Queens of the Stone Age have spent the last three decades rewriting the rulebook of heavy alternative rock and they have never given a damn about conforming. Led by the incomparable Josh Homme, this band has snarled, seduced, and stomped their way into the musical stratosphere. Now, they are standing on the precipice of releasing their highly anticipated ninth studio album, Perfecth, slated for a global takeover on October 30 via Matador Records.
If the blistering singles like Easy Street,”Insignificant Other, and the deliciously moody Where The Goth Girls At? are anything to go by, this record is a masterclass in sonic contrast. It’s an album born from a hard-won clarity, blending boundless, menace-fueled distortion with sprawling, supernatural groove. It’s heavy, it’s strange, and it is unapologetically Queens.
But a rock record is only as powerful as the man holding down the engine room. Enter Jon Theodore. Since locking behind the kit in 2013, Theodore’s monstrous, precise, and deeply physical drumming has given QOTSA an entirely new dimension of rhythmic fury. He doesn’t just keep time; he drives the chaos, acting as the precise heartbeat to Homme’s jagged guitar eccentricities.With monumental tour announcements locked and loaded for later this week and the band set to hit Australia this December, the band is prepping to tear global stages to shreds once again. Naturally, here at HEAVY , we couldn’t pass up the chance to dig deep into the stomach of this new beast.
“We’re feeling very optimistic about it,” Jon smiled when asked how he was feeling about the albums impending release on October 30. “I don’t know if optimistic’s the right word… I think proud is the right word. It was a labour of love, and it came on the heels of almost losing Josh. He got so sick he almost died, so our band kind of evaporated and we almost… we weren’t even sure if our friend was gonna make it but he made an amazing recovery. He’s in the best shape. I’ve known him for 25 years and he’s never seemed better than he is now. We were just so overjoyed to have the chance to come back together and make some music, and it bled into the tracks and the concept of the record.”
We press Jon to dive deeper into the album musically and what Queens Of The Stone Age were going for this time around.
“I guess the two main factors in making the record were Josh almost dying, for one, and also the fact that it came on the heels of this Catacombs tour that we did, which was orchestral and wide and beautiful and not rock and roll,” he measured. “We came back together after all that time and we just felt like it was such an honour and such a celebration of life that there was no reason to stand in the way of these ideas that were flowing and that we owed it to ourselves to be ourselves naturally and relate and interact and lean against each other while we were making these songs and tracking them. And so it’s this very fresh side of us that we would have probably been unable to share in the past, but now we’re just so happy to have it out.
Musically, it’s all over the road. It’s like a mixtape. Some of these songs started years ago and we felt like they didn’t have a home on the music we were working on at the time. And some things came right out of the air, just fresh. But we approached it with a lightness and a joy and the confidence that you get when you’re just relying on your instincts and committed to seeing these things through to completion. Every song is different rhythmically and musically. There’s a cohesion to the album as a whole, but I would say musically, it’s all over the road.”
Considering the circumstances and the content of the album, we ask if Perfecth is more an album of hope or despair.
“I would absolutely say it’s an album of hope,” Jon replied. “Despair is a pretty easy trap to fall into, you know? But I think what we all learned watching Josh go through this near-death experience and watching our band dissolve is that all it takes is a little glimmer of hope. And once you can feel the hope part of it, everything sort of comes together in a different light and despair doesn’t enter the equation anymore because it all seems like something that’s making you better and moving you towards the next step in your evolution.”
Besides being a mouthful to say, the very mis-spelling of the title Perfecth suggests greater meaning.
“I think it’s more of the same with the last answer,” Jon explained. “Along with how easy it is to fall into despair, it’s also easy to get narrowed into the vision where you think things need to be perfect because that’s gonna make them great. And it’s always been our ethos that we’re not chasing perfection.
Most of my favourite records are not well-recorded. Technically speaking, they sound like shit. But what’s there is the glue where you can hear the people in the room together and you feel like they have no choice but to be there making this music. It feels so authentic when you can hear the glue between the people and you can hear people moving together. It doesn’t matter whether it speeds up or slows down, whether the amp is blown out or whether there’s a broken drum kit. None of that matters if the song is great and you can feel that glue and the people moving and relying on their instincts and reacting in the moment. When you capture that, that’s what makes things timeless and worth listening to.”
The song Insignificant Other is described in the press release as being the cornerstone of Perfecth, a claim we run by Jon and ask if it is an accurate assesment.
“I think that song represents the essence of the interaction and our particular mode of going after this record,” he nodded. “The actual story is we had spent the day going after a different song – I can’t remember which one it was – but we spent the whole day doing it and we didn’t get it. And we were super frustrated and burnt out and it was like, man, fuck this, we should get out of here.
And the lights were off and we had our jackets on and it was two in the morning and Josh was like, oh, hey, I got these riffs. Let’s just put them down before we leave so I don’t forget them. So we came back and we didn’t even turn the lights on, we rolled the tape and we played through them once and then put them down. We rolled the tape and we knew less than 50% of what was gonna happen. Josh was on the mic while we were tracking being like, okay, here comes that like mini bridge, it’s not quite a chorus and be like, no, no, wait another four. We were literally just moving together just all on our instincts.
When you listen to it, everyone’s doing whatever the fuck they want the whole time, but it has this glue where the essence of it is that we’re so connected and listening to each other so carefully and we’re so all over each other that everyone’s doing whatever they want and it totally flows in this way. We did it once and then it was like all right, cool, we’ll go re-record and we’ll take time getting good sounds and we’ll go after it again. And we tried again and we couldn’t even get close so it was like, wow, I guess that’s it (laughs). I think that’s what makes it the centrepiece of the record. It represents the essence of what this record was all about.”
The icing on the cake is that fans in Australia and New Zealand get the chance to hear the new songs live when Queens Of The Stone Age hit this side of the world in December.
“Oh man, we love it there so much,” Jon enthused. “The people, the landscape, the music, the culture; we can’t wait to get down there. The shows are always so great and we’re gonna be with Primus and Tropical Fuckstorm, which is insane. It’s gonna be so much fun for us to see those guys play every day. It’s gonna be a great, great show. Australian audiences are some of the best in the world and we always feel so at home there.”
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 2026
With special guests Primus and Tropical Fuck Storm
Presented by Double J
Tuesday 8 December – The Drive, Adelaide
Friday 11 December – MyState Bank Arena, Hobart
Sunday 13 December – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Tuesday 15 December – Afterpay Arena, Sydney
Wednesday 16 December – Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle
Friday 18 December – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Sunday 20 December – Spark Arena, Auckland
For complete tour and ticket information visit livenation.com.au
