Josh Homme on His Modeling Debut, New Clothing Line, and Queens of the Stone Age’s Next Album

After surviving health scares and a divorce, the 53-year-old rock god is saying yes to life. “Do what you like while you can,” he tells GQ. “Make that your mission, because soon enough, things will change.”Julien Hekimian/Getty ImagesIt’s 100 degrees in Los Angeles, but Josh Homme is the hottest thing in town.The Queens of the Stone Age frontman has spent the past week setting social media ablaze after making his runway debut at Paris Fashion Week in a dashing pinstripe suit, polka-dot neck scarf, and black flip-flops.Swaggering down the catwalk at Ann Demeulemeester’s “Lonesome Heaven” show last weekend, Homme looked part silver-haired mob boss, part Parisian dandy, part man with absolutely no interest in sensible footwear. Online onlookers, naturally, have been sick, sick, sick with desire.“I’m waiting for the backlash of being in people’s feed too much,” the 53-year-old Grammy winner says with a wry grin.But Homme isn’t sweating things, even amid a record-breaking October heatwave. (“It’s not too bad,” he shrugs of the sweltering climes.) After all, he grew up in the California desert, where 100 degrees was practically sweater weather, as well as the name of a song he wrote with Kyuss, the pioneering stoner-rock band he co-founded as a teenager.Those molten, fuzz-drenched grooves Homme forged in the ’90s became an unlikely inspiration for Stefano Gallici’s spring-summer 2027 collection for Ann Demeulemeester. The Italian designer found his muse somewhere along a stretch of Mojave Desert highway, with Kyuss’s bong-rattling 1994 album Welcome to Sky Valley blasting through the speakers.As it turns out, Homme has been harboring some fashion ambitions of his own. The ginger Elvis is preparing to launch Homme Construction, a boutique clothing line featuring jackets and accessories inspired by his own wardrobe and family history.It’s all part of what Homme calls his newfound commitment to saying yes to life. After a recent bruising stretch that saw him survive cancer, endure emergency surgery, and weather a messy divorce, the famously sardonic frontman has a renewed appetite for trying things and generally paying less mind to what the people say.That spirit also runs through Perfecth, the forthcoming Queens of the Stone Age album, whose intentionally imperfect title hints at a more vulnerable Homme being unusually open about heartbreak, change and the strange beauty of letting go.Here, Homme discusses his newfound status as an internet sex symbol, his fashion awakening, and why he’s finally giving himself permission to be happy.Estrop/Getty ImagesGQ: You’ve been causing quite a stir online since you walked the Ann Demeulemeester runway. How does it feel to break the internet?Josh Homme: Well, I’m a model, so…No, I mean, the real thing is that we’ve just decided we’re going to make stuff ourselves and enjoy it. Say yes to life and just not sweat it so much.I knew about the Ann Demeulemeester thing for some months, and Stefano is so chill and such a talented guy who somehow manages to seem like it doesn’t affect him at all. Being there was like watching this beehive work of all these talented people. No one was a jerk. Everyone was so nice. There was nothing not to like.I had so much fun. Sometimes I think the word “fun” feels juvenile and not enough, but I think in saying yes to life, that word should be enough. I had so much fun.I wish they wouldn’t have painted my eyes brown, though. There was this makeup woman, and she’s like, “We are making everyone tired.” I was like, “Do that to the 20-year-olds. I’m 53. Don’t make my eyes look tired. Hey, could you don’t do that?” That was my one gripe.People online have been saying you’ve made them pregnant through their screens.Well, I think two things. One, I don’t fuck with all that. That’s not my business. I think that would be unhealthy. I try to stay away from all this. I’m sure a lot of people can’t stand me as well. They should all go in their respective corners.Second, my goal with music has always been to make more babies. So pregnancy? Check.They’re calling you a silver fox.It’s better than being a dumb fox. Lord knows I’ve hung out with a bunch of dumb fucks before.You mentioned saying yes to life. When did that become a philosophy for you?I think my takeaway from personal difficulties and illnesses and things like that was largely to really focus on what matters. And that really sort of dead-ends in just saying yes to life and not sweating so many things.People get really worked up and they try to find something to get themselves upset about. I think that deceives you into believing that you care about something because you’re upset about it. I just don’t agree.Do what you like while you can. Make