Episode 1649 - Josh Homme

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast Episode 1649 - Josh Homme Release Date: June 5, 2025

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1. Introduction to Josh Homme and His Artistic Vision

In this deeply engaging episode, Marc Maron welcomes Josh Homme, the charismatic frontman of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal. The conversation delves into Josh's innovative projects, including the groundbreaking "Queens of the Stone Age Alive in the Catacombs," which saw the band perform acoustic sets deep within the historic Paris Catacombs.

Josh Homme [00:10]: "Taking Queens of the Stone Age down into the catacombs was something I always dreamed of. It allowed us to explore our music in a space steeped in history and mystery."

2. Collaboration with Iggy Pop and Artistic Synergy

Maron reminisces about previous collaborations with Iggy Pop, highlighting the unique dynamic between them. Josh shares insights into working with the legendary artist, emphasizing mutual respect and creative freedom.

Josh Homme [16:05]: "Iggy is a one in seven billion kind of artist. Collaborating with him was surreal because he brings a raw authenticity that's unmatched."

They discuss the challenges and rewards of merging their distinct musical styles, leading to a harmonious creation that honors Iggy's legacy while infusing Homme's modern edge.

3. Personal Struggles and Near-Death Experiences

A significant portion of the conversation touches on Josh's personal battles, including a severe MRSA infection and a recent bout with cancer. These experiences have profoundly shaped his outlook on life and music.

Josh Homme [27:30]: "Every time I face death, I feel more alive than ever. It's like a reset button that pushes me to create more authentically."

Maron probes into how these near-death experiences influence his creative process, with Josh articulating a newfound appreciation for life's fragility and the urgent need to express himself through music.

4. Reflecting on Loss and Grief

The traumatic events of the 2015 terrorist attack on the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris are discussed with raw honesty. Josh recounts the chaos, his near miss with tragedy, and the deep emotional scars left by the loss of friends and fans.

Josh Homme [40:08]: "Losing those friends was a wound that never fully heals. But returning to perform in the catacombs was my way of honoring their memory."

They explore the complexities of grief, with Josh emphasizing the importance of presence and empathy in coping with unimaginable loss.

5. Recording in the Paris Catacombs: An Intimate Artistic Endeavor

The heart of the episode centers on the unique experience of recording music in the Paris Catacombs. Marc and Josh discuss the logistical challenges, the eerie yet inspiring ambiance, and the improvisational nature of the sessions.

Josh Homme [76:49]: "Playing in the catacombs was like entering an entirely different realm. The space dictated our every move, pushing us to adapt and innovate."

The conversation highlights how the restricted environment fostered a deeper connection between the band members and their music, resulting in performances that are both haunting and beautiful.

6. The Role of Music and Aging in an Artist's Journey

Marc and Josh delve into the inevitable process of aging as an artist. They discuss maintaining relevance, evolving creatively, and the emotional toll of continual public performance.

Josh Homme [58:44]: "A musician's career is like a spinning planet—it needs to keep evolving. Stagnation is death."

They reflect on legends like Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, examining how different artists navigate their legacy while staying true to their artistic integrity.

7. Embracing Vulnerability and Moving Forward

The dialogue culminates in a profound discussion on vulnerability, acceptance, and moving beyond fear. Josh shares his philosophy on confronting the void within and the importance of nurturing meaningful relationships.

Josh Homme [48:02]: "When things get tough, don't look away. Stare into the void and realize you don't need to be afraid."

Maron and Josh emphasize the necessity of embracing both the light and dark aspects of life, using music as a medium to process and transcend personal struggles.

8. Conclusion: A Testament to Resilience and Creativity

As the episode concludes, Marc and Josh reflect on the intertwined paths of their lives—marked by creativity, loss, and relentless pursuit of artistic expression. The conversation leaves listeners with a sense of hope and admiration for Josh Homme's resilience and unwavering dedication to his craft.

Josh Homme [87:39]: "Music is the only medium that's never wrong. It’s a vessel that carries us through our darkest times."

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Notable Quotes:

• Josh Homme [00:10]: "Taking Queens of the Stone Age down into the catacombs was something I always dreamed of. It allowed us to explore our music in a space steeped in history and mystery."
• Josh Homme [16:05]: "Iggy is a one in seven billion kind of artist. Collaborating with him was surreal because he brings a raw authenticity that's unmatched."
• Josh Homme [27:30]: "Every time I face death, I feel more alive than ever. It's like a reset button that pushes me to create more authentically."
• Josh Homme [40:08]: "Losing those friends was a wound that never fully heals. But returning to perform in the catacombs was my way of honoring their memory."
• Josh Homme [76:49]: "Playing in the catacombs was like entering an entirely different realm. The space dictated our every move, pushing us to adapt and innovate."
• Josh Homme [58:44]: "A musician's career is like a spinning planet—it needs to keep evolving. Stagnation is death."
• Josh Homme [48:02]: "When things get tough, don't look away. Stare into the void and realize you don't need to be afraid."
• Josh Homme [87:39]: "Music is the only medium that's never wrong. It’s a vessel that carries us through our darkest times."

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This episode offers a compelling mix of personal anecdotes, philosophical reflections, and insights into the creative process, making it a must-listen for fans of Josh Homme and those interested in the intricate tapestry of life behind the music.

Transcript

[Marc Maron]

