Queens of The Stone Age turned to kintsugi, the delicate Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by filling the cracks with molten gold, to create its new album, Perfecth. By embracing this Eastern technique, the California band reflects in their new LP on the process they faced following the recent health issues and personal struggles of vocalist Josh Homme, seeking transformation through the act of repair.
“What has been shattered is made more beautiful, not less, by the act of repair,” Homme tells Billboard Español in a video interview. “That is why the songs on this album speak about different forms of love — for family, for friends and for other people, whether significant or insignificant. There are bonds that sustain us, and others that end up breaking us.”
Homme is excited about this new work, the band’s ninth album, which led him and his bandmates (also including Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar), Dean Fertita (guitar and keyboards) and Jon Theodore (drums)) to work in different studios, cities and moments, even revisiting songs from previous sessions. Such is the case with fourth single “Run Away From the Mob,” originally recorded in 2013 with close collaborator Dave Grohl on the drums. Or “Sunday,” a track originally co-written by Homme for Iggy Pop’s 2016 album Post Pop Depression, in which the Queens frontman actively participated.
Produced by Homme and bassist Michael Shuman, this nine-track LP, released Friday (Oct. 30) through Matador Records, was born from sessions recorded in places from New Orleans to Los Angeles, achieving a production that Homme describes as “very raw, very natural sounding.”
“I think a lot of these things were played all in a room together with all the band members together,” explains the 53-year-old frontman. “And so, you want things to sound as if you are sitting in the middle of the room with us. And so, it’s very much like the ’70s, where it feels like you’re sitting in the room. And, so that’s kind of the overall sound of this record.”
The result is a dark, emotional album that goes beyond the band’s relentless stoner rock. In just 36 minutes — Queens’ shortest album to date — tracks such as powerful second single “Insignificant Other,” as well as “Where The Goth Girls At?,” “Mono,” “From The Cliff,” “Easy Street” and “Phantom Limb,” masterfully flirt with genres like art rock, jazz, folk and country blues.
Following the surreal experience Homme and his bandmates had in 2024 when they entered the Catacombs of Paris to record a performance that turned into an almost heroic feat, due to the technical and human complexity involved — captured in live EP and film Alive In The Catacombs — the singer-songwriter reflects on the importance of geographical changes when recording their new songs.
“I think in New Orleans, what you witness is people being their individual selves, and so it inspires you to wanna do the same,” he says. “What is my individual sound? And I think the, the sort of magic and the grittiness and even the weather in New Orleans, it really, it affects you quite a bit. And so you feel like New Orleans is all over you. And I like being trapped in that feeling.
“It feels like there’s no escape, and that there’s a interesting story that’s happening, you know,” he continues. “Because especially in a city like New Orleans, you’re not just in the studio. We’re, we’re walking home and walking there at night, and it’s 10 blocks, and you’re in the swamp and, you know, there’s a bar across the street. There’s parades going by. You kinda get swept up in the moment there, you know. It’s nice.”
With the release of their new album, the band will embark on an extensive arena tour across the U.S. in the spring of 2027, featuring alternative rock legends Pixies and hip-hop group Wheelchair Sports Camp. The Perfecth World Tour kicks off May 1 in San Diego and will conclude its North American leg with a show in Boston on May 24.
Prior to that, the band will perform at several international venues, including stops in Latin America. In Mexico City, Queens of the Stone Age will play their first non-festival concert since 2014 on March 6 at the Estadio de los Deportes, alongside New York alt-rockers Interpol. Days later, they will headline Lollapalooza Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
“Mexico is like an exotic stop to me. But also, growing up in Southern California, just that culture feels like home to me as well,” Homme says. “And I also think with a band like Interpol that is very dark, it makes for just a nice combination, you know?… They seem to have, this very, intense relationship with Mexico City and Mexico as well. So that’s why we were talking about doing this together.”
