In his first extensive personal interview in years, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has disclosed that he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
Speaking with Revolver's Steve Appleford, Homme still refused to divulge many details about his diagnosis — other than to say that the surgery to remove the cancer had been successful, but he's still amid the healing process.
"I never say it can't get any worse. I never say that, and I wouldn't advise it. But I do say it can get better," he said. "Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know?"
Again, this was the first in-depth interview the musician has given since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the end of his marriage to Brody Dalle and the "dark turn" the subsequent custody battle for his three kids took. And that's not to mention the recent deaths of friends and colleagues like Mark Lanegan and Taylor Hawkins.
Homme continued, "I'm extremely thankful that I'll get through this, and I'll look back at this as something that's fucked up — but will have made me better. I'm cool with that. There's a lot of stuff I want to do. And there's a lot of people I want to do that with."
Elsewhere in the interview, the singer-songwriter talked at length about how he has leaned on music during this period of upheaval and tumult. "I've got nothing against therapy. I just don't go because I play [music] instead," he explained. "Over the last couple years, I've done a lot of therapy, but at the end of the day, I understand how to proceed, moving forward with the religion that I use — music."
"This has been the darkest four years of my life. But that's OK, too," Homme went on. "In the heartaches, my mistakes, these deaths and my own physical things I'm dealing with — even though all that has occurred and smashed my old life to pieces, those pieces I've been able to build into a ship that's about to launch. I will float into my new life from all those pieces."
QOTSA are releasing their new album — complete with an ominous ellipsis in its title (I guess Homme has earned it?) — In Times New Roman... this Friday (June 16). Homme and co. take the new tunes on a North American tour in the fall.
Speaking with Revolver's Steve Appleford, Homme still refused to divulge many details about his diagnosis — other than to say that the surgery to remove the cancer had been successful, but he's still amid the healing process.
"I never say it can't get any worse. I never say that, and I wouldn't advise it. But I do say it can get better," he said. "Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know?"
Again, this was the first in-depth interview the musician has given since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the end of his marriage to Brody Dalle and the "dark turn" the subsequent custody battle for his three kids took. And that's not to mention the recent deaths of friends and colleagues like Mark Lanegan and Taylor Hawkins.
Homme continued, "I'm extremely thankful that I'll get through this, and I'll look back at this as something that's fucked up — but will have made me better. I'm cool with that. There's a lot of stuff I want to do. And there's a lot of people I want to do that with."
Elsewhere in the interview, the singer-songwriter talked at length about how he has leaned on music during this period of upheaval and tumult. "I've got nothing against therapy. I just don't go because I play [music] instead," he explained. "Over the last couple years, I've done a lot of therapy, but at the end of the day, I understand how to proceed, moving forward with the religion that I use — music."
"This has been the darkest four years of my life. But that's OK, too," Homme went on. "In the heartaches, my mistakes, these deaths and my own physical things I'm dealing with — even though all that has occurred and smashed my old life to pieces, those pieces I've been able to build into a ship that's about to launch. I will float into my new life from all those pieces."
QOTSA are releasing their new album — complete with an ominous ellipsis in its title (I guess Homme has earned it?) — In Times New Roman... this Friday (June 16). Homme and co. take the new tunes on a North American tour in the fall.