Lock the gate. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the. What the Buddies? What the Nicks? What's happening? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast. Wtf? How's it going? Okay. How are you? I know, I know. I understand. Believe me, I understand how you're feeling. But I'm around, and I'm still having the good talks. I mean, today I talked to Josh Homme, and it was crazy. It was crazy. I hadn't talked to him in a while. He's been on before, and it was kind of crazy the last time, but, you know, it's like, people who do things, who create things. He took the Queens of the Stone Age with down into the catacombs and In Paris with acoustic instruments and did one of the most stunning bunch of songs that I've ever seen shot. And it's crazy. And it's like, where does that come from? And he'd always wanted to do it. And obviously, he's an interesting guy that's been through a lot of stuff, and seriously, a fairly expansive and amazing artist. But they sent me this stuff. His person was like. They just did this singing the Catacombs. Like, what? And no one's ever been allowed down there. And just the. The inspiration and the. The. The need to make it happen took a lot of years. But isn't. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? You know, there's been a lot of revelations over the last few days, and I am grateful and amazed at the feedback and feelings that are coming at me because of our announcement that we're winding the show down over the next few months. And it's very moving, and there's certainly a sadness to it, and we're not gonna make every one of these episodes a reflection on the decision, but, boy, I didn't know it would have ripples around the world. And I know. Look, I appreciate the part I play in everyone's life, and I appreciate the part you play in my life, and I'm just gonna keep going here, but it's all very exciting. But there is. Look, I acknowledge the void. And it's weird because we talk about the void in a general sense that, you know, everyone's got a void that they're trying to fill, at least those of us who know what I'm talking about, which is most of you. You know, you can't stop moving or thinking or dancing around the edge of this inner void that, you know, there's plenty of solutions. You know, You've got the, the God sized hole idea, which is not the one I go with, but it's there, you know, and when you make a big decision in your life or you change your life dramatically, or, you know, you realize that something is going to be missing, it becomes a little more difficult to not acknowledge and, you know, reckon with the void. The void. You know, usually you're dancing around the edge and then all of a sudden something happens in your life and you're just sitting on the edge and you're kind of, you know, inching a little bit toward you kind of tempting yourself to fall into that void. But I had this realization thanks to you folks, and just thinking about it was an interesting thing. All right, so the night before I told you guys what was up. I didn't know how to feel, you know, and I was alone in my house and I knew I was going to, to sort of, kind of lay this on you, on the precipice of doing it. I had interesting feelings. You know, it's like, it's, it's, it's not quite like a breakup, but it's just a slow, sort of a slow farewell. But I felt, I felt things. You know, I was on that, that void or that feeling or that like, what's going to happen? Where am I going to go? What? And I realized like, you know, the void is. It can be anything. You know, it's a slight shift to see it as like a despairing, bleak, you know, terrifying, you know, black hole of ill defined but not good. Or you can see it as this world of possibility, you know, maybe even happiness, or that when you take an element out of your life or you're preparing to do that or whatever, it's, it's horrifying and, and it's, it's, it's painful. But on the other side of that, all of a sudden you open up the life to other possibilities, whatever they may be, you know, whether they're professional or personal or, or just space. But there is a, an elevating feeling to that, but it's grounded in, you know, all the things, you know, sadness, terror, you know, the things. But I had another realization the other day that I think I'll share with you because yesterday I interviewed Sarah Sherman from snl and I always wanted to talk to her because I think she's a true blue weirdo who does unique shit. And I don't really know her, but I'm a fan and we had a great conversation. You'll hear that whenever we put it up, but it was truly one of the beauties. But she. She came over with a friend, her best friend. I think her name was Ruby. And. And Ruby hung out, you know, out on the porch while Sarah and I talking. When. Then after the. The conversation, I went out there and I noticed Ruby. And she's got to be in her, you know, early 30s or whatever. She's reading Faulkner. And not just Faulkner, but the Sound and the Fury, right? And this is a book that kind of changed my entire life somehow. And I was just so thrilled. I was like, oh, my God, someone's reading the Sound and the Fury. A young person is like, you know, is in the Faulkner. And I kind of. I lit up, and I was like, which section are you on? Are you on the Benjy section? Where are you at? And she said, she's on the Quentin section. I'm like, oh, Quentin doesn't end well for Quentin. And then, you know, my brain just lit up, and I was like, you know, we started talking about Faulkner. They had both read Absalom. Absalom. And they were just discovering this guy, the greatest writer ever. And then, you know, somehow or another, we got to Bruce Wagner. And you guys know that I'm a Bruce Wagner fan freak. And then I'm, like, showing them my Bruce Wagner books. And then I told her about this book that I had in college by this guy named Clanth Brooks, who was like the Faulkner critic guy. And it was just this feeling of being lit up, you know, by talking to people that, you know, excite you in terms of, you know, what you're interested in and. And what things that, you know, light you up or just to engage on that level, which is something I've done here for years. But, you know, it's available to you. It's available to you out in the world. And it's something that, you know, is of primary importance in the world we live in and in the lives that we live. Isolated on our phones, afraid, full of weird panic, and not really knowing what's going to happen. But, you know, if you have those people, like my buddy Sam Lipside and I, we talk probably every day on the phone. He's in New York. But you, you know, you have to have that. These conversations I've had in here, but in life. In life, to pursue the conversations that excite you and just trigger your passions, trigger your creativity, trigger your. Your understanding of the world, make you laugh. I mean, I know maybe it's a tall order, but those people in your life are essential and they've always been essential to me. And I think there's something about me that some of you have gleaned. You know, I was kind of a, you know, a lost, wandering soul for a lot of my life. Kind of in. I had a very ill defined sense of self and the way I defined that for a good chunk of it creatively was through anger and. But I was always looking for people to show me the way to give me the answers, to give me a new perspective, to make me laugh, to make me think, to blow my mind with creativity, to turn me on whatever it is that, that pursuit in life and then to try to hold on to those relationships that continue to give you that are just essential. And I think that there's something about, you know, being isolated and being locked into patterns or locked into your phone or locked into beating the shit out of yourself or locked into fear or locked into, you know, a kind of despair or stifled creatively. It's like, I mean, there, there are people out there that know how to talk and there are people out there that like what you like, and there are people out there that can spark that excitement about, about art, about life, about, you know, you know, try to stay away from the politics because that never leads to a good place. But just the creativity and the soul nourishing engagements of, of other human beings and is, is fucking essential. And if there's anything that I've learned from doing this show, it's that. But I also, you know, have it in my life and now will, you know, kind of, you know, make sure I nurture those relationships so you don't fall into that void. You don't, you know, sit at home alone on the edge of it, wondering if it's going to suck you in. So look, folks, as I said, Josh Homme's here today. Thank you. Frontman of the Queens of this of the Stone Age and also the band's Kiss the Best, the Eagles of Death Metal. He was on the show back in 2013 talking about the near death experience he had after a MRSA infection. Also, the first three episodes of the series Stick are now on Apple tv. Plus, I'm in that and it's. I think it's going to be touching. And look, folks, if you're making summer vacation plans, you should also be making sure your home is secure while you're away. Okay? 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Simplisafe.com WTF? There's no safe. Like simply safe. Yes. Yes. Oh, my God. And all the previous guests and people in my business have been reaching out and congratulating me and Brendan and saying what an amazing run it's been and what we've contributed and, you know, I don't know, man. I feel like. I feel okay. I feel like the void is filled with possibility and I've been re energized to nurture and pursue relationships with people that bring a lot to my life. And I don't know, I hope you do as well. And I've been doing a lot of comedy. It's very funny when I feel a loss or a pain or. Or a period of sort of floating, like I just lean in and I just go hit the stage, go to the Comedy Store and get up there and kind of yammer. But I'm sort of in a different zone right now. I'm kind of, kind of grounded in zero fucky. It's kind of good to be zero fucky, you know, and just speak your mind. I've been kind of going at the, kind of actively kind of trying to wrap my brain around the. The idea of the manosphere and you know, what that means to culture. Obviously, I've done that for years, I think probably ahead of anyone calling it the manosphere. But it's a very odd thing, you know, these just yammering men behind microphones, you know, spending a lot of time, you know, talking about how they think women should be or what a women's. What a woman's role is and like, to the point where it's obsessive. And sometimes I think, like, why don't you take the women out of the equation and just fuck each other already. Just, just do it. Do us, do us all a favor. Let it go. I mean, there are, there are dudes that I read yesterday that are shaving their eyelashes off because it's, it's too feminine. And they're, they're like doing jaw exercises to make their jaws more, more pronounced. And they're flying to Turkey to get hair transplants. I mean, it just feels in there. They're just eating, you know, raw meat and getting ripped. It just, it feels like they're just evolving into some sort of, you know, gay fuckbot. And I just don't know. I don't know where this all ends up. But I had this idea about, you know, the symbol. There's a symbol, an ancient symbol, the uro burros. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but it's a snake eating its own tail. And it's sort of a symbol for totality, I think, for wholeness, for, you know, it represents a totality. And I sort of had this image in my head that I think that the symbol for the manosphere's totality would be the cock eating its own balls. I was so happy about that one. I was like, oh, this is going to be great. And then people are just sort of like, what? What is he talking about? Underwear, folks. Underwear. It's something you probably don't think about a lot. You just put them on and go about your day. I can tell you from experience that ignoring your underwear will no longer be the case when you start wearing skims for men. 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He's a very energized dude. He just never stops working. And the Queens of the Stone Age Alive in the Catacombs is available at Q O T S A dot com. And this is me talking to Jo. Yeah, that. I don't even know where I got that iggy pillow. But, you know, when I interviewed him years ago, I was kind of amazed because, well, I mean, Rollins Henry said, you know. Well, you know, have you ever met Jim?

[Josh Homme]

Right, Jim.

[Marc Maron]

And I'm like, I don't know what you mean. Like, well, there's. There's Iggy and then there's Jim.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And Jim is a very erudite, smart, well read. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, just.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Knows the thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And it was funny because he came over and I didn't really know what to expect. And we were out at the old house where you were at, and he's out on the porch and he's like, oh, yeah, nice day. And then, like, off comes the shirt. I'm like, well, I guess it's going to be half Jim, half Iggy. That's how this is going to go.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I mean, I. I think you want half Jim, half Iggy. In my experience, making a record with him and touring with him.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And sort of trying to do a hail, hail, rock and roll thing where we're armored up in suits. You know, this sort of be the Keith to the Chuck Barry.

[Marc Maron]

You know, I think you probably had an easier go of it.

[Josh Homme]

I would think so.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

But that was the. Just the visual.

[Marc Maron]

I love that. That concert footage in the video and stuff. I never know how those things happen. How did you get chosen? Did you say to Iggy, like, let's get this down?

[Josh Homme]

No, it was the best thing of my artistic life, actually.

[Marc Maron]

It was.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it was. It was. I got a. I got a text and it said, I. Something. I. I've. And, you know, I. That phone got destroyed and I. I don't keep.

[Marc Maron]

Things get destroyed.

[Josh Homme]

I. You know, I have a very checkered past.

[Marc Maron]

The phone got destroyed, which is. I mean, lost maybe, but destroyed. That's.

[Josh Homme]

Well, that's. They're the same, in my opinion. Okay, sure, sure, sure.

[Marc Maron]

It got lost against a wall.

[Josh Homme]

Wall. And. Yeah. Was completely lost against a completely different. A wall that was unknown to me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. But it was a text that essentially said, I think we should collaborate on something, and that would be nice.

[Marc Maron]

The text had that tone.

[Josh Homme]

Iggy Pop. It was from Michigan.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And I lost my mind.

[Marc Maron]

He's got a Michigan number.

[Josh Homme]

No, he had a, it was a, it was a Miami number.

[Marc Maron]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, so.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I think he's lost many phones as well.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

So, yeah, I just was like, you know, I immediately romanticized it to the point where I was like, this means even my mistakes have led me to this spot where I'm receiving this call. I took it as rubber stamping that I'm headed the right direction.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it's sort of like from one of the immortals.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know.

[Josh Homme]

Well, certainly, because one of the originators, you know, there is no such thing as.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Somebody else like him. And I, and I do, I do think that, you know, I'm from a small town. Like when, when I was growing up in Palm Desert, the whole place was maybe 30,000 people.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

The whole space, you know. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And he's Ann Arbor or where he's from.

[Josh Homme]

Ann Arbor.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

But, you know, in my town, if it's like, man, you're, you're, you're one in a million, it's like, no, you're one in 30,000. And that's pretty good.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, pretty good.

[Josh Homme]

But then when you move with, you know, then you play a gig in Riverside, which is bigger, you know, maybe 150 at the time. It's like you're one in a million. It's like, no. 150.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

But I, I, I, I believe that Iggy is actually a one in a. How many. There's. He's the only one billion.

[Marc Maron]

You just say he's the only one.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it's like one in seven, six billion. Maybe there's.

[Marc Maron]

Right. And it's, it's so interesting to kind of like, well, he's a guy, right. He's a front man. So you know how he's going to come off or, or what the kind of tone or part of the collaboration with him is. It's all, you know, as a band, it's like, that's a lot of it. Because he just picks bands.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I think he has gotten to the spot where he can sort of cherry pick these. You know, at the time he was saying, this is my last record. I'm going to do this. This is my statement.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And, you know, over the years, I would say if I was going to play with Iggy, I would do this. It changed over the years.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And by the time we got together, it was the Perfect time in that he was 69 and it was like, what does this 69 year old rock originator music originate? What is their voice? You don't hear that perspective that much. And he had a lot to say.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So that I can't remember. The album was all new stuff, right?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it was all new stuff.

[Marc Maron]

But when you did the concert, you did some classics.

[Josh Homme]

What we did is focused on the first two albums of his, which was the Idiot and Lust for Life.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Those are the best.

[Josh Homme]

And there was a lot of things that never get played in that zone.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Well, yeah, like, you know, it's like Sister Midnight or this song called Mass Production that I really love. It's just all these things.

[Marc Maron]

Dumb, dumb boys.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Yeah. And so it was a chance to. And also I treated it like, like, you know, like for a minute I work at the Smithsonian and I'm trying to recreate this thing and restore this thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And felt like that was my role in this, is to try to be as respectful as well.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But also like, you know, lending. Because tonally that stuff is. I mean, I think that, you know, the idiot's up your alley, yo.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it's deep inside my alley. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So whatever's gonna come out of you is gonna be, you know, you kind of channeling something as opposed to mimicking it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Well, it's fun to do a Rubik's Cube, which is not your cube.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, I bet. And just say, I got a side. It's all purple.

