QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE frontman Joshua Homme spoke to Chicago’s Q101 radio station about the lyrical inspiration for the band’s eighth album, “In Times New Roman…”
“Look, everyone’s had a really interesting and difficult — or I’ll say precarious — four years,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And I too have had that. And when [I’m] making something, I like to put everything I’ve got into it; that’s what I care about. But you don’t know if it’s gonna be behind, ahead or just out of sync with its own time frame. I’m starting to think maybe this is a record that’s at least accurate for its time frame. ‘Cause it is is brutal, and there’s not a lot of mellow… [The song] ‘Carnavoyeur’ is about as mellow as it gets. But that’s okay too, because these are the times we’re living in, my man.”
Regarding how losses in his personal life affected his mindset while working on “In Times New Roman…”, Homme said: “Well, I think it would be a shame to hold on to things when the reality is they’re gone. I think learning to accept that I had this thing and it’s gone now… An example I would use is friends dying — I can still love them. I don’t need to stop loving these people. And I think accepting the reality for what it is, is the goal. I think even though our record is quite tonally and emotionally and lyrically brutal, I think acceptance is kind of the mantra of the record. Because it’s a shame to hold on too tight when something is gone and act like it isn’t. I think facing the reality of it all is the way to accept something.”
He continued: “That’s not to say this is a downer record. We’re all living the film of our lives, and this is the soundtrack to mine. And I think we made this as honest as possible in the hopes that it attracts somebody who is in a moment when they need something to be just real for them.
“My expectation or desire isn’t to be the biggest thing ever. I’d like to be in the realest thing I can possibly be in,” Joshua added. “And I don’t have much more expectation than that. And that’s why it’s nice… When things go well, it’s a nice break from the rest.”
“In Times New Roman…” was made available across all platforms on June 16 via Matador Records.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE performed live for the first time in more than three years on May 26 at the Sonic Temple festival in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to the Columbus gig, Homme and his bandmates played one gig in early 2020, their first since 2018.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE‘s 11-song set included the live debut of the new song “Emotion Sickness”.
“In Times New Roman…” was recorded and mixed at Homme‘s own Pink Duck (RIP),with additional recording at Shangri-La. The album was produced by QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and mixed by Mark Rankin. Artwork and double LP gatefold packaging was designed by longtime collaborator Boneface.