The only other 2013 release that seems to be rivalling Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories in the hype stakes is the sixth and latest release from Queens Of The Stone Age, Like Clockwork, and much like the robotic Frenchmen, it’s partly thanks to the drip-feed of information regarding the roster of A-list collaborators to feature on the album.

Namely previous QOTSA conspirators Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan, Nick Oliveri, and Trent Reznor, along with appearances from Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, UNKLE’s James Lavelle, Arctic Monkey Alex Turner, and Sir Elton John. But unlike Daft Punk, who have said they don’t plan to tour their new album, Joshua Homme and his desert rock bandits have been pillaging music festivals across the seas to deliver their new material in the rough and raw live setting.

In conjunction with dropping the first taste of Like Clockwork in new single ‘My God Is The Sun’, QOTSA stormed Lollapalooza Brazil – the lineup of Homme, guitarist Troy Van Leewuen, multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita, and bassist Michael Shuman, bolstered by new touring drummer (ex-Mars Volta member) Jon Theodore.

After announcing plans to hit up major international festivals, including Germany’s Southside and Hurricane festivals, Netherlands’ Pinkpop, UK’s Download, and the Chicago-based Lollapalooza, it was only reasonable for Australian fans to begin wondering what Aussie music festival would be able to bring over the band in light of their new album.

But while the likes of Big Day Out or Soundwave would seem likely candidates (both having featured Queens of the Stone Age in the past), new information reveals that while QOTSA are headed to Australian as part of their Like Clockwork touring cycle, it won’t be for a festival slot.

According to a tweet from Triple J Magazine writer Samantha Clode, the band will be skipping the Aussie summer festival calenda entirely, and instead be touching down for their own headline tour, as FasterLouder reports.

The news of a 2014 Australian visit from Homme and co. would be enough to cheer up anyone’s day, and despite appearing on festival lineups for the Big Day Out (in 2001 and 2003), Splendour In The Grass (2005), the now defunct V Festival (2008), and most recently the 2011 Soundwave Tour, playing their own shows in 2014 probably means a mid-year visit.

Which could potentially mark a year on from the release of Like Clockwork, which is due out June 4 through Matador Records, the band’s first for the indie label, and released in Australia through Remote Control.

Following on from ‘My God Is The Sun’, QOTSA have released another taste of their follow-up to 2007’s Era Vulgaris in the creepy new video for ‘I Appear Missing’, the 3 minute edit (of the album’s 6 minute-long version) features artwork from Boneface, who did the album’s vampiric cover art and the many teasers sent to music press, and animation by Liam Brazier.

The video features a bandaged, bloodied man waking up in the middle of the desert and eventually goes wondering to the tune of the more eerie sounding track. You can watch the new video below, as well as give ‘My God Is The Sun’ another spin and scope the album tracklisting while you salivate over the confirmation of a Queens of the Stone Age 2014 Australian Tour.


Tracklisting:
1. Keep Your Eyes Peeled
2. I Sat By The Ocean
3. The Vampyre of Time and Memory
4. If I Had A Tail
5. My God Is The Sun
6. Kalopsia
7. Fairweather Friends
8. Smooth Sailing
9. I Appear Missing
10. …Like Clockwork

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine