Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age
by Missy Suicide for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Queens of the Stone Age frontman and the most rockin' man in showbiz, Josh Homme, had an early morning call with me after a late night of partying to talk about life on the road, midgets, and his new naughty video for the single “3’s and 7’s” that premiered on SuicideGirls,

Try to keep up with our stream of consciousness while streaming QOTSA's new album, Era Vulgaris (Interscope), on QOTSA.com.

Missy Suicide: You guys have been busy since the last time we talked.

Josh Homme: Yeah.

MS: We premiered your naughty version of the “3’s and 7’s” video yesterday on SuicideGirls.

JH: Oh, sweet. What a place to do it, where it can really get understood and appreciated.

MS: Exactly. Everybody thought the girls in the video were Suicide Girls, though. Next time you’ve got to come to us for the hot ladies.

JH: I know. We should have done that, actually.

MS: It seemed like the video may have been inspired by your time growing up in the desert. Was it kind of a fantasy, your being buried alive by four hot girls in a muscle car?

JH: Well, I think being buried alive by four hot girls in a muscle car is every guy’s fantasy, you know. I also think that when things get kooky, they always end up in my desert.

MS: Yeah, I’m sure that you have lots of crazy stories from growing up in the desert.

JH: Well, you know, you can do whatever you want there.

MS: It’s kind of like Vegas, whatever happens in the desert stays in the desert.

JH: Yeah, mostly, except you’re supposed to tell people when you do it in my desert. You’re supposed to brag about it because there’s nothing else going on there. You really need to tell someone so that someone else believes you, finally. It’s all about doing one another out.

MS: Everybody all over the message board yesterday was talking about how they wanted to see the actual “3’s and 7’s” movie.

JH: Well, that was why this guy made a trailer for what his idea was to make this movie.

MS: Oh. So there could be a “3’s and 7’s” movie.

JH: There could be, yeah. You know, he definitely picked up on the fact that 3’s and 7’s were prime numbers and these girls were these prime movers. I was like, “Whatever that is.” As long as someone gets shot and there’s that guy, the colonel, I’m stoked. If there’s already some fine ass, that’s just everything I need. It’s sort of like all the vitamins you need every day.

MS: [Laughs] In addition to the new album, you have made a new baby since we last spoke.

JH: Yeah, it’s like a little midget in there.

MS: I read an interview where you said that she was the smallest thing you’d had in your house since having two midgets at a party.

JH: Yeah.

MS: What kind of a party was that?

JH: It was a birthday party, you know, I think midgets really divide the room. Some people are for them and some people are vehemently against them.

MS: Did you have a town hall-style debate about the midgets?

JH: No, no, because I don’t like to give choice when it comes to my midgets. You know, I like to force them on people.

MS: Nice. Does your daughter go out on the road with you?

JH: Yeah, sometimes.

MS: You guys are a pretty infamous party band when you’re out on the road.

JH: Yeah, but I’m all about balance. I always have been. You know, if you go out and party with somebody they write about that, because that’s all they know. But I know more than that.

MS: So you have quiet at home time, too.

JH: Yeah, I mean, you’ve got to have a Sunday mixed with a Saturday every once in a while.

MS: That’s true. Has being a father changed your songwriting at all?

JH: Not really the songwriting. I still feel the same way I’ve always felt except I feel that even more. It’s like balance has always been the key for me. I am a slave to no thing except love.

MS: Oh, so sweet.

JH: [Laughs] See? See, who knew?

MS: That’s the line that gets all the ladies.

JH: [Laughs] Especially my little tiny one.

MS: What’s up with Jesse and when is the next Eagles of Death Metal album due out?

JH: Well, we’re going to release a new Mustache hopefully; we’re shooting for Valentine’s Day. It’s looking kind of tough, it might not make it, but it just seems like such a perfect day.

MS: Oh, it would be quite a love letter for the ladies.

JH: It would, especially because the album is titled Heart On. It might not happen but we’re trying. We’re definitely going to have to show our Heart On to the world.

MS: Speaking of Heart On, the new album is sexier than a Barry White jam. Are you thinking about making the girls quake when they hear your records?

JH: Oh yeah, this is about shaking hip and not being hip. There’s just not enough of that in rock and roll right now.

MS: It’s true. It has gotten a little emotional about breakups and stuff like that.

JH: And films about kids living at their mom’s place and stuff. Like, you know, sweater theft, stuff like that, that’s not cool to me.

MS: Maybe they’re living with their parents more because of the state of the economy and all of that.

JH: Yeah, and their total fear of having to do anything themselves. See, I’m not like that. I wanted to get out of my folks’ house and that’s why I left when I was seventeen.

MS: And never looked back?

JH: Yeah, I never looked back, because I just wanted to have a fake ID and the chance to use it.

MS: [Laughs] Not many opportunities to use your fake ID in the desert?

