Queens of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme has been diagnosed with cancer. In an exclusive interview with Revolver magazine, the hitmaker opened up about his battle.
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The “No One Knows” singer did not confirm the specific type, but said he was diagnosed last year and recently underwent surgery to remove it. Homme told the outlet that the procedure was “successful” and that he’s still healing. The artist admitted that he often gets an “occasional twinge” of pain.
“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,” he explained. “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.”
The health scare comes on the heels of a tumultuous few years. While receiving treatment, he was grieving the death of friends Mark Lanegan and Taylor Hawkins. Homme was also in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Brody Dalle over his three children.
“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,” said Homme. “Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know?”
Despite his latest obstacles, he turned to longtime collaborators – Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita, Michael Shuman, and drummer Jon Theodore to cultivate their forthcoming album, In Time New Roman.
Homme declared that music became an outlet and an artistic way to reveal his rollercoaster-like emotions.
“I’ve got nothing against therapy. I just don’t go because I play [music] instead,” he shared. “Over the last couple of 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.”
The 10-song collection will include “Carnavoyeur” and “Emotion Sickness,” two tracks they previously released as previews. The highly anticipated LP will follow their critically acclaimed 2017 album, Villains. The record is expected to arrive on Friday, June 16.
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