Josh Homme says he is open to reuniting both Them Crooked Vultures and Kyuss, the two beloved bands that sit alongside his main gig in Queens of the Stone Age. The frontman made clear that any revival would depend on getting the details right rather than simply cashing in on nostalgia.
Homme has the rare distinction of anchoring several widely admired groups at once. Queens of the Stone Age continue to tour and release new music to strong reviews, while fans have spent years hoping for the return of Them Crooked Vultures, his supergroup with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, and Kyuss, the pioneering stoner-rock outfit he co-founded in the California desert.
His hesitation, as he framed it, is not a lack of interest but a fear of damaging what those bands mean to listeners. «I just don't want to mess it up,» he said, signaling that any reunion would need to meet the standard set by the original work rather than trade on it.
That caution carries particular weight for Kyuss, whose raw, fuzzed-out sound helped define desert rock in the early 1990s and influenced a generation of heavy bands. For Them Crooked Vultures, the stakes are different but no less high: the group's lone self-titled album, released in 2009, became a cult favorite precisely because it captured three major rock figures operating at full power, and a follow-up has been one of the most requested projects in modern rock.
Homme's comments leave both possibilities alive without committing to either. For now, Queens of the Stone Age remain his active priority, and any reunion would arrive on his terms, if it arrives at all.