the band’s first collaborative single. In discussing the album’s themes with Billboard, Homme used the concept of kintsugi, a Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery, explaining: “What has been shattered is made more beautiful, not less, by the act of repair. There are bonds that sustain us, and others that end up breaking us.”
