Queens Of The Stone Age have revealed details of new album ‘Perfecth’ with the sleazy groove of new single ‘Insignificant Other’.
The follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed ‘In Times New Roman‘ will arrive on October 30 via Matador Records, despite the band previously teasing that it might arrive in September via a gory reveal video.
Following on from already fan favourite ‘Easy Street‘, the next taster of their ninth LP comes in the form of ‘Insignificant Other’, a loose and breezy number that picks up where the laid-back groove of the classic ‘Make It Witchu’ left off.
“It’s a song about distance,” said frontman Josh Homme. “About how someone can be your entire world only to simply vanish. And about the strange vertigo of being on the receiving end of that.”
The single and album announcement also come with a jokey video directed by Chapman Baehler starring the viral Big Chongus as the embodiment of what “perfecth” is. The dog-friendly clip also features Ruby Homme, Max Homme, Pumpkin Van Leeuwen, Isabella Puppolini (Izzy) Van Leeuwen and Reesa Shuman. Check it out below.
The album title comes from the concept that “perfect” as a word has never been honest and doesn’t exist, so Homme created a more fitting word.
“Nothing in this world is perfect, but everything seems to be ‘perfecth’,” said Homme. “And that title is funny when you’re in a group, but it ain’t so funny when you’re alone.”
The album’s central theme was also inspired by Kintsugi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by filling its cracks with gold). Homme shared that the artform makes “what has been shattered is made more beautiful, not less, by the act of repair” after the band arrived at a point of “hard-won clarity” as a unit. The nine songs are said to be about different forms of love, dealing with “family, friends, and others both significant and insignificant”.
The album notably features a re-recording of ‘Sunday’ from Homme’s Iggy Pop collaborative album ‘Post Pop Depression’. The now classic 2016 album also featured Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders.
‘Perfecth’ was produced by Homme along with bassist Michael ‘Mikey Shoes’ Shuman and came from sessions tracked everywhere from New Orleans to Los Angeles.
“Every song sounds like it’s from a different world,” added Homme. “And that’s on purpose, because it’s trying to stitch together all these emotions revolving around love, lust, foolishness, and the sort of wisdom that comes as a gift from all that.”
Queens Of The Stone Age release ‘Perfecth’ on October 30 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here and check out the artwork and tracklist below.
The ‘Perfecth’ tracklisting is:
‘It’s Only Love’
‘Insignificant Other’
‘Where The Goth Girls At?’
‘Mono’
‘From The Cliff’
‘Sunday’
‘Easy Street’
‘Phantom Limb’
‘Run Away From The Mob’
The album is also said to be inspired by their experience of playing a stripped-back concert at the historic Parisian Catacombs back in 2024, which was captured for an accompanying concert film and live album. NME gave Alive In The Catacombs a four-star review, hailing it as a “moving and meditative concert doc”.
Queens followed up the Catacombs show with an intimate tour of the UK, Europe and North America, where they were joined by a string section.
The final UK date was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October. Here, they aired new material and were joined by Matt Berry for a stripped-back and emotional set – you can check out footage and photos from the show here.
In 2024, Homme promised to “roll his sleeves up” so that the fans wouldn’t have to wait so long for Queens Of The Stone Age’s next record. There was a six-year gap between 2017’s ‘Villains’ and ‘In Times New Roman…’.
Homme and bandmate Dean Fertita had previously talked to NME in late 2023 about the group, their personal battles and plans for the future.
“I think we should be making something,” Homme explained at the time. “The mantra of the last five years was, ‘It won’t be long now!’ That needs to pertain to making things too. I certainly think we should make more, faster-er, better-er.”
Fresh from their UK and European stadium dates supporting System Of A Down, QOTSA are currently in the midst of North American dates as special guests to Foo Fighters before they make headline stops in Iceland, Japan, Australia and more. Visit here for tickets and more information.
