Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) | The Blocks Podcast w/ Neal Brennan | FULL EPISODE 27 

As a Queens fan this is a gift. Thanks.

As a recovering addict , I’m blown away at how Josh explains the struggle. He’s spot on.

“Anger is a sword I hold in a hand that is hurt.” Writing that one down. So glad to hear an actual interview that isn’t,”so the new album…” The most open I’ve seen Josh in any interview.

It took someone who barely knows anything about Josh to get him to open up and reveal absolutely everything. I’ve watched probably every interview that Josh has given in the last 20 years and this interview was the most honest, warm, sincere interview he’s ever given. Props to Neal for going “there” over and over, and props to Josh for obliging and exposing more of his beautiful soul to the world.

After a comedy show 12 or so years ago, Neal bought drinks and talked to me at the bar for over an hour about my military experience overseas in Iraq - something I hadn’t done a lot of until that point. He’s just a wonderfully kind, empathetic and interesting human being.

Josh just did an interview for Radio1 and he was no where near as opened as he was here. This is the most open I’ve ever seen him.. good job Neil

Less than a year ago, my wife and son were killed in a car crash. I thankfully still have a daughter, but have struggled so much with wanting to keep fighting moving forward. A second is a minute, a minute an hour and every day is an eternity. Speaking about loss, emotional trauma, wanting to help everyone else to push aside your own feelings, had me crying. in a foolish attempt to outrun my feelings, I've tried changing who I am, tried changing how I act, I didn't want to be that person that lost. Everything eventually comes back around, and I couldn't run away from myself anymore. You have to accept that you're broken. And that's understandable, and that there's no timeframe or expectations of recovery. Just breathe and find beauty in this world. Keep loving those you lost in a present tense, they helped make you who you are. And that thing should be beautiful, even if it is broken or missing pieces. Thank you. This new album has been my soundtrack.

Funny how the algorithm reveals your deepest thoughts through Josh Homme's voice at 3 am on a Thursday morning. Very insightful.

Josh is so obviously very intelligent, but doesn’t come off as a know it all. What a great quality to have.

This is why podcasts are so amazing. Getting to hear someone I've idolized for twenty years talk on such a personal level and them confirming that they're as cool and interesting and deep and empathetic as their music would have you believe.

As an “a wrench doesn’t need a wrench” type person and who is approaching 5 months clean and sober, I really needed this today. Damn. Just when I thought I couldn’t love this podcast more…Thank you.

Josh Homme is one of my favorite musicians. So excited to see him make an appearance here. Neal, this podcast is a highlight of my week. Great work.

This is my favourite version of Neil brennan. Long form, intellectual, asking questions, good at listening etc He seems very genuine and comfortable in this format.

For anybody that’s been listening to the new album just over and over, this is incredible. He literally keeps dropping pieces of lyrics and stories that obviously relate the the new songs he’s written. I been listening to the album all day and I’m blown away to listen to this now.

what an amazing interview.. so glad Josh is still here. Please baby Jesus we need another Those Crooked Vultures Album

This is the perfect side car to the new album for true fans. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better interview of Josh. This convo is straight gold for many reasons, so incredibly grateful to hear this stuff.

This is the most real and honest I've ever seen Josh. Good stuff. Seems like he's on a much better path.

I'm glad Josh is doing better. In the last few years we've lost so many great folks to drugs and suicide I was more than a little worried that Josh may have been one and I'm glad he made it out and is working on himself. ❤

Beautiful interview. So deep and extremely vulnerable. 💔😭 This is what we need more of in the world. ❤

I absolutely love Josh Homme. Beautiful human being,amazing musician and such an inspirational person. Bares his soul, candid, real and true. I feel privileged to watch this. Thank you 🔴👊🏻

I honestly couldn’t have thought of a more perfect conversation on Blocks. I’m a long time fan of both of these guys work.

I really love how vulnerable and open Josh is in this interview. One of the real last rock stars and just honest. His music means so much to me and so many others. One of my favorite lyricists, so witty and orgiinal. Thank you for this.