[Marc Maron]

But I imagine he's like somebody who's just going to respond to the thrust of the thing. Was he picky about, you know, how you were handling the music?

[Josh Homme]

No, he, you know, he was. It was very interesting because. And I mean this as just as an observation without any judgment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

He's definitely the most loner guy that I know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

He's. He's all alone. What he's thinking and what he's gone through. At times, you know, I thought it's like the Stooges and Iggy have started and influenced your favorite bands in the world. That got huge.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And it took 30 years for one of the Stooges records to go gold. And. And when is that true? Yeah. And when this.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, because of the Nike commercial.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. With some things like that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And he has the longest time release of. I'm aware of where you put out records and people actively hate you more than they like you.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And people couldn't stand the Stooges when they came Out. And so it. And everyone. You know, it took 30 years for what he did to be recognized properly and understood. And that is a lonely amount of time in between. It's just. It just is.

[Marc Maron]

And. But he made tons of records.

[Josh Homme]

Tons of records. But. But oftentimes Iggy gives his hundred percent. But he'll always. But he'll collaborate with someone at times where you're like, don't. Don't do that. Yeah, don't do that. That's not. And so he's putting 100% on top of something that's 40%.

[Marc Maron]

But you guys made a great record, and the concert was great.

[Josh Homme]

It was just fun.

[Marc Maron]

And he is 100%. All in all the time.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But I. You know, but I. It's weird because even Lust for Life, that. That didn't get the attention it deserved until train spotting. Really?

[Josh Homme]

Really.

[Marc Maron]

Right. The movie. Because it was like a big part of that movie. And then I know the story of Search and Destroy showing up on that Nike ad.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

That was in, you know, movie theaters. Because my buddy. Do you know John Daniel at Crush Management?

[Josh Homme]

No.

[Marc Maron]

He's a good guy.

[Josh Homme]

Yep.

[Marc Maron]

You know, but he was in publishing, and he knew the guy. He was. He was just a dude looking at titles.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Right.

[Marc Maron]

For a commercial.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

You know, on a catalog.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

And he thought, search and Destroy.

[Josh Homme]

I didn't know that. That's amazing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Let's hear that.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It had nothing to do with Iggy.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

And then it became huge.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I mean, for him, you know, he had this thing he also did because his voice is, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Like this. He did some kind of voiceover thing for, like, a Sainsbury in England. And Lust for Life was on Carnival cruises. And someone asked him, you know, you've. You've. You've sold your song to a. To some commercials.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, is that selling out? And what do you think about that? And he said, well, I. I think three. I think three things. One, I think the. The. The. The original meaning behind the song exists and cannot be changed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Two, anything that funds the arts is a good thing.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And three, go fuck yourself.

[Marc Maron]

So after working with him, did you guys. Do you still talk?

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yes. On the reg. It's funny because I don't call as much as I want to. And I think there's still a part of me that's like. I don't know, maybe just a touch nervous. Even though we're buddies and I love them and we've had all these. We've argued you know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. What'd you argue about?

[Josh Homme]

Well, you know, I just. I think. And it's not like a legit, like, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

It's. It's. It's just. You have disagreements and that's what friends need to have. This isn't an ask his.

[Marc Maron]

Like Chuck and Keith.

[Josh Homme]

It's not yet over the beginning peril. And it's not. And it. But it's not my job to. To simply be his cheerleader. Say yes to everything. Yeah. And nor his job to agree with what I have to say. Say.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And so I think those kind of spats are necessary to prove your friends.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Are you going to do. Are you going to do something with them again?

[Josh Homme]

I mean, I'm. I'm always at the. Honestly, I could have done that for the rest of my career.

[Marc Maron]

Just work with.

[Josh Homme]

In his band.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And sort of, you know, he. He was very gracious about. Go ahead, you. You can pick this. The set list. Go ahead. You know, but. But he did that knowing what he was doing. It was not. Well, I think. I think so. I'd like to think so. But also he was like, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I just love that. And you know, even though we got quite close and are still quite close, I still have a great respect. And meeting him gave me. And working with him gave me more respect for him.

[Marc Maron]

That's good. Could have went the other way.

[Josh Homme]

Well, he is who he says he. Then this is. You know, I was gonna say this about you as I was driving up here. I was like, you know, thing about you is, is that you're like. You were like, I'm this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, I'm.

[Josh Homme]

I'm this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Can't help it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. This. This is what it is.

[Marc Maron]

I push back on it, but I can't.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, well. But you're fighting up a river. That is your river.

[Marc Maron]

I know. Tell me about it. It's my fucking life. But it.

[Josh Homme]

But I think the coolest thing you could be is simply yourself. Or it's like as Oscar Wilde said, be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Josh Homme]

And so I think my reverence for Iggy is rooted in that he is who he says he is.

[Marc Maron]

That's for sure.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, all of it. Where are you at with that? How are you feeling about you?

[Josh Homme]

I feel great, actually.

[Marc Maron]

Are you. Are you, you. Are you who you say you are?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Have you arrived at yourself?

[Josh Homme]

I are this. You know what? Especially just had such an intense grouping of years these last.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. No, I can't remember the last time we talked, but, you know, I think when we talked. Well, you had gotten.

[Josh Homme]

A long time ago.

[Marc Maron]

It was. And you were just going sort of public about, you know, the dying on the table business.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And I've since been close to death again.

[Marc Maron]

What the fuck, dude?

[Josh Homme]

You know, that's my fourth time. But I gotta say, every time, I always feel really supercharged.

[Marc Maron]

And I would hope so.

[Josh Homme]

And, yeah, I mean, I kept saying this. This time, I kept saying, you know, I never felt so alive as I did the day I almost died. I never felt so alive.

[Marc Maron]

What the fuck happened this time? When was this?

[Josh Homme]

I. I had a little bit of cancer for a sec. And.

[Marc Maron]

Which kind?

[Josh Homme]

Well, I kind of keep that one to me, you know, But I had. It wasn't the fun kind, but. But I was able to get it so early. That surgery was the way.

[Marc Maron]

Would you feel it or did, you know, or just did it pop up?

[Josh Homme]

I was on a Christmas trip skiing with my brother, and I. Yeah. And I coughed and I coughed blood on the snow.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. It was like, dramatic way to cough blood, but I.

[Josh Homme]

Blood on the Snow sounds like a.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, like your next record.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Blood on the snow this weekend.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Where's that song?

[Josh Homme]

And. But it looked actually crazy, kind of cool. The goth side of me, like, that's. There you go with that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, we did it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, we did it.

[Marc Maron]

Finally.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, finally, man. And. But I was very lucky to. To be able to catch it so early that I was able to cut. Just cut things away.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I got it. And it was nice and early, you know.

[Marc Maron]

How long was the recovery on that?

[Josh Homme]

Well, I had some complications with the cut.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, there you go.

[Josh Homme]

You know, which I. Which. Which sepsis. That had a little bit of that. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And what's the other one? Mrsa.

[Josh Homme]

I had that too, once. You know, it's a cavalcade of. I'm trying to do the hometown things.

[Marc Maron]

You get at hospitals.

[Josh Homme]

I'm trying to do the hometown buffet of hometown.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. Damn it.

[Josh Homme]

But. But I. But those things end up. You know, I'm intense sometimes, and so those things always. They make me pause.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And in those moments of reflection, I always end up feeling pretty thankful after that, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, does that. When you come out of something like that. Because your songs are pretty almost operatic sometimes.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But, you know, when you come out of, what, a second or a Third sort of run in with. With Death, because I know on the Catacombs video, there's that song about suturing the future.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

Was that out of this?

[Josh Homme]

No, that's an old one. That one's. It's an old one.

[Marc Maron]

And is that a cover of you?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it's me. Covering me.

[Marc Maron]

So it's an old.

[Josh Homme]

It's an old Queen song. All of them are Queens tunes.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, they're. None of them are new. I am not deep into the catalog. So they're all sort of versions.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Well, it's kind of cool to say, what if we didn't write the tune the way it was and just acted like we're writing it over again?

[Marc Maron]

Okay. You know, did you write Coming out of the hospital?

[Josh Homme]

I.

[Marc Maron]

Does that stuff move you to.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we're. We're. We're in this. We're doing some recording now, you know, and, you know, I was with the.

[Marc Maron]

With the big sound.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. With the. Yeah. With everything plugged in.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, and it does. I think, getting close to things like that in the moment, it's. Obviously. It sucks. And there's no other way around it.

[Marc Maron]

But the fear of it. I mean, like, where. I mean, because, like, I know. Kind of moving towards this. Whatever. We'll get to it. The intention was to record in the catacombs, but, I mean, when you have these moments, given who you are and what you've been through, do you feel fear?

[Josh Homme]

I mean, absolutely. The first two weeks.

[Marc Maron]

Fuck it.

[Josh Homme]

Well, you know, a lifetime of trying to accept things as they are and not be the last guy to hold on too tight to something.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, and wanting to be that way.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And it's hard to do.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, it's so hard to just accept something as it is.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Because there's. It's powerlessness.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah. To have to turn it over.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know that one. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And. And. And that turning over is. Is a. Is a skill that seems like you have to develop and not a talent you're born with.

[Marc Maron]

Well, also, like, if you have a certain disposition, if you've been fighting something your whole life, or you just have that personality and, you know, I. You know, I have an addict and, you know, the idea of being powerless or turning something over, it's like there's a vulnerability to it, but it's not like you're all of a sudden in danger. You just feel. Fucking soul naked.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. It's that fucking nightmare, that vulnerability where it's like you drain the ocean and there's what's left.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Here I am. Yeah. I'm going to be blown away by a wind of. Of. Of insanity.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I. I think I. I've always been a bit of a, you know, if it's fight or flight, I'm not much of a runner.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

So I. I needed to learn to sort of, you know, the word. The word surrender was a big one.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Because I was always like, give up. There's no way I'm gonna give up. You know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, but someone tapped me on the shoulder finally, was like, no, no, no, give in. And I was like, oh, no one's gonna say anything. I've been how long. I've been around for 40 some years at the time when I heard this, and I was like, nobody else was gonna say give in. Nobody here.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Give ins. Like proactive.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And a little sexier, frankly.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Homme]

Like, I'd hang that on my wall.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, take. I'll take that.

[Marc Maron]

You know, don't give up, Give in.

[Josh Homme]

I'll take that. I'm. It's 5:30. I'm drinking mommy juice or live, laugh, love, and I'll put up. Don't give up.

[Marc Maron]

Give in. You know, so that helped you. It's funny how these little twists, these little turns of phrases, especially Adam. I don't know. Are you being sober? Is that where you're at?

[Josh Homme]

I'm. I'm not sober, but I'm not in any trouble.

[Marc Maron]

It's not spiraling.

[Josh Homme]

No.

[Marc Maron]

I feel the chasm, you know, but.

[Josh Homme]

It'S funny that actually it's something where I, like, I probably. I'll go and have a drink socially.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And not. And just have one drink.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Which is.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Not, you know, for you. So that's the first time and.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

That's been my protocol for the last couple years.

[Marc Maron]

That's good. As long as it just doesn't, you know, like, you know, awaken the beast.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I'm sure there's a beautiful place in the world that I'll be thrown. Thrown out of at some point. But also, you know, I are who I are. It's like I look at this as it's. It's. It's a bit like, you know, you're talking about, are you recording loud or is it catacombs? Like, you know, you just keep doing something different because it's interesting and it's, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. Yeah. I mean, keep changing up what you do. Yeah, well, because it keeps you engaged with it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's funny because I, you know, you know Dean, Dean Delray, our mutual buddy?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

He recorded a special in a cave and then you went into the catacombs to do whatever you did and you did the riff at the beginning of his special.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

For him that was nice. But it's funny because I recorded a HBO special last weekend and I put a band together and I wrote a riff and I was heavily. My head was full of Caius.

[Josh Homme]

A head full of Caius is a sentence I haven't heard in a long time.

[Marc Maron]

I had a head full of Caius, dude. Hold on, hold on. I mean, I don't know if you can identify it, but last time me.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, last time you, you. I came here, you had ZZ Top Tejas on and I remember being like, oh yeah, this is going to go well.

[Marc Maron]

Fuck yeah, man.

[Josh Homme]

That was like 15 years ago or something like that.

[Marc Maron]

I'll listen to Tejas. I'll listen to. What's that? What do I got on my pre show list for. For when I'm performing? Oh, I've got. Just Got Paid, which is I think from Real Grande Mud. Yeah, hold on, hold on. See if I can like. I don't know. I can't believe I'm playing this for you. But I think it's important, right?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, that's great. That's got, that's definitely got some of that in there. Oh, I'm very happy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, dude. Yeah, like it's funny about like, I don't know what that is. Like, I mean, I listen to Queen sometimes, but I'll. I'll fucking go back to. I listen to Kaius a few times a month, dude.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Really?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I like being the Vegemite on your toast.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, come on, dude. So like now did you like. I was wondering when I was watching the catacombs, like I don't. Are you close with your buddy from Eagles of Death Metal still?

[Josh Homme]

Oh, Jesse. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So I. Because they went through that in France. That was horrendous.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Was there any sort of connection to that that drove you to the catacombs?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, I mean, my, my, my. Yeah, I mean, you know that, that.

[Marc Maron]

Was in the 2015. There's a terrorist attack in the venue they were playing at. Killed a lot of people.

[Josh Homme]

The Battle Clan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, were you supposed to be there? I was, yeah. My, my, my, my ex wife was pregnant with our third child.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

She was like, please, I Was. I was doing the American tour.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

With the Eagles and I. Yeah. And I'd done some of the. The promo tour in England and through Europe. Our record was just out and I. And she was like, please just don't go on the European tour. I'm. I'm pregnant and we're about to have a kid any week now.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And so two nights before I was to leave for Europe. Yeah. I found our replacement drummer and he just. No rehearsal came and watched me play.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

The last day was in San Francisco at the Great American Music hall. And then I waved them goodbye and they went. And. And it was a. I think two or three shows into the tour.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And it was, it was. It was. It's. It's a very. You cannot be prepared for a geopolitical event when you're in a. And you know, you cannot be prepared for what? You cannot be prepared for terrorist attack. For being on the ISIS website, which is what Jesse and I were on, you know, and is that.

[Marc Maron]

Was that after it turned out.

[Josh Homme]

It was before. I didn't know they had a website.

[Marc Maron]

Why were you targeted?

[Josh Homme]

You know, they were going to do. They were going to, you know, they were going to do something specific to us. You know, that's part of the reason. It was all part of a calculated.

[Marc Maron]

But why you? Why the Eagles of Death Metal?

[Josh Homme]

I think that, you know, if I'm just guessing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Here. And there's a lot of things that we were told that. That everyone else was not told.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Which I'll probably keep that way. But, you know, I think they had an issue with the Bataclan in the same way they had issued with Charlie Hebdo and.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Homme]

And the French president was so.

[Marc Maron]

The venue.

[Josh Homme]

The. And. And. And we were the perfect symbol of what was not to happen, you know, for them.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so you represented American Satan.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Has a history. Was it a Muslim holy space or.

[Josh Homme]

No, it's. It's a. It's a Jewish owned venue and had. Had many. Had held many events and protests.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Josh Homme]

And free speech things. And.

[Marc Maron]

Was that why you guys chose it?

[Josh Homme]

We chose it. It was. It was chosen because it's one of the good venues and.

[Marc Maron]

Right. Okay. So they do rock shows there.

[Josh Homme]

Yo. Yeah, all the time. And. And the French president was having dinner next door and they also attacked the soccer stadium, which was all within a small area. And so this was a coordinated attack and just gunmen. Yeah. You know.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. And so many people got killed. And so what?

[Josh Homme]

So many. So many.

[Marc Maron]

So. But Your, your pals got out. Jesse got out.

[Josh Homme]

They, not all, everyone in the band made it out and not all of my pals made it out. And, and so many of my, the fans did not make it out. And.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And you know, I, I, I was at the studio with a guy who, named BOC Brian o' Connor, also played and toured with Eagles of Death Metal. We were just recording some of the his thing. I wasn't on tour and I got this call from my friend Scotty and there was all this noise in the background and he was just, you know, saying, you know, they're shooting. I got. That's not my blood. Is that my blood all over? And I was like, what? What?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. Oh my God.

[Josh Homme]

And I, and I. So it was happening and no one knew yet, you know, was getting the call in real time.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And you know, I, it's funny in those situations how you, you just turn off, you know, you, you detach. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, or you kind of go into a. Traumas. Of immediate trauma reaction.

[Josh Homme]

I quit smoking at the time. Yeah. And so I, There was this other guy there that was smoking, so I just grabbed his pack of cigarettes, a box of, you know, a box of something. I think it was like vitamin powder and my motorcycle helmet, and got in my car and I remember looking over like, why did I grab this stuff? What did I, what am I. And I just drove to my manager's office and we began the process of sifting through whatever the fuck that was.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Did they do any more dates or that was it. Right.

[Josh Homme]

No, we actually went back.

[Marc Maron]

You went back.

[Josh Homme]

In fact. In fact. You know, and I appreciate you skipping over that, having to skip over the detail. I would rather skip over lots of those details because it's terrible. But one of the amazing things about my bandmates and the situation. And Paris.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Was that we went back to finish the show and I went back with him. Yeah. It was, it was on. I flew out on Valentine's Day. Right. So to finish the show, which was a very short success.

[Marc Maron]

Interesting. So. So they had gotten through part of the show and then the shit went down and how long. How much later.

[Josh Homme]

So it was November 13th and the attack occurred and then, and then we went. I flew back on Valentine's Day.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, February.

[Josh Homme]

And my son was born, you know, on, on, on November 13th at 11:50. I had a flight on Valentine's Day at 6 in the morning.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And my son was born 1158 on the 13th. The night before you left and then I left at 6 in the morning the next day because I was like, I need to. I mean, with the full support of everyone.

[Marc Maron]

Sure, sure.

[Josh Homme]

I saw my son, I held him and I did. And I got on the plane and went to Paris and we finished that.

[Marc Maron]

Fucking show at the venue.

[Josh Homme]

It was not at that venue. It still was still at the time. It's open since.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But it was still like an active scene.

[Josh Homme]

It was definitely still in the process of being of, of being combed over completely and.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I mean, and doing what? Whatever was necessary there. Right. So.

[Marc Maron]

And, and how was Jesse's head?

[Josh Homme]

I mean, you know, it's impossible to unsee what, what my, you know, my beautiful friends went through, you know, and, and so, you know, I know that they all each in their own way have had to deal with what is sort of impossible for me to do anything but empathize with.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I can't even.

[Josh Homme]

I mean, I know it's like I, it's like I had all kinds of just things that are unimportant to the story, but. And that ultimately, what. Reaction wise, it just was hard to. It was hard to have sent someone in my place. It was hard to.

[Marc Maron]

To know that.

[Josh Homme]

It was hard to. To get my head around my mate. You know, my main concern was bringing everyone home.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And bring them home in a safe way.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But party was like, I should have been there.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I, I had a lot of. I. It was. Took me a while to like feel good. Yeah, sure. You know, and so many people that. Which I knew and like, you know. Yeah, it's like. So, yeah, people that were in the front row for years.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so these were fans that you had a relationship with?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, it's like a relationship that's like, oh, I see you, I see you.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

You know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And unlike, you know, a crew of girls that always would dress the similar and that met each other because. And it's like, you know, I wrote down all their names and there were so many siblings, you know, and they're.

[Marc Maron]

They're gone.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, they're gone. And, and I, and so it just took me. It just. Those are the sort of emotional, you know, blockades that you're just like, how do. What do. What do I do?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And the, and the grief gets just com. It's the other thing about powerlessness and about, you know, what your own place, you know, in the world is and then how to deal with whatever, you know, grief and regret and, you know, anger, all that stuff in Fact, this.

