The Queens Of The Stone Age frontman says the cigarette was beside the point, and that what he objects to is being managed while paying for a night out.
Josh Homme has explained the speech he gave at Ford Field in Detroit last month, and the first thing he wanted to clear up was the smoking.
The Queens Of The Stone Age frontman lit a cigarette onstage on August 6 in a stadium that had threatened the band with a $10,000 fine, and told the crowd not to let corporations dictate to them. Speaking to Consequence about the band’s new album, he said the cigarette was never the issue.
“It had nothing to do with smoking,” Homme said. “It’s about monopolies and corporations that charge you $85 for parking, and $30 for a beer, and tell you, ‘You can’t go here, but you can go here.’ It’s about controlling fun. The example of smoking just doesn’t matter. That’s not important. It’s about being constantly told what to do when you yourself are paying for a moment of escapism. It’s like having to have fun with the hall monitors.”
He was equally direct about the rule itself.
He added: “Honestly, I kinda don’t give a f**k. You’re not supposed to smoke, but who cares? It’s about uniting people so they can do what they want… We’re already playing this big corporate thing. It’s like we might as well infiltrate it and have a good time. Turn these Mondays into Saturdays.”
The remarks that started it came at the end of the band’s set at Ford Field, where Queens Of The Stone Age are supporting Foo Fighters.
Homme delivered a fiery speech urging fans to push back against corporate mandates.
He said at the time: “Don’t let these f**kin’ corporate a**holes tell you what to do, do whatever the f**k you want,” he declared to the crowd. “F**k that s**t. You paid for parking, and you’re paying for overpriced drinks, these f**king scalpers. F**k having some corporation tell you what the f**k to do, you guys do what you want!”
Immediately after the speech, he added, “And f**k Flock cameras too,” directly referencing controversial surveillance cameras that log identifying information from passing cars into searchable databases, before lighting up a cigarette on stage. It has never been confirmed whether the venue actually issued the fine.
The interview was arranged around Perfecth, the band’s ninth album, out on October 30 through Matador Records. It follows 2023’s In Times New Roman…
Homme produced the nine-song record with bassist Michael Shuman, working across sessions that ran from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Two tracks have been released already, “Easy Street” featuring Nikki Lane and “Insignificant Other“.
The title is Homme‘s own invention, and the thinking behind it is not far from what he told Consequence about stadiums.
“Nothing in this world is perfect, but everything seems to be ‘perfecth,’” he explained when the album was announced. “And that title is funny when you’re in a group, but it ain’t so funny when you’re alone.”
He has described the record as deliberately inconsistent. “Every song sounds like it’s from a different world. 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.”
The album partly grew out of the stripped-back performance the band gave in the Paris Catacombs in 2024, released as Alive In The Catacombs, and the string-assisted touring that followed it.
Perfecth Tracklist:
- “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“
Back on the road
Queens Of The Stone Age begin the second leg of their North American run with Foo Fighters on September 15 in Regina, Saskatchewan.