JH: No, you’ve got to make the opportunities; you can’t wait for the world to card you. You need to card yourself.

MS: So QOTSA is about shaking up the kids, get them out of the comfy parents’ home?

JH: Yeah, and getting them out of their comfy pants, that’s what I say.

MS: Get out of the comfy pants and into the tight pants.

JH: Yeah, tight pants everybody.

MS: You guys are getting ready to go back out on the road. Are you excited to be traveling in the winter?

JH: Yeah, because that means I can wear all these cool jackets I’ve had in my closet.

MS: Nice. You’re going to be out in some very cold locales -- Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario…

JH: Yeah, I know. We’re going to have to, like, barely touch them with one finger or something it’s going to be so cold.

MS: Don’t lick them.

JH: Yeah, just finger them, just barely.

MS: [Laughs] In addition to the sexual undertones there is also an undercurrent of black comedy that defines this record.

JH: Well, we’ve always had a dark sense of humor, you know, I mean a sick sense of humor. I think that’s why I like Bulby because he can say all the things that I want to say and just don’t sometimes.

MS: [Laugh] So the light bulb characters are kind of your alter egos? You can be as rude or as vulgar as you want through them.

JH: Yeah, it’s kind of like our pansexual spokes-model.

MS: [Laughs] Excellent. You never know what’s going to happen with Bulby.

JH: Yeah, and we haven’t even turned him on yet, you know what I mean. He still hasn’t been lit up.

MS: Oh, well there’s the pirate bulb and the broken bulb. Can the broken bulb light up?

JH: That’s my question. We don’t know yet. We haven’t got there.

MS: On your last tour you reached out to some smaller towns?

JH: Yeah, we went out to Duluth for what we call the Duluth tour.

MS: Not many big rock bands get out there.

JH: No, it turns out, everyone told us that only Nickelback went where we went.
We were like, “Wow, that’s not good.” But they get fucking crazy out there. We were flashed more boobs and ass during the show than in any regular tour and, you know, people were sending shots to the stage. That doesn’t normally happen. It was very working class.

MS: Maybe they wanted to treat you, to thank you for finally coming to their town and saving them from Nickleback.

JH: Yeah, indeed, so, shots of ass all around, that’s what I say. I want to go back and do that tour again. That was awesome.

MS: That’s a pretty ringing endorsement for Duluth, maybe more groups will go.

JH: Yeah, go to Montana. Shots and ass, shots of ass, get there.

MS: [Laughs] When you were growing up, probably not a lot of the bands came to the desert.

JH: No, none did, that’s what inspired me, it was just Billy Idol. I loved Billy Idol because of that and Billy Idol slept with my friend’s sister, you know.

MS: He did?

JH: Yeah, so for years I tried to sleep with her too. When I finally did, when I left, I shut the door I was like, “Billy Idol.”

MS: [Laughs] Did you curl your lip?

JH: Yeah, I did right at the moment of impact.

MS: Did you let out a rebel yell?

JH: Yeah, I always do. She did, she cried, “More, more, more.”

MS: Excellent. Do you feel like you have the perfect band lineup after years of back and forth with different musicians?

JH: Yeah, I do actually. It feels so good. It feels like we’re going to win first prize at the massage therapy tent. I feel like finally, I get my happy ending. It’s awesome.

MS: So you think this lineup is going to stick around for a bit?

JH: Absolutely. I can’t see one reason for it to change; the only person left to get rid of would be me.

MS: Without you it wouldn’t be the same.

JH: Well, there’d be a lot less hugs, that’s for sure. I’m the one that keeps the hugs going, you know. But maybe someday they’ll get sick of my velvet touch.

MS: How do you manage to stay on top of so many different projects and not lose your head?

JH: I have musical schizophrenia and I don’t take the medication and therefore it makes doing many projects fun and easy. Also, I think I’m talking to God and then Mo from the Three Stooges and all this weird shit. It’s a beautiful thing, you know.

MS: You tour mainly with QOTSA. Do you ever get to tour with The Eagles of Death Metal?

JH: Well, I mean, I’m really jealous that I don’t get to tour with them more because you know, that’s like my beautiful mistress and I love Jesse so much and Brian and Dave and it’s hard not to want to get all over them, you know.

MS: Nice. So I read that you play for the respect of your peers. That’s a pretty impressive thing since most rock stars seem to be about pissing each other off.

JH: No, I don’t care about money or chicks or fame. I like to play for respect, you know. I want people to say, “You know what, they worked harder and were more consistent and did their thing better than everybody else.”

MS: Well, I think you guys certainly do work hard and we appreciate what you do, all the rocking and the loving.

JH: Well, I appreciate what you girls do too.

MS: [Laughs] Alright, thank you so much for taking the time to hang out.

JH: You got it. I’ll talk to you later.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Josh+Homme+of+Queens+of+the+Stone+Age/