Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme spent seven months bed-ridden with illness: “I was in a very difficult physical spot”

Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Josh Homme has revealed that he spent seven months in bed with an illness after filming their new ‘Alive In The Catacombs’ set.

• READ MORE: Queens Of The Stone Age – ‘Alive In The Catacombs’ review: moving and meditative concert doc

In July 2024, the band cancelled their European tour while partway through it due to Homme needing “emergency surgery”. No details have been given about the surgery so far.

Now, he’s revealed that his health issues came at the same time as the band were planning to record an intimate live set within the Catacombs of Paris – something that had been a 20-year-long goal.

In a new interview with Consequence, the frontman shared that, before heading home from the tour, the band chose to stay and complete the recording, despite being in intense pain.

“I was in a very difficult physical spot, and I’m really thankful that I was, actually,” Homme told the publication. “I couldn’t think about anything else but where we were. It’s better that I was unwell, because I think if I was well, we would’ve maybe been more ‘California’ about it and thought ‘Man, it’s so cool to be here…’ And something about that kind of sucks.”

“Being there was a great difficulty and required overcoming a lot just to walk down the steps. So it felt like we’d earned the right to be there. That felt necessary somehow,” he said.

“That’s why I say that place dominated so hard. We’re actually not that important. I know we’re playing it, but this gave us a chance to strip everything down to barebones – to take a cue from the Catacombs – and reveal what these songs are. It was a desperate attempt to play something nice for an audience that’s been stuck in a place for hundreds of years.”

Less than a day later, he returned to the US for emergency surgery, as he explained: “I performed in the Catacombs, and within about 20 hours I was being sedated and put under.

“Then I spent the next seven months in bed. I had a lot of time to think, you know? I was told I was gonna spend 18 months, two years there, so I was not excited.”

The frontman has also dealt with a cancer diagnosis in recent years, which in late 2023 he revealed he had received the “all clear” for.

In a four-star review of the ‘Alive In The Catacombs’ concert doc, NME wrote: “So immersive is the California rockers’ starkly beautiful Thomas Rames-directed and Blogothèque-produced half-hour live film Alive In The Catacombs, that it’s easy to get lost – as you might while navigating the tunnels and ossuaries beneath the French capital.

“What’s more, this ain’t no standard stripped-back Live Lounge kinda affair. Homme and co are aided by a supporting cast of six million souls whose skulls line the walls.”

In July, the band announced an intimate 2025 UK and European leg of ‘The Catacombs Tour’.

The shows will take place just before they embark on their ‘Catacombs’ leg in North America. Kicking off in Milan on October 18, the tour will see them travelling through Berlin, Amsterdam and more, before ending with a huge final show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on October 29. You can find tickets here.

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