Pitchfork

n Wouldn't you want to take a break if you lost two friends, underwent knee surgery, got sued, coughed up blood, and were about to have a kid? This year has been, shall we say, memorable for Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. After nine full-throttle years, Homme will finally take a break in January and February of 2006 to concentrate on being a father to his unborn child with fiancée Brody Dalle of the Distillers.

In a phone interview with Pitchfork last week, Homme also revealed that there will be two more Queens shows in Los Angeles to cap off the year, as well as one more "renegade" gig, possibly in Toronto. He will also drum with side project Eagles of Death Metal for a few shows. Furthermore, Homme said there are plans to release live material from the band's self-titled debut, Rated R, and follow-up, Songs for the Deaf, online.

Hoping that "next year will be about creating instead of being a salesman," Homme enthusiastically expressed a wish to work with producer extraordinaire the RZA and electro raunch maven Peaches, whom Homme says, "rocks harder than almost every guy I've ever seen." Maybe a new genre can be born out of all this: stoner metal dance-hop?

Homme admits the band's latest album, Lullabies to Paralyze has been "divisive," referring to his acrimonious split with bassist Nick Oliveri. On his relationship with Oliveri, Homme said, "I love Nick, but I am not on good terms with him." When asked if there was a chance for a reunion, Homme replied that it was only possible if there was "any chance of his head getting together."

As previously reported, the Queens' first DVD/CD, the live set Over the Years and Through the Woods, will be out November 22. The package contains no overdubs and was filmed in London. Homme says that the UK was the first country to embrace QOTSA because of its "dry sense of humor." For a band that describes its music as "equal parts stupid and cerebral without pretension," dry humor is a must. That and lots and lots of, um, substances.

Comparing the band to Ween, Homme described QOTSA's modus operandi like so: "I don't know where it's going, but it's going to where it's supposed to go." Confucius couldn't have said it better.

We do know where they're going for the next week or so, and that's on the final stretch of their current tour with Nine Inch Nails. Here are those dates, one more time:

11-08 Boston, MA - Fleet Center *
11-09 Boston, MA - Newbury Comics (renegade show)
11-10 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Center *
11-11 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre *
11-14 Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre *
11-16 Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Arena *
11-17 Calgary, Alberta - Saddledome Arena *
11-19 Oakland, CA - Oakland Arena *

* with Nine Inch Nails, Death From Above 1979, Autolux

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-10/31.shtml#queensofthestoneage">Queens of the Stone Age Prep Live DVD/CD
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