its like 7.00

Fun fact: Australia and New Zealand get royally fucked in most, if not all, electronic market places.

so josh homme said they're coming to tassie but not with nin. so i think i'll hold off on getting a tick to one of these. that cunt better not be lying.

Oh, neat.

I'd probably prefer that, honestly.

Queens of the Stone Age on the way
By LISA ROCKMAN Oct. 18, 2013, 10:30 p.m.

IT'S fair to say Josh Homme has his mojo back. In 2010, bedridden for months after flatlining on the operating table during knee surgery, and slipping into a deep depression, the charismatic Queens of the Stone Age frontman hated music. The raging fire in his belly, which had showed signs of flickering, was abruptly extinguished.

After climbing the rock god ranks on the back of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, and embarking on exhausting tours with side projects Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures, Homme had burnt out.

Fans feared the worst and the music industry all but wrote Queens of the Stone Age off.

But the "Ginger Elvis", as the suave singer is known, who makes women swoon with a lift of his eyebrow, is back, firing on all cylinders, and on his way to Newcastle with fellow heavyweights Nine Inch Nails (who released their eighth studio album, Hesitation Marks, in August).

Both bands will play at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on March 8, a toss of the coin deciding who will headline on the night. Heads or tails, Novocastrians win.

The tour will be a family affair for Homme whose wife, Melbourne-born singer Brody Dalle, is also on the bill.

"Have I got my love for music back? I have, I have," Homme tells Weekender by phone from the US.

"I think you need to find your reason to play. If you're blessed enough to do this all the time, you have to believe in it.

"There's a certain mystery and magic to playing music and it has to be real, it has to be your saviour, you know.

"It has to really pull you through and be your audio diary instead of just audio diarrhoea. Ahuh?"

Whatever you say.

Enter the therapeutic . . . Like Clockwork, Queens of the Stone Age's sixth studio album, released earlier this year after a six-year hiatus. It debuted at the top of the Australian and US charts and is widely believed to be as groundbreaking as 2002's breakthrough album Songs For the Deaf, which spawned the hits No One Knows and Go With the Flow.

So, where does . . . Like Clockwork fit in?

"It fits in perfectly for now," Homme laughs.

"It's where I was over the last few years, and the only way I got through all of that was by the music actually coming out, by me recording it.

"But in the case of this record, I'm also really, really on my knees thankful for being able to make it and then leave it, shed it like a snakeskin."

Homme is a risk-taker when it comes to making music. Unpredictable. In the same vein as Mike Patton, who challenges diehard Faith No More fans with his various side and solo projects, and Trent Reznor, the genius behind the constantly evolving Nine Inch Nails sound, Homme isn't afraid to mix it up. You never know where each song will lead you - there are changes in pace, in pitch, in instrumentation. For Homme, it's all about being honest. Following his gut and keeping it real.

He explains the process.

"First of all, I can't pay attention to what I call 'they' theory: what will 'they' say, what will 'they' do. I can't factor that in," he says.

"And then, if something feels kind of vulnerable and kind of scary or awkward, I feel it must be going in the right direction.

"If I ever heard echoes of another contemporary band in what we're doing, I would veer away, because it's not the time to accidentally get clumped into the scene."

The moodiness and depth of Homme's vocals, the rhythmic beats, the epic riffs and the rolling desert undertones labelled somewhat simplistically as "stoner rock" stand Queens of the Stone Age apart from other contemporary hard rock bands. . . . . Like Clockwork is another step into the unknown, rawer and slower paced but as intense and darkly beautiful as ever.

"I think if you make records accurately, they're really just a description of where you're at in your life.

"That way, they don't have a responsibility to be anything but honest and forthcoming," Homme says.

"I feel like if you are honest and don't censor yourself, ideally your music will have enough 'unique juice' to change the flavour of what it is.

"I like to work hard but I don't like to try and I think there's a huge difference. When you're trying, you're trying to please somebody else, worrying about what the thoughts of other people you don't know might be."

Each Queens of the Stone Age album is an intentional departure from its predecessor. In . . . Like Clockwork, for example, Elton John (a Homme fan) plays piano. A constant, however, are the ironic and often provocative lyrics.

"I've always loved to experiment with sounds," Homme says.