that your mission, because soon enough, things will change.I imagine some purists might say that walking a fashion runway goes against the code of rock or something.I don’t see how that is a valid argument. Music and fashion have always gone hand in hand, so that seems ridiculous to me. My grandpa was always like, “Someone wants to argue with you and you want to end it, just agree with them.” So my response would be: OK.Stefano was listening to Kyuss’s Welcome to Sky Valley while making the collection. What did that mean to you?He didn’t talk to me about it until dinner that night. He was saying he was listening to Welcome to Sky Valley and Queens stuff, and I was really blown away.If I have a desire for what the music should do, you want to be the catalyst for someone doing something great. You want to be the soundtrack to their life in that moment. That’s the real goal: to be there for people’s big moments, and that they would turn to you and ask you to soundtrack their life at that moment. So when I heard that, I was really moved.You made Welcome to Sky Valley when you were just a teen in the desert. What do you remember about that period?I can remember it like it was yesterday. Those are the feelings that are always there. It was a tumultuous time. Our drummer [Brant Bjork] was wanting to leave at the time, which he ended up doing after the recording. But I felt strong about what we were doing. Music is like a religion, so I felt strong about what we were doing. It felt like we were going somewhere emotionally.I don’t think Kyuss ever believed it was gonna go somewhere success-wise. People really didn’t know who we were until it was over. So we never dealt with that side of it, which I think was nice because we were just kids. I was 19 years old, so the only importance was we were gonna make a record and it was something that you absolutely love. You’re gonna kidnap this emotion, and hold it down and make sure it’s right. I just remember that feeling of obsession with sounds.I love your style back in those days. A lot of backwards caps and bead necklaces.It was very much Southern California small-town desert. I always think back and it’s like, I really didn’t have pants until I was 11. Dressing was the last thing you thought of. It’s more function. It’s just fucking hot. [Laughs.] That was at a time in my life, too, where I never believed our music would take us out of the Coachella Valley.Well, I was a teenage hand model. And now I’m designer, so full-circle.When did you become more conscious of fashion?It suddenly dawned on me that I’ve always been into fashion myself. I think it stems from my grandfather Cap, who post-World War II would always embroider “Homme” on the shoulder. He would always take his clothing, and my grandmother would too — nothing was ever off the rack. It would get tailored or modified to make it yours.Very early on, I chose to take home ec class to learn to sew at 13. Then with Eagles of Death Metal, we always tailored our own clothes and made our own shirts. It just kept growing.I’m about to start a boutique clothing company called Homme Construction, which is coming out at the end of the year or early next. It’s largely inspired by my grandparents and things I know, things that I would do. It’s just for fun, really.What’s going to be in it?It’s not big. It’s some custom jackets. They’re based off of stuff that I’ve been making with a friend. The first thing will be a jacket that I wore all last tour. There’s a carpet bag that’s sort of a take on the Depression-era carpet bag my grandparents used to carry booze in. [Laughs.] It’s kind of a remake, a play on that.(I’m working with) this Emmy-winning costume designer, Dana Pink, and this maverick sort of guy, Terry Anderson. It’s only four or five things. I have a fucking T-shirt that just says “Scumbag.” It’s very simple shit too.I was wondering what that “Scumbag” shirt is! You’ve been wearing it everywhere.Yeah, it’s become one of the pieces. I just made that at home.I’ve sort of defaulted to where I’d rather walk onstage with a uniform. I don’t want to have to think too much. It stems from wearing the Hedi Slimane-designed stuff for the Iggy Pop record [2016’s Post Pop Depression]. It’s that feeling of armoring up a little bit.There were enough comments about that jacket and honestly now about this “Scumbag” T-shirt. It’s funny. It starts with going to JoAnn’s or Michaels, buying some letters and ironing them on. But that’s something I’ve been doing since I was 13.How would you describe your aesthetic?Southwestern Greaser.Hell yeah. And that’s very much informed by your grandparents?My grandpa could wear an ascot and not look like a ridiculous person, you know what I mean? But I think my own just being raised on punk rock music and reading lots of S.C. Hinton