Could this be the rock tour of the year?

Music trailblazers Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age have dropped a rather juicy tease for Australian fans, indicating that the two bands could be touring together as part of a co-headline tour.

Both Trent Reznor’s industrial rock stalwarts and Joshua Homme’s desert rock desperados simultaneously posted images to their Facebook and Twitter accounts today, as FasterLouder reports, with artwork of Australia emblazoned with a simple but firm proposal: “Queens + NIN: Soon”


Both rock bands have previously confirmed their intentions of touring Australia as part of their release of their respective latest releases, Nine Inch Nails’ Hesitation Marks and Like Clockwork… from QOTSA.

Nine Inch Nails were heavily rumoured as headliners for the Soundwave 2014 lineup, but it seemed that relations between NIN’s people and festival promoter AJ Maddah went sour, with the latter slagging off Reznor and co. in several public tweets.

He told one disappointed fan about the band’s Soundwave omission: “Sadly Trent wants to be mainstream now and reach Justin Timberlake’s audience;” while telling another fan that the band had disappeared “up their own arse sadly.” Then to another NIN query, Maddah wrote: “I’m no longer interested in working with them. I happen to like their existing fanbase.”

Shortly after Trent Reznor gave a more measured response, while confirming that there were still concrete plans for a forthcoming Nine Inch Nails tour.


It may eventuate that the “better scenario” is in fact a co-headline tour with Queens Of The Stone Age; after all, Joshua Homme and Trent Reznor have worked closely together several times before, while the NIN linchpin also made an appearance on Like Clockwork… as part of its all-star list of cameos.

Homme has been talking about an Australian tour off the back of QOTSA’s latest album since May, telling Triple J at the time they’d be skipping the Aussie summer festival season (including Soundwave) in favour of their own headline tour. “Everybody who knows me knows that Australia is my home away from home,” said Homme. “I also think it’s time that we come and tell our own stories, so we’re gonna skip the round of festivals and see you in your fall [autumn].”

More details as they come to hand, but there’s plenty of reasons to get excited for a NIN/QOTSA double bill, including the visually ambitious live show constructed by Nine Inch Nails for their world tour of Hesitation Marks. 

In the mean time, enjoy Joshua Homme and QOTSA guitarist Dean Fertita discussing Celine Dion, Smurf steaks, and the Spice Girls with two 12-year-old girls.

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