"It's great if someone knew it was you within three seconds but, by the same token, you need to keep experimenting with sonic tricks. At the end of the day, raw just seems to last longer.

"If I listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival - or AC/DC for that matter - now it sounds just amazing. Whereas if you listen to certain other records, they just don't travel well, sonically."

His ultimate quest? To be a part of something "classic". Critical acclaim is of little consequence: "I need to believe in what we do so that whatever anybody says, I'm OK with it".

"I can only speak for myself but having gotten to know Trent [Reznor] I have always heard him express a lot of very similar views to mine, which is that you have to set your own bar as high as possible and try to do something classic, knowing that this is your chance to push your own music, and take it as far as your hands can stretch," Homme says.

"My definition of classic? Something that 10 years later will be unforgettable, that will still be worth it, that hit some spot in your gut and in your heart that you really care about.

"If you could be someone's favourite band, wouldn't you do it?

"In a way the differences between our two bands is what makes us so similar. If that makes any sense."

Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age are no strangers to working or touring together but never before have they ventured as far afield as Australia. Not only is Newcastle on the tour's radar, but so is Tasmania (Queens of the Stone Age only) and Christchurch. It's a chance for both bands to do something memorable. Classic, even.

Homme is just as excited as the thousands of Australian fans who have expressed their delight on social media over the past fortnight.

"Australia is still my home away from home. I have family there through Brody, so it's the reason we're playing Tassie too, you know; it's the one show we're doing alone.

" We always contemplate if we're going to move [to Australia] or not," he says.

"It really reminds me a lot of home, and I also find it quite easy going and quite casual.."

The tour will be a family affair for both bands. Homme, 40, is a father of two young children, as is Reznor. The pair even share a birthday.

"My whole family always comes down to Australia," Homme says.

"It's the ultimate excuse to be together."

Homme says "mutual respect" is the anchor that binds Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails.

"I know that I really want to push us as far as I can. I want to do something classic, I want to be part of something classic, and I know Trent feels the same way," Homme says.

"It's just something else we have in common, I mean God knows we have the same birthday. I don't know if you believe in all that, but if you did, that would probably be a good indicator of our bond."

In case you're wondering, they're both Taureans.

Homme, polite yet confident, hesitates when asked if he ever thought, as a young boy playing drums in Palm Springs, rocking out at the legendary desert "generator sessions", as part of Kyuss or even in the early Queens days, he'd be where he is now - filling stadiums, producing other bands, regarded as a rock god by adoring fans worldwide.

"No," he says quietly. Humbly.

"I mean, I keep waiting for all this to go away [laughs]. I speak my mind so I keep waiting for someone to knock on the door and say 'You're outta here. It's over'. "

And fame, for what it's worth, hasn't changed Homme - or so he says.

"Honestly, other than moving to the front of the line to get a table at a restaurant, it doesn't have that much impact," Homme says.

"I still spend time with the people that I always have, and that starts with my family, and I still come home and I do the dishes and the laundry.

"Some people hate you, and some people love you, and they're probably both wrong. I don't want to pop any bubbles by saying what they think they know is not me, because everyone has their own reality. I just know that mine involves the people I care about and I don't need to get my arse kissed or kicked to be happy.."

Homme's love of music extends to producing other bands. A recent project has been studio time with The Arctic Monkeys.

"I love working with bands that have a vision, and being able to witness that," he says.

"And you should do that with a very gentle hand, that attempt to alter someone's path. Because I think, as it pertains to the Monkeys, I would have made tea for those sessions, you know. Nothing more. Because someone's got to, and they're a great, great band, and it's a pleasure.

"Their new album is incredible, and I think they're playing that most dangerous of games - that one that I like to play, and I know Trent likes to play too - that one where what you've already done, and everybody else has done, is done, and you try to look into the spots you haven't been and try to head that way, you know?"

Growing up, Homme never contemplated a career - or a life - without music. He says pursuing music was "a natural course" that he wasn't even conscious of.

"I was kind of just walking along. You know? And I don't think you can ask for more than that. I'd rather play my way out of it than anything else, you know?"

i was kind of excited for an excuse to see nin but i'd definitely trade that in for a tassie show.

Yeah The Doctor mentioned it in a tweet after interviewing Homme, better not be lying. No way am I flying interstate for a QOTSA/NIN show but I'd jump on a Tassie show in a heartbeat