and growing up looking at Matt Dillon, basically, I’ve just always had an admiration for that sort of greaser aesthetic.What’s the secret to having perfecth style? Uh, perfecth sthyle?Styleth. [Laughs.] For me, it’s about doing small things that make something yours. Big grandiose moves feel uncomfortable to me, so it’s little adjustments.I’m glad to have a tailor, someone I trust, that you take something and make it conform to who you are, instead of conforming to what these temporary styles are.Who’s your tailor?Serj, man. He’s in Burbank.Perfecth is so vulnerable. I feel like the Kyuss or early Queens Josh had a very tough-guy, untouchable-river-of-lava aura. But here, you’re talking about heartbreak in a way that feels so much more direct.If you come from growing up where men are brutal with each other, the way I did, you come into this world very armored up as a way of surviving your childhood or your youth and your early manhood. It’s necessary to not even have the appearance of being weak because it ends in violence.But I do think the goal is, every record, to take off at least one piece of armor until you have none. As I go through this life, the parts that are important to me have nothing to do with armor. I’m not a tough guy. That’s not what I’m trying to be. I’ve always had a willingness to protect the people around me and myself too, you know, the people that I care about. Sometimes in order to protect them, you lead with that, because it feels safe. But I’m 53. I don’t really have that same desire I had to lead with it.You’ve obviously gone through a lot in recent years. You’ve had some close calls with your health. How did that change you?It’s been the best thing ever. It’s got me healthy, it’s got me really happy. It rearranged my priorities. It made me let go of a lot of things that just weren’t worth holding on to.I’m really just happy. And also, I think that’s OK, which was just a big enough deal in itself.I really appreciate this life and this job and this thing, and my family’s happy and healthy. That’s what matters. You don’t really worry about the rest.Was it difficult to get to a point where you were OK with being happy?I just didn’t know that that was OK. I didn’t know that was acceptable for boys.But now I don’t care. Appreciation has been one of the greatest things that’s happened. Moments, whether they’re good or bad, they come, they stay, they go. You want to just be present when they’re good and put your head down and push when they’re bad.There’s a Churchill quote that’s been kind of a mantra: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” I want to get it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids so when I sleep, I can see it.Everyone online seems to agree you’re aging like a fine wine. What’s the secret to aging gracefully?I mean, I am not taking part in that. I’m hanging out with my kids, and I’m playing with my bandmates and those things aren’t true, you know? I don’t want to pay attention to the internet no matter what it is. So aging gracefully is, don’t sweat it. I’m going to a haunted house tonight with my kids. That’s the secret.I think if you’re picking a fight with aging and arguing with aging, you’re probably making a mistake. So my response to aging would be: I accept. I mean, what can I do? I’m not going to shoot my face with stuff. I accept.The final track on the album is “Runaway from the Mob.” I read that song has been kicking around a while. What made you finally finish it?It’s about 25 years old, and then it was recorded with Dave [Grohl] on drums during Like Clockwork… Long ago, I stopped condemning music or forcing to finish it. I just started telling myself I’m not yet qualified to understand how to finish this.I have an adversity to the mob and mob mentality and group thought… You can’t think against the group or they’re the first people to hang you. I just despise that, and I despise people telling you that we’re doing it for your safety. I don’t trust systems. There’s so much evidence of it. You can’t trust your food, you can’t trust your water, you can’t trust anything. If anything, the main thing the internet’s done is reveal what you cannot trust, which is everything.And so, it’s really easy to take a position that is “fuck the mob,” but I didn’t realize that it would end up being a letter to my son: In case I’m gone, this is what you do. There’s something more underneath it that’s something further there. And I needed to get to that further point.How did you get there?Just by watching. Watching my kids grow. I’ve learned a lot more by being silent than by talking. And so it’s in the silent moments that I come to understand things.Sign up for Show Notes to get news on the latest runway shows, parties, and insider events on the international fashion circuit.