[Josh Homme]

Is the only time and the most I've ever talked about this. And you did this to me last time. I. Somehow you got you happy to talk about, like you're getting off drugs and it was I. But I, you know, I think you. You have all these strange. They're completely unique to a situation like that. Feelings which you've never had to deal with.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Where you're like, I should have been there.

[Marc Maron]

But outside, you know, none of that, none of it is about you. Like it seems like.

[Josh Homme]

But that's the hard part too is you're like, I need to shut the fuck up and never talk about this ever. Well, I don't know, because it's my story. Doesn't fucking matter. You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

I see what you're saying.

[Josh Homme]

Sure, sure.

[Marc Maron]

But like. And that's sort of contrary to your. Your story always mattering because you're the one who.

[Josh Homme]

Well, you're the main character in your own thing. Right.

[Marc Maron]

And you were the one that caused a lot of your own fucking misery.

[Josh Homme]

Sure.

[Marc Maron]

Before.

[Josh Homme]

Sure.

[Marc Maron]

So now all of a sudden, you know, you have to reckon with, you know, something out of your control that involved your friends, your fans and you.

[Josh Homme]

Watch your friends and your fans and the people that were lost.

[Marc Maron]

Like fucking terrible.

[Josh Homme]

You know, it's like go to shake someone's hand which does not has a hand. And then you go and you. And you just think like, I, you know, you're. And you say, I have no right to have any. I have no. I have only the right to shut up and listen.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And be empathetic and gracious.

[Josh Homme]

It does not matter. What I've realized actually is that there are scenarios. There are situations which occur and it does not matter if you like them or not. They are here. And you must not get hung up on. On telling yourself if you do or do not like them.

[Marc Maron]

Right. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You, You. You must. This is where I'm so appreciative of like my grandparents and my parents, they're just great people, you know, and like, where it's like, there's no time for you to. To be thinking about you right now. It's like you need to move forward.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Hardship is hardship.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. This is actually a massive part of everyday life for many people. Just. You need to. You, you. This is a great time for you. You. You can feel and cry later. This is the perfect time for you to just be quiet and move forward.

[Marc Maron]

Let's go and show up.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't go Anywhere. Don't you fucking move.

[Marc Maron]

So when you went back to DID to finish the set, was that just like, that must have. At least you felt like you could connect and honor, you know, your fans yourself, you know, and, you know, try to help in the healing. Right.

[Josh Homme]

Well, there are. There are so few. It's almost like maybe there's n enough moments where you get to show who you really are.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And where the opportunity for you to be yourself and show who you are and rise to that moment and where it's like, are you gonna do it or not? Don't say anything. Just do it or not. What are you gonna do right now? And so I feel really thankful for the opportunity. Like, it sounded a bit like Tony Robbins or something, but I really was like, I'm honored.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

To do what I'm about to do right now.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

You know, and I. And. And so it really felt like I cannot. It's the same thing I tell my kids and stuff. It's like I. When you have sad feelings or you're. I cannot make this go away. But I will sit with you.

[Marc Maron]

Right?

[Josh Homme]

I'll sit with you.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

I don't have to say nothing. And, like, I will sit here until it subsides, and then we can stand up together.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that. Well, that's like, you know, that. You know, I said that about grief after, you know, my girlfriend passed away. Is that. Is that. Is that, you know, all anyone has to do is sit there.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, like, people are like, I don't know what to do. How do I handle this person's sadness? It's like, just show up and just be present.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And that's it. And whatever comes from that comes from that.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But there's nothing you have to do other than. And be present.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I think. I think you. You've nailed it. And oftentimes people do not know what to do. And. And. And. And so they naturally stay away or they make that mistake.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Which I think is. It's ultimately selfish. It's just a. It's a mistake. And it's a mistake of anxiety and uncomfortability. And. And. And I understand the mistake. Sure.

[Marc Maron]

Okay. But, yeah, maybe it's not selfish. It's fear.

[Josh Homme]

It's. It is. And it's like, oh, my God, I don't know what to do. And I'm like, oh, I can't. And not wanting to face things yourself like that, but it's the most human of things.

[Marc Maron]

It's just that the fact that it's.

[Josh Homme]

The most guaranteed thing. Right.

[Marc Maron]

Well, death. Yeah. But also the fact that there's no language around it. And culturally, it's something we all try to avoid. And individually, our entire mode of existence is to deny that that's going to happen, or at least not think about it. But it's going to happen to everybody. It's going to happen to people around you. So because there's not any sort of logic or not logic, but language around it, people just freak out. Everyone's freaked out about death. That's. The entire capitalist system is driven by that. You know, Avoid it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Eat some stuff, buy some shit.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Get on board. Well, you know, as somebody that I don't. I don't care about left and right and all that shit. I don't care. I'm a. Someone that's driven by escapism.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And the value of art. Making your world better and creating like an escapist moment for you away from all that. And then ideally, that allows you to make a better informed decision because you've gotten this little reprieve from all the moments.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But also, like art, the weird thing is, is that I don't know necessarily that the way you approach music and your evolution within it and sort of like how much you've grown over the years in terms of being an artist. And also lyrically, it's not really. It may be escapism, but music is informed by feelings and poetically creates a space of emotion for those who listen to it that is really theirs to do what they're gonna do with. There's nothing like music in the sense that once it's out there, it could get people through any number of things.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. You have no idea who got it, where it went to and what they did.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

Or how they use this tool.

[Marc Maron]

Right. How it helped them.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, or what it. What it helped them process emotionally.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, so, like, it's weird because I do draw some sort of strange line in my head now that we're just talking about it and thinking out loud between something that is inherently escapist and something that is, you know, a true expression of art or. Or whatever it is that, you know, comes from a place that is informed by one's own struggle.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I do. I. For me, the. The entryway to this escape is the entryway to this, you know, journey of emotion. Starts with all the marketing out front, is like, escape, quick, take a minute away. That's my way to get you in the door. I will turn the lights out.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And you and your best friends. I'll make the music loud and you guys can conspire together.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

You can make like.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

That's my. To me, that's the old, like, Barnum side of this is like, I will lure you in with escaping the. Escaping the norms and trappings. And then as we. And then ideally, that's just the worm on the hook to get you in. But now walk where it gets dark over there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, exactly.

[Josh Homme]

That's where I am.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

I make music for the 50th listen, not the first listen. And I know that some people listen to music on the way to the bank and that's not my fault. And that's okay.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

But that's not where I'm at. I want someone, when they're at their worst to be like, I know what to play right now.

[Marc Maron]

Right. And I guess that's escapism. But I guess I'm drawing a hard line, you know, like, obviously, you know, let's enter this world that isn't the world is escapism. But, you know, once you're in the world, like. Like we're gonna do some shit.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah. It's gonna get. It's gonna get dark and dark.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But it's not mindless. I guess that's the distinction I'm not making is like. You know, there's some part of my brain that thinks escapism is mindless, but it's not.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I think that's why I love. You know, I always thought, like, marketing. That's what the devil would do. Sure. That is the devil, you know, And. And. But I thought, well, okay, what if I re. Engineer that to my purpose and it's funny.

[Marc Maron]

That's the deal you made with the devil.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. It's like, come on in now. You wanna. You know, I'll give you a night. You' all that shit. You with the face, get in here.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Right. And I love that carnival barking attraction.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

You know, because it has taboo and danger and, you know, but so much.

[Marc Maron]

Of rock and roll is about that too.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. But that's really only the facade of this. And it's not. It's a facade, but it's not fake. It's just the front entry away of this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. It's a fine line between, you know, carnival barking snake oil salesman and preaching.

[Josh Homme]

Right. Right there. It's really the same guy.

[Marc Maron]

Totally. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Right. And so. Because that is the way.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

The. But the other. The. The. Once you've wormed that hook and I Also, like the teasing and the tricking and the, you know, the releasing of little things. It's fun.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

It's to tantalize.

[Marc Maron]

Put on a show, man.

[Josh Homme]

Right. Showbiz.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, and. But I. But it must end up sitting down around a fire, playing the best version of Kumbaya that you actually cry when you hear the.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's like music's magic, you know?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. It's the only medium that I know that's never wrong.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, you cannot like someone's music, and that's totally fine. But, you know, you show me the worst music in the world, and I'll show you 300 people that are ready to die for that.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. They love it. Yeah, well. Well, that's.

[Josh Homme]

It's just never wrong.

[Marc Maron]

No, because music is different than anything else because it exists in the ether and it never goes away. And you can just pull it out of the ether and it works its magic every time for you.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And much like ether, it's got this intoxicating effect where you're kind of, like, altered by it when you really focus in on it. I mean, there is a feeling that you get that is akin to, like, leaving a first date where you're, like, excited and you're like, oh, my God, what is. What is that? Yeah, do it again. Right?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, and you can, Right?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, and you can. And unlike a first date, I'm gonna.

[Marc Maron]

Play this song all night long.

[Josh Homme]

And it feels like the first time.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Until it doesn't. And then you wait a couple months and you kick it on again. I'm fucking. You know, I'm like, wait, this is Foreigner.

[Josh Homme]

Feels like the first time.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, some people love. Some people are replaying that song. I just wish Foreigner wouldn't.

[Josh Homme]

Foreigner Live at the Wall.

[Marc Maron]

No, no, please don't do it to yourselves. I. I had a very bad moment with that, with, you know, seeing some of the. The reels of. Of Angus now.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And it's sort of like, oh, come on, dude.

[Josh Homme]

Well, I do think this is the toughest. Toughest thing for. For. For music is the. The how to age gracefully in a way that where when I look at Willie Nelson, I'm like, look at Willie Nelson.

[Marc Maron]

But, like, he's one of the only ones. And you get.

[Josh Homme]

You know, it's the hardest thing to possibly do for music.

[Marc Maron]

Well, because. Well, his type of music.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's like you. Eventually you can sit down and play that.

[Josh Homme]

Dude. It's a pre. Olded yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's ready to age.

[Josh Homme]

It's been pre.

[Marc Maron]

Aged for you, you know, and that like, I saw. Who did I see? I saw X. You know, Billy Zooms. He's. He's still sitting. He's sitting now, you know, and. And xine somehow or another, you know, is still kind of menacing and sexy and those guys like, knock it out. Yeah, but. And even like within the Stones, I mean, like, Keith is doing okay.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, Keith is great.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But Mick, it's sort of like. Okay, yeah, you keep doing it, buddy. You know? Well, you. If you're a fan, you want to keep rooting them on. But there's a line crossed where I'm like, it's getting a little sad, fellas.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, well, you know, I think there's guys like Leonard Cohen, which. Where you saw at the end where you say, wow, this is still. Just.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. But he's a guy who stands still and music lends itself to it.

[Josh Homme]

But I think that's what's, you know, I look at a musician's career as something that's like planetary. It's spinning on its axis and it needs to keep changing and preparing itself for that next thing.

[Marc Maron]

Well, yeah, and I think I'm probably being a little ageist.

[Josh Homme]

Well, not really. Because you. The truth is, you sometimes you watch some old fuckers on stage and you're like, for God's sake. Yeah, please don't. Yeah, can you hand out this. These don'ts I just made. And I. And I get it because it's actually the most dangerous game for any musician is how will you age and what will that mean? And will you baton pass into the next phase of your thing correctly? In a way that's still. That's like. That's becoming.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Of a young man.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. But oddly, if they can still deliver the goods, sure, it'll lift it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, but there are moments like, you know, guns is out there, but they're not as old as, like the Stones. They still seem to be delivering, you know, and sometimes I just don't know, part of me, because, you know, I don't live in the world of that type of competition. But part of me is like, don't you. You don't need the money, right? You can't need the money.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

So what is it? And then it's just sort of like, well, this is what we do.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, I suppose it's. It's. But it's like comedy in that there's not a real reason to retire. The reason to Retire would be like, shit, no one's here.

[Marc Maron]

Totally.

[Josh Homme]

You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Or else, like, they're starting to go away.

[Josh Homme]

Right, Right.

[Marc Maron]

But there's an exception there. It's like, you know, your relevant diminishes.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

You know, and you're going to play smaller halls. Yeah, but like Bob Dylan. Like, Bob Dylan, I think he just wants to die on a bus.

[Josh Homme]

I was. You know, I. I'm. It's. There's worse ways to go.

[Marc Maron]

Sure, man. But, like, I think he sees himself as like, I've kind of reassessed that. That whole guy recently.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Because I did. I don't know why I didn't realize it. You know, he's almost like this, you know, like. Almost like he's like a savant, but he's, you know, he's a cipher. He's like this, you know, brilliant vessel that things move through. It's almost like a spectrum character.

[Josh Homme]

I think you also have to be willing to be a bit of a cunt, which I think he also is probably, too.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But that's just, you know, protect his vulnerable genius. Sure.

[Josh Homme]

But I think you have to have a willingness to be like, no, no. Go fuck yourself. Like, one of the funniest. One of the funniest. Yeah. The willingness to say no. So interesting thing. I never went and saw a doctor. And right before, the Iggy record that I made was the nine. Nine or ten years ago now, I went to this doctor for the very first time. And as an adult.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And he was kind of a merging holistic, you know, Eastern Western philosophy.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And it was all based in blood work.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

Now, I know one of these guys. Was he down off by the highway?

[Josh Homme]

He put his sign down and took my blood.

[Marc Maron]

And then you go back and he's got a stack of papers.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, that's the guy. You've been there?

[Marc Maron]

I have. And he's like, well, this is not good. This might mean we should do this. Did you have to do a shit stamp?

[Josh Homme]

Well, no, but I'm still willing to. He told me. He was like, you know, I didn't know what type of blood type I had. And he was like, you have O positive. Right? And I said, And. And I said, fine. And he's. He said, does that mean anything to you? And I said, absolutely not.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

He said, do you find yourself doing things for other people? He's like, you can give blood to anyone, but you cannot receive it from anyone except.

[Marc Maron]

Right. Oh, interesting.

[Josh Homme]

So he's like, you're a Universal donor. But you cannot receive anything but this.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. Yeah. That's your nature. I am a rock.

[Josh Homme]

But he was like, I think that somehow you are someone that has said yes to things that you probably didn't want to do. And what I want you to do is. My diagnosis is I want you to go home, pick five things you've said yes to, and cancel them.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You know, and cut to your living in apartment.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, you're funny. That's funny. I love that. And. Well. And I said, why am I doing this? And he said, you have to make space in your life for the right thing to come in.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, interesting. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I was like, okay. And so I actually listened to this advice, and I. There were five things which I'd said yes to, which I just was. Not. Just was doing it as a favor.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I canceled these things. And a week later, Iggy called me. Wow. And so I. Because I don't have any other empirical evidence, I was like, God damn it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I have no choice now but to believe this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I mean, what am I gonna do?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Why not?

[Josh Homme]

There's no other evidence based in what he just said.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But. But, you know, if you break it down, that's. It's not. It doesn't have to be relative to your blood work.

[Josh Homme]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

What do you got?

[Josh Homme]

These are just these. Nicotine.

[Marc Maron]

I'm on everything, man. I got the pouches, I got the ons. I'm back on the Lawson sticker over here.

[Josh Homme]

Nipple?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Nicotine patch.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. No, I got some patches because I'm done. I'm tired of these. And you can't get the flavors anymore. In. In.

[Josh Homme]

You have to go to a smoke shop.

[Marc Maron]

No, I know, but. But they. They. You gotta. I know one that'll sell you the flavors.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I love that.

[Marc Maron]

I love that.

[Josh Homme]

That's a thing.

[Marc Maron]

But it's. It's illegal.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, that's. Why is that. Why.

[Marc Maron]

Do you know where it is?

[Josh Homme]

Well, there's a bunch. There's.

[Marc Maron]

You know what they have the flavors.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

They have, like, peppermint and spearmint and everything else.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, good. Yeah. I got. I got one in Hollywood.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But I got a guy. I got a guy. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I got a guy.

[Marc Maron]

You gotta have a guy.

[Josh Homme]

You gotta have a guy.

[Marc Maron]

The fucking problem is, man, you go. You go out of state, they're like five bucks a tin.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you got. If you go get one of the. Go to your guy to get the flavored one, it's like 12 bucks. Yeah, well, you know, I don't give a shit. But I'm just saying, it's like, you know, it's funny when I go on the road, I'm like, give me two rolls of the peppermint. But it's interesting. You're on the threes, and you're pretty hardcore. Because I can't. If I do a six, that knocks me out, dude.

[Josh Homme]

I want to keep the low milligrams, so that's. But I'm not.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Woozy.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Well, it's just so that I'm not like. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I'm trying to, like, not feed the monster.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. But. But I'm already there. I'm on. I did. I'm doing them mid set, dude. And I'm a comic. I can't go turn my back to the fucking amp and have a drink. No. I've got to be like, I'm doing this.

[Josh Homme]

I think it's great to just.

[Marc Maron]

This is where I'm at. Yeah. I say, look, I'm an addict, and if I can just have one little thing to keep the big empty away good. You know? Because, like, you know, it's like, once. Yeah. Once the nothingness comes, and then. Yeah. Then some people are like, well, you should be more Buddhist and embrace the nothingness. I'm like, I'm not there yet. I'm on. I'm at the edge of the void with my nicotine as my shield and my ego as my sword, swatting at nothing, man.

[Josh Homme]

I'm. I'm more Buddhist. I want to get everyone to shake their ass.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Oh, bootiest. There you go.

[Josh Homme]

You know, I.

[Marc Maron]

But. Okay, so. But what I was gonna say is that that advice is not. It doesn't have to be relative to blood work. That's that guy's P.T. barnamy. And it just worked on you.

[Josh Homme]

It worked, though. What choice do I see? You know, I've lived my life by sort of trying to notice the positive signs along the road and that sort of thing, you know? Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

All right. So going back to get to the Catacombs now, when you went and finished the concert in Paris, it must have been moving and, you know, and. And. But was there closure there on some level? Did you feel for the fans, for yourself, or.

[Josh Homme]

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, I. I. As I said before, that realization that there are gonna. There are just things that you have to deal with that doesn't matter if you like them or not. They're here. And like I said, this is the most. I'VE ever talked about. But I realized that the reason I don't talk about it is because it doesn't make me feel better or worse. It doesn't do anything. It's just. That's just a sucking sound that's like that, that is like tinnitus. It's just a ringing that I hear that.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

If I look at it, I'm like, fuck. And I. So I try to just live with it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And, and, and honestly, I, in general, I try not to talk about it because, as I said, it doesn't. I never feel.

[Marc Maron]

It's not your story.

[Josh Homme]

And it's. I, it's not my story. I, I, it is, and it is my story at the same time. And, and I don't know how to explain that. And when I do explain it, I don't feel better.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But, but the, but the concert was good. Going back?

[Josh Homme]

Absolutely. Yeah, it was, it was. Because it was something else.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Homme]

It did not close or fix without what happened. But what it did was showed the willingness of everyone who attended. I'm willing to do this. I want you to see my will.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I'm here. And that's the most that someone can do.

[Marc Maron]

And we're together.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. I mean, what's the most important things other than your time and your energy?

[Marc Maron]

Right. And creating and honoring the community that was affected and also, you know, showing up for the community that you are part of and created.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And, and yeah, that, you know, because you say things like, everyone's here because, you know. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, so from that, is. Is this desire or this, you know, winding up in the catacombs of the same city part of that trajectory?

[Josh Homme]

Well, I, it, it is because you start to develop, you know, you know, this from touring for so many years, you start to develop a relationship with, with cities and towns.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

And you start to have this kind of romantic connection to these things. And sometimes it's a bad breakup of a city, and sometimes it's just a love affair. Like, my brother married his husband in Paris. And, and that was a big moment for, for me. I just loved that moment so much. And, and, and, and the Batakalan. And then it was, you know, I've had so many moments in that city.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it's a notorious city for, for moments.

