Interview Queens Of The Stone Age: Songs For The Dead

Josh had a vision, and the band had one shot at seeing it through. “I felt a little bit of pressure,” admits Thomas, giving an insight into those decisive conversations with the band. “I started to think about German expressionist references, like F.W. Murnau – big shadows, something very moody. When you’re in the catacombs, it’s so powerful that you don’t really need to tell a story. The catacombs are the stars of the movie. We are not.”

However, on the brink of completing his 20-year dream, disaster almost struck. With Josh needing to fly back to the States for emergency surgery, QOTSA were forced to cancel the remainder of their European tour. In spite of this, the vocalist was adamant to push his body to the limit (“he’s stubborn as hell,” notes Michael) and complete this elusive quest, in what now became a race against time before his urgent flight home.

“It was emotional,” Michael says now. “The state we were in, knowing that we were going home the next day, trying to make sure Josh doesn’t die down there with the rest of them. Six million people… all these fucking lives. It’s not like ‘this is fun, cool and unique’ – this is really real. You’re around all this past life and death. It does something to you, emotionally.” On the spur of the moment, before they perform ‘Suture Up Your Future’, Josh speaks for just the second time in the film: “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” Treading the tightrope between life and death himself, his performance throughout is ice-cold – pouring every ounce of his spirit into the occasion.

Acclimatising to his surroundings, he prowls around the space in the cinematic opening mashup of ‘Running Joke’ and ‘Paper Machete’. ‘Kalopsia’ somehow retains the monstrous energy of its chorus, while Jon Theodore brutally shakes a chain purchased a few days before from an Italian hardware store. ‘Villains Of Circumstance’ is arguably the highlight, its enchanting strings acting as the perfect counterforce to Josh’s signature falsetto. He then struts through the narrowest of corridors in a thrilling ‘I Never Came’, as if embodying some Emperor of Paris.

In the director’s eyes, it was ‘Suture Up Your Future’ which became particularly striking. “This song fits the mood of the movie, and the catacombs, perfectly,” Thomas explains. “It’s very spooky. Making it really minimalistic makes it even weirder. It’s also a transition to the end of the movie – the feu d’artifice, the fireworks. It’s like when you see a Queens of the Stone Age live set, and you can’t wait to see them play ‘Song For The Dead’.”

No electricity, no in-ear monitors. Barely any light, and even less space. Such restrictions are but a window of opportunity. “How the fuck are we going to harmonise together when you’re all the way the fuck over there?” quips Michael, who spends ‘Kalopsia’ leant against the wall on backing vocal duties. While watching Alive In The Catacombs, the anxiety and fragility of the whole situation only serves to augment the whole experience, rather than hinder it. Visually, Thomas must take the plaudits.

“All the effects you can see in the movie, the transparency, it’s not post-production,” he reveals. “We used a shiny blanket – the one you use to cover yourself when it’s cold, or when you’re lost in the mountains – in a reflection, and then it moves like waves of light on the ceiling. We tried to use as [minimal] light as possible. You really don’t have the right to touch anything in the catacombs.” “It’s choreography,” adds Michael. “You’re only doing one or two takes, so you’re praying and counting on everyone to do their job… you’re trying to internalise [any uncertainty] and be in the moment. It’s a delicate situation, and you have to treat it accordingly.”

Unlike anything they’ve attempted before, Alive In The Catacombs will surely go down as one of QOTSA’s boldest artistic statements. The wizardry that was captured that day in Paris could probably never be replicated – or pulled off – by any other band, taken as it was to another level by the gravity of the situation around Josh’s health. “I cried down there – multiple times,” admits Michael.

“We spent a lot of time down in the catacombs, and time flies,” says Thomas. “It’s like when you’re in a casino, there’s nothing saying to you that it’s dark outside… [but] I really didn’t want it to stop. [I thought] ‘we can go for two more days without eating, without sleeping’, because it’s so exciting to do this with a band you love.”

A film for the dead, made alongside the dead, in tandem with the dead; ironically, this is their largest human audience to date. As they prepare to return to Europe this summer – to complete that unfinished tour – Alive In The Catacombs perhaps represents a significant inflection point in this album cycle, and the career of QOTSA at large, borne out of desperation and adversity.

“I’m thinking about it all the fucking time, and also not at all,” concludes Michael. “It was such a big turning point for [the band]. Is my friend gonna be okay? Does our band go on? When do we get back together and play shows? Can we? I’m constantly reminded about it, because it was such a big event - everything else revolved around it. That’s when everything stopped for us.”

Alive In The Catacombs is out now at qotsa.com.

Tags: Features, Interviews, June 2025, Queens Of The Stone Age