Queens Of The Stone Age are back with new music for the first time in three years. The band has dropped “Easy Street“, a hushed, unexpectedly tender single out now via Matador Records that marks their first fresh material since 2023’s In Times New Roman… Fans who caught the group’s acclaimed “The Catacombs Tour” already know the tune — it premiered on stage in 2025 — but it lands here as a proper studio release.
The song trades the band’s usual muscle for something looser and more human: acoustic guitar, psychedelic synths and a rhythm track that seems to breathe on its own, with raw edges and dry wit sitting just below the surface. It features country singer Nikki Lane, whose gravel-and-honey delivery — carrying a shade of Wanda Jackson grit — plays off Josh Homme‘s smoother lead. The pairing is a reunion of sorts, with Homme having produced Lane‘s 2022 album Denim & Diamonds.
Homme described the track as one built to embrace its own flaws:
“It’s kind of a funny song. It’s like hitting your funny bone, where it’s funny because it hurts and it hurts because it’s funny. You’re serious, but it’s funny. We made it the way you’d make a demo. No click track, mistakes left in. It speeds up, it slows down, the claps aren’t great, but they’re not bad, and a bad clap adds this human thing you can’t fake.”
He went on to frame the imperfection as the whole point. “It’s not just about silliness. It’s about understanding the imperfection of your life. The song, like your life, is in the mistakes. Its imperfections are unbeatable,” Homme said.
“Easy Street” comes with a video directed by Tony Wolski and Christopher Gruse, based on a story and idea from Homme. It opens with a bruised, battered Homme trying to outrun a motley crew of pursuers, bandmates costumed as a Juggalo, a mall Santa, a leather enthusiast and a fancy cowboy leading a tiny horse, before flipping expectations with a twist that ends up honoring the very outsiders it seems to mock. The song was produced by Homme and bassist Michael Shuman.
The single caps a busy stretch for Homme, who has turned up all over the map lately — lending backing vocals to Mastodon‘s new single “Snakes For Dinner” and appearing on Shania Twain‘s “Faded Blue Jeans” within days of each other.
Queens Of The Stone Age are currently touring Europe and the U.K. with System Of A Down before heading home for a North American stadium run alongside Foo Fighters, and will return to Iceland for the first time since 2005 with an October headline date in Reykjavík.
Queens Of The Stone Age — 2026 tour dates:
- July 15 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK (with System Of A Down, Acid Bath)
- July 18 – PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, PL (with System Of A Down, Acid Bath)
- July 19 – PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, PL (with System Of A Down, Acid Bath)
- August 4 – Rogers Stadium, Toronto, ON (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 6 – Ford Field, Detroit, MI (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 8 – Soldier Field, Chicago, IL (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 10 – Huntington Bank Field, Cleveland, OH (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 13 – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 15 – Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- August 17 – Nationals Park, Washington, DC (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- September 15 – Mosaic Stadium, Regina, SK (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- September 17 – Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, AB (with Foo Fighters, Mannequin Pussy)
- September 20 – BC Place, Vancouver, BC (with Foo Fighters, Gouge Away)
- September 24 – Bourbon & Beyond, Louisville, KY
- September 26 – Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV (with Foo Fighters, Gouge Away)
- October 4 – Aftershock, Sacramento, CA
- October 24 – Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, IS