[Josh Homme]

It's. It's set up to do this thing, and it works. And, and to be fair, I romanticize. I'm looking for something romantic to cling to because. Because I don't want to, you know, touring and things like that. And it can. It can burn you out and make you feel unabated, bitter and unappreciated.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

What's going on?

[Marc Maron]

It makes you a shell of yourself.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And I sometimes turn into an animal out there. I regress, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Because I don't know what to do. And I feel lonely.

[Marc Maron]

I know. It's like, for some reason, the loneliness, like, even if you're only away for three days, you know, that second day in a hotel, you're like, who am I?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

What am I doing?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. What am I doing with my. I feel like I ate too many edibles.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's the worst. And you're just at a hotel near a mall.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, well, but that's part of the problem and part of the solution, too. And because it's all about outlook. And. And because. And because the sacrifice of saying, why do I leave everyone I love and care for to go do something all by myself? And. And. And, like, what am I to stave that off? But also, there's the romantic side of it.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, I get it. But. But you get. You also get to that point where you're like, I like hotel.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, of course. I just.

[Marc Maron]

Quiet. I don't have to clean up.

[Josh Homme]

It's quiet. Exactly. I just. I just leave myself behind here, you know, Quiet.

[Marc Maron]

But the romantic element. So what was your relationship with the catacombs?

[Josh Homme]

Well, you know, this is all connected is the thing, is that, you know, I remember seeing photographs of the Paris catacombs as a boy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And instantly having thoughts that were new to me and that were like, you end up, like, so. And you can end up here. And this is. And also, instead of the taboo of death that I'd understood as a boy, it was like the catacombs. Nobody does that because they're like, I hate these people. It's a. It's an. You know, a mine which was dug for coal and things like that. And then with so many bodies and so much happening in Paris, they decide to move 6 million people there.

[Marc Maron]

What is the history? Was it different? Was it the plague and then the wars? Or, like, when did they stop using it functionally?

[Josh Homme]

They stopped. I believe they stopped using it dug out in the 1500s, but there's accounts of it dug out as early as 1300.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

And then in, I believe, the 1700s, they start moving this overflow that's been piling up for years. That's. I mean, and it's just kind of finally come to a head. You know, you talk about floods.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Like all that. Everything that's happened. And so they start to.

[Marc Maron]

Stacking skulls.

[Josh Homme]

Right. But stacking them lovingly. They're not like these people. It's people that are doing this with such a reverence and a respect.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And you know. Cause your initial thought is stacking bones. That doesn't seem respectful, but. No, but it is.

[Marc Maron]

It's just like, you know, like massive monument to the life. Right. The inevitability of death.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Which is life. Right. So death is inevitable.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And this is like on some level a celebration of the inevitable. But those of us who are alive, you know, you look at it with awe. You don't look at it with horror. You would think it would be horror.

[Josh Homme]

And don't look away, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. You're surrounded by skeletons.

[Josh Homme]

And I think I. Well, figuratively, literally. And not just in there and you know, in what we're talking about too. It's like this need. I've just had this need and I think I've romanticized it to help me look. It's like, what am I trying to say? That when things are tough, don't look away. Stare into this thing. You know. You know, if you're afraid of 10 things, nine times out of 10, if you look into this thing, you won't. You realize I don't need to be afraid of it.

[Marc Maron]

That's right.

[Josh Homme]

And that 10th time when you should be afraid, now you know you should be.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's right.

[Josh Homme]

And you understand that you should be.

[Marc Maron]

Yes.

[Josh Homme]

And I want the understanding.

[Marc Maron]

You want to know when to be afraid.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. For real. And, and, and when to like, not if I don't need to with being afraid. I don't want to.

[Marc Maron]

And also somebody like you who is like, you know, cheated death several times and you know, had a certain amount of, you know, kind of self destructive propulsion.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you know, there's no, like, there's no. I mean, look, there's something about death that is essential to, you know, certain strands of rock and roll.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you are part of that.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah. For sure. You know, and well, I think too that, that in the last bunch of years, facing a lot of, you know, I've lost a lot of people. You know, we're at that age where.

[Marc Maron]

It'S like you just start dropping.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, yeah. And in music they drop earlier. So they're dropping. And when I'm in my 50s here, in my early 50s, instead of growing old, you know, and going through lots of other Things which, at the end of the day, it's like, in the last five or six years, I've never grown so much so fast. Because growing is painful, right?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And sometimes it's like, it also moves quicker when you get older. It's like you're growing, but, like, a lot of what's happening is, you know, a certain amount of zero fucks is taking hold, and a lot of stuff is falling to the wayside that used to, you know, sort of drive your life.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, for sure.

[Marc Maron]

And it's a natural occurrence, so that growing happens naturally, but also, you know, time is running out.

[Josh Homme]

Right. Well, but this is a. This is one of the great things is when you say, I've just no time to waste. I must move forward. I definitely can't sit here. And. Yeah, yeah, I definitely got to deal with this.

[Marc Maron]

Sure. Or you can be like, well, you know what? I'm just gonna sit here.

[Josh Homme]

But then there lies the escapist trip that I love, too.

[Marc Maron]

But, like, if you've got your shit settled and you want to sit down. Yeah, go ahead.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. In the zero fucks given aspect of getting older.

[Marc Maron]

But. So how did. Because, like, I'll tell you, man, you know, watching that. That. That piece, the. In the catacombs, of. Of you doing those tunes and not being, you know, familiar with the other versions of it, there's something about the ones you chose. And also your sense of melody has gotten very sophisticated. So. So, you know, when you do that acoustically, it really kind of showcases not just the singing, but, like, you know, the. The kind of, like, elaborate melodies.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And. And then, like, because of, you know, dude, like, when. When Laura first sent it to me, I watched a few minutes of it. I'm like, all right. Well, all right. So he's in the catacombs. And then I'm like, dude, just watch the whole thing. And I watch the whole thing. I'm like, oh, my God, this is so fucking. It's hard to even explain the natural.

[Josh Homme]

Weight that starts to happen in the realm.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But it's not heavy. It just is. But also the space itself, because of low ceilings, anything where you can't help but see the ceiling, there's something kind of. It's not mystical, but you're beneath.

[Josh Homme]

You know, you're down.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, you're down in it. But the sound was so good. All the instruments sounded good, but also just there was an element that. That happened even when you're cutting away the skulls and all that. That was not dark.

[Josh Homme]

No, it's Not. It's. The funny thing is there's a. Well, there's a few things. One, it's a bit like an. It became a bit like improv because, you know, what's the rule of improv? Yes. You say yes.

[Marc Maron]

Yes. And. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Right. And so we had. I think I had a little bit of a vision that it would be cathedral, like, in there. And very echoey and messed up. I don't know why I had that all.

[Marc Maron]

It's, like, dead. Literally.

[Josh Homme]

It is very dead inside the room.

[Marc Maron]

It was like my old garage because of the low ceilings and because there's so much stuff in the walls.

[Josh Homme]

Moisture stone. The floor is wet, but there's gravel on it.

[Marc Maron]

And also the bones are absorbing all that fucking noise, dude.

[Josh Homme]

Absolutely. And so what happened is you descend down the stairwell that's like 132 spiral stairs. One spiral staircase. You just keep going left or keep going right.

[Marc Maron]

Excuse me.

[Josh Homme]

And you get down in there and it became improv. Because when we did the walkthrough the day before, I'd never been in there. I just only heard of it and dreamed of it. And dreamed of it.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Because I'll back up a sec. This 18 or 19 years ago, when I went to Paris, I had a day off. I was like, let's go to the catacombs. The line was like, three and a half hours. And so the impetus of this is, like, from an entitled, spoiled place, if I'm being honest. I was like, how do I skip the fucking line?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. It's funny. How'd you get permission?

[Josh Homme]

It took 18 years. Really?

[Marc Maron]

Really.

[Josh Homme]

I mean, it's too bad the French don't have a word for bureaucracy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah. You think it was bureaucracy?

[Josh Homme]

I mean, it took forever. It was like, don't ask me, ask this person, you know? And there was a guy, the French, to their credit, they have all this great stuff on telly. It was like they had a show called Album of the Week. And you simply play your album, start to finish, live.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And it's not on anymore, unfortunately, but was on for 40 years. And the producer, one of the main producers and directors of the show is this guy Stephane Sonier. And he knew how to play Cupid to actually close the deal. And it's better that it took this kind of time. It's better. It's better that there were failed attempts, close calls that didn't happen.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, because when we got there this time, sort of like, emotionally ready to do this.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Josh Homme]

So like, an Improv class. We went down into the catacombs.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And with the director, we're like, okay, we could do this. Yeah. Yes, and we'll do this. We can't do that over here, but yes, and we can go over here. And we just improvised what you had.

[Marc Maron]

They only gave you access to a certain part, right?

[Josh Homme]

Yeah, I mean, we had. We had pretty far reaching access. Sort of unprecedented access.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, and because we're the first people to legally play in there.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

There's lots of tales of.

[Marc Maron]

So you could really produce it.

[Josh Homme]

Well, so. And. But you can't plug anything in.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

So we had an electric piano, but we had to hook it up to a car battery.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Josh Homme]

Right, yeah. So you have a car battery with, you know, clips.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And it's like, okay, piano's working. Right. So. But what became really apparent is, is that, you know, it felt wonderful to. To. You can't have plans and then implement them. Go down there and implement them.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Josh Homme]

You are told what to do by the space.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

We were not the stars of that show.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I'm glad you were able to watch it all the way through because it starts to do its work as you watch the movie.

[Marc Maron]

It really does. It really does.

[Josh Homme]

It's not MTV Unplugged.

[Marc Maron]

No, it's not like anything because, you know, because of the nature of cordlessness and no electricity outside of a car battery, which doesn't matter, is that there's no way that space is not going to play a role. And it's the whole thing.

