Josh Homme spent “seven months in bed” as he battled a health issue last year.
The 52-year-old singer’s group Queens of the Stone Age cancelled the remainder of their 2024 performances last August because of the frontman’s undisclosed medical problems and he’s now reflected on the period, but thinks it was “better” he was “unwell” while the band completed their 20-year-long dream of recording at Paris’ Catacombs amid their European tour.
He recalled to Consequence of Sound: “I was in a very difficult physical spot, and I’m really thankful that I was, actually.
“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.”
Less than a day later, Josh returned to the US and was sedated for emergency surgery.
He added: “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.”
Fortunately, by December, Josh was told by doctors he was going to be OK and he was excited to get back to work.
He reflected: “I felt like a rodeo bull leaning on the gate. It’s like, when you open this f****** gate, I’m gonna run. I’m gonna run.”
Although the No One Knows hitmaker has not made the details of his illness public for privacy reasons, it wasn’t his first medical scare because in 2023, he revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer the year before and had undergone successful surgery to remove it.
He told Revolver magazine: “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.
“Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know? I’m extremely thankful that I’ll get through this, and I’ll look back at this as something that’s f****d up — but will have made me better. 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.”