[Josh Homme]

It's the dominant thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And it's not haunted, it's not scary. And it's like, you know, living, breathing, you know, people making art in a space that is like, probably the greatest monument to reverence for the dead.

[Josh Homme]

You know, it's the largest world, you.

[Marc Maron]

Know, and yet, you know, you guys are all finding you're negotiating your space with that space.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. And there. There's just so many weird discoveries. Like, as you said, first of all, it is the dominant character in this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But not in, like, we're trying to. It's not a spectacle.

[Josh Homme]

No.

[Marc Maron]

It's all very intimate.

[Josh Homme]

It's not possible to. For it doesn't allow for that to occur. And as you said, it's not sad or depressing.

[Marc Maron]

No.

[Josh Homme]

It's not fun like we're tossing the beach ball around. No, it's intense.

[Marc Maron]

It's intense. But it's. But it's very, you know, it's deep and it's, you know, there's a poetry to it.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And it makes your songs different in meaning. And the way you're playing them is. That's the only time you're ever going to play them like that.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Well. Well, no.

[Marc Maron]

No way to recapture any of that.

[Josh Homme]

And there's no need to as well. It's okay for things to simply be this right now and nothing more and nothing again.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And, and it also, it. Even for picking the songs, we didn't pick sort of our hits of. It wasn't. That wasn't.

[Marc Maron]

No.

[Josh Homme]

And. And also even down to things like. Like, I like the acoustic guitar just fine, but we've heard it a million times. So the strings and alternate instruments. Like Glock strings.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. In that space. Geez, man.

[Josh Homme]

Those things. And, and like ancient instruments. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

They are not primitive, but. But old.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. But of that period as well.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And even down to like, John, our drummer, was like, what should I play? And I. I had been to the hardware store.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I was. I just handed him a chain.

[Marc Maron]

I noticed that. That was great.

[Josh Homme]

And I was like, try this.

[Marc Maron]

You know, because like, it didn't like when I noticed that instrument. Because you do. There's one shot of it. It's not an instrument. It's a wad of chains.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And he's using it percussively. But. But like, it's not. You know, chains are associated with ghosts. But it didn't do that. It gave. It. Gave it a sort of like. Like ancient industrial.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Sort of thing like, you know, medieval.

[Josh Homme]

Hand him two pieces of wood. And I'd nailed. Or I stapled a sandpaper.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And it was like, try this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And then I. I went and got Chinese food, so I handed some chopsticks. Like, try this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, things you find around the.

[Marc Maron]

The area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And.

[Josh Homme]

And, and because this is one of those moments where it was like, not just less is more, but much less is much more.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And. And, And I think it helped to reveal words more totally. It helped to reveal melodies more.

[Marc Maron]

How'd you choose the songs?

[Josh Homme]

We. We picked about eight things and it just became kind of like the first thing was a medley of two. An old song together. And. And it started to become more about family and things that were emotionally driven, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And things that were about, like the sutra up. Your future is about acceptance.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

Like, I'm gonna sew this up and let it go.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And so it felt. And, and those. Those choices ended up being right. And also, we didn't. Like. You're hearing take two of three. You're hearing take one of two.

[Marc Maron]

Right?

[Josh Homme]

You're. We didn't.

[Marc Maron]

Wasn't a whole week.

[Josh Homme]

No, it was one day. And it was, you know, because I again, had serious health thing.

[Marc Maron]

What was that one?

[Josh Homme]

It was a complication sort of based in the same troubles I'd had. Yeah. And. And. And I had a tear internally.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, God.

[Josh Homme]

And so by the time. Four days earlier, I was in the hot. You know, two day. Two days before the catacombs. I, I. We canceled our show in Venice. And I just said, you need to pull the bus over at the next hospital. I can't. I can't do fucking.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God.

[Josh Homme]

And so I'm in. I'm in the emergency. Emergency room.

[Marc Maron]

He could have died in the catacombs.

[Josh Homme]

Well, but I will say this again. It changed the show because I'd been working on this for so long, and I was only two shows away.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I started to get a fever, you know, once, and it held at 102 for a couple days. And I. And I had this Italian travel agent who's amazing. Her name Sarah. And I said, will you pick me up outside the emergency room?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And so I. I took the gown off, got dressed, and bailed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And she took me to Milan. I played. I don't remember the Milan show, but I played in Milan.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And then we flew to Paris, and I was like, again, this was like, this is my chance to show who I really am.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

You know, you don't get that opportunity, you know, to do this. And I had a cot, so I was laying down in between takes, and I. And even, you know, the opening is laying on top of this altar. But I just crawled up there. I was like, can I just lay down while you guys are setting up?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And the French director, he's like, don't move.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

What if we started here? You know? And it was like, laying. I could do that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can lay down.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Method acting. I could lay down. So these things just fell into place. And what it did is it added this. It added this, this. This intensity to the music, to the moment. It was like, are you gonna do it or not? You know, it's very much what I would call a shut up and fuck me moment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, sure.

[Josh Homme]

And the other thing, another interesting thing that we did is that we decided to 20, 30 seconds before each take. And after, no, he would say, action. And then it was just silence. And everyone's staring at each other. And then it was like, go. And those looks exchanged, that. It was like, I'm doing this. I'm. I'm doing this.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And this is the. You know, I. I always love this about Iggy, too. It's like I always feel like he's see. Seeing these moments and sort of stealing them out of the sky and making them. Your moment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

This is what I'm here to do.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I've lived my whole life up to this moment, and here I am, and I'm gonna do it, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And being. Just feeling really alive and in that moment, I'm supposed to be here.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You know, and you definitely. You feel it and you feel that, you know, that is a singular thing. Not unlike we were talking about before. That. That. That. That is the only thing of its thing.

[Josh Homme]

And this moment won't last.

[Marc Maron]

That's right.

[Josh Homme]

It's going to be gone, clearly, soon.

[Marc Maron]

Surrounded by skeletons, you know.

[Josh Homme]

Yeah. Well, you know, the funny, funny thing is that, like, French. The French love lunch. You know, they love lunch. And so everyone want to break for lunch, and they go up, you know, to go across the street and go up the stairs. And I just couldn't do it again. I couldn't. And so I said, I'm just going to lay down here. My cot, which was in front of this long, dark hallway with one light at the end.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And I thought, I'm so deep in the catacombs, I'm like 350 meters, you know, horizontal and however many meters down.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

I was like, if the lights go out, this is going to be the longest army man crawl I've ever done in my life.

[Marc Maron]

No kidding.

[Josh Homme]

But I also thought, there's 6 million people here. Jean Paul Sartre is there, and amongst others. And I was like, there was ever a moment to be haunted by something this. Go ahead and do me. I'm ready. I'm ready.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

But I didn't. I felt so comfortable.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And so sort of, like, embraced by the moment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And also, like, the fact that you weren't available to be haunting means you've.

[Josh Homme]

Arrived at yourself, that I'm supposed to be there. You know what I mean?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Homme]

And so I said, well, I'm just going to try to drift off to sleep. And I slept like a baby for 40 minutes. And then I'm laying in the dark and I hear these two French kids, these intern kids, crunching on the gravel, and they walked by me and they're speaking French and I just sat up and said, what time is it? And they went and was able to scare the out of like the heart attack.

[Marc Maron]

That's nice. At least there's a little comedy. Yeah, but, yeah, but even the way it ends with you kind of like the, the. The suggestion is it's your point of view moving down the hallway, just singing to yourself. Yeah, yeah. The whole thing's beautiful. And it was really cute. Moving and it's good to see you again, pal.

[Josh Homme]

Good to see you too.

[Marc Maron]

All right, man.

[Josh Homme]

Thanks.

[Marc Maron]

There you go. Deep, dude. Intense. Queens of the Stone Age Alive in the Catacombs is [e-mail]. hang out for a minute, folks. Hey, folks. Support for today's episode comes from Square, your all in one business partner, making your day to day easier. Square brings together everything you need to run your business and get paid. It doesn't matter what your business is. Do you have a cafe or a salon? Or maybe you offer traveling services like house cleaning or appliance fixing? No matter what you do, Square will help you do it. Frankly, when I'm traveling, it's obvious everyone is using Square. The coffee shops I go into, the rental car places, hotels, gas stations, you name it. I find myself tapping on that Square for those easy payments Square keeps up so you don't have to slow down. Get everything you need to run and grow your business without any long term commitments. And why wait? Right now you can get up to $200 off square [e-mail].

[Josh Homme]

Go.

[Marc Maron]

WTF. That's sq U-A-R-E.com Gowtf run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Okay. Hey, listen, if you want more details about the reasons we decided to wrap up wtf later this year, Brendan and I did a bonus episode for full Marin subscribers where we explain everything. Well, I keep saying to you, I've been saying to you for, for many months, like, you know, going back to you, talking about doing the Apple show and this and that, that I, you know, I've been like, this is the time where you need to start thinking about what makes you happy. Right, Right. Like, what are you okay with? Yeah. And you know, I, I like, what would you be okay with doing on a day where you weren't working? Yeah. What would make you happy about that? And I think you've actually, you know, put some effort into thinking. Sure. You know, there are things, there are places I've wanted to go there, you know, to. To sort of like if I can get my dread down just to the basic existential dread of mortality. Yeah. As opposed to every other fucking thing I have to do in my life. That might be relaxing. Yeah. And they're like, I've never been able to take a real vacation in any way without it being work or worrying about getting the podcast in during the week. I mean, that might be interesting. I mean, there's a whole world out there, you know? I'm just gonna have to get out from under whatever the core anxieties are and try to live my life a little bit. That episode is available with a full Marin subscription. To get bonus episodes twice a week, sign up for the full Marin by going to the link in the episode description or go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF. Might be worth it just to do it, you know, even for a little while for the duration of the show, just to hear that episode. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast, and this guitar is brought to you by John Lennon, Boomer Lives Monkey, and La Fonda Cat Angels Everywhere.