This is possibly one of the best interviews I've ever encountered. I'm a great fan of honesty and despair at the shallow nature of most corners of our culture. Josh is a recent discovery for me as a rock personality since a stellar performance at Glastonbury last week (I watched on TV) with the Queens and was the best act of the entire festival imo. Pure emotional feral creatures are rare. I thought I was alone. I'm so turned on I've come back to music. To be inspired by another human who talks your language and has conquered your fears is a gift indeed. Thank you both for a wonderfully wise and insightful episode. Muy Bien 😊👍...keep on keeping on folks!

Why does it feel like these two just became friends - One of the best episodes so far, in my top three for sure.

"some words are so difficult to get past your lips, even though you mean them and know them" very well put, it is so tough to admit you need help.

"If you can't outsmart them, out weird them". I'll remember that. lol

I will never forget buying the debut QOTSA album at the Record Exhange when I was 14 in '98. Totally life changing. Feel like i've grown up with the band and Josh.

Never expected this guest! 😮What an awesome surprise! Seeing him live in 2 weeks :D

What a great interview. Extremely respectful while still remaining humorous, but not in a way that deflects or hides from the seriousness of raw emotion. They were talking about these things in such an ethereal way that only people who have seen it firsthand and come out the other side can explain. Josh Homme is the best.

Thanks Josh for your honesty. It musta took a lot of balls to be so candid. Great music 🎶. It pulled me through shit as well. So to you and the rest of QOTSA. Thank you

Them Crooked Vultures…2009 in Cologne-out of over 500 gigs I‘ve witnessed easily top 3! This guy is a legend,one of the last true rockstars!

At every moment in this episode there is something said that is funny, insightful, profound, or thought-provoking. Wow.

This is one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen. I had to pause this thing at multiple times to deal with how closely the subject matter was hitting home. It felt like a therapy session, but also like being hit with a cast iron of shit I didn’t know I had to deal with. It takes balls to have a conversation like this publicly. Never felt preachy, but I’m thinking…I have some emotional work to do.

One of the best and most unique musicians ever, not to mention the founder and frontman of the most badass band in the world

Loving the new Queens of the Stone Age album, been a fan for years. Stoked to see him on here!

I love hearing Homme talk live and breath art and poetry the man is a legend self aware, intelligent, introspective, cerebral, cool af and I've been feeling this from his music for years really cool to hear him talk

Real Talk between famous strangers. Congrats to Brennan for introducing a platform like this pod. Life is hard and wonderful and scary and depressing and hopeful and mundane and weird: Spend time on healing yourself before taking on the burdens of others.

Pretty shocked by how specific and open Josh homme gets here. My first time watching the pod.. he’s a good interviewer

Man, Josh has such an intoxicating laugh. It rings of actual joy.

"You forgive somebody, even though it feels like you shouldn't or couldn't, you do. You should. You let someone go by knowing that's the only way to hold on to them too. I'd hate to be the person who held on too tight, longer than they should have. The agony associated with that grip is too much to bear at this point, I'd rather deal with the difficulties and the hardships that are associated with moving on."

I cant recommend this podcast enough or sing my praises enough

Neal deserves so much recognition that he already has. Amazing interview with a great musician

With the comedian every line is on the cusp of a joke, With the poet every line is on the cusp of a lyric.

I’ve been a fan of Josh Homme and Neil for years and this was a real treat for me. What was amazing was the fact these guys can finish each others sentences.

THIS is exactly the kind of interview Neal should do

This has been the best ‘new’ Homme’ talk- The pace and the understanding, and the humor and the introspection- well done guys.. Thank you-

as someone who cant or hasnt yet been able to ask for help, conversations like this give me hope.

Neal, Josh - I dunno if you’ll read this but I’ve watched/listened to many of the episodes of this podcast with interest and enjoyed them greatly but this episode, man. It really helped me in a way I can’t explain in a measly comment section. As someone who’s dealt with a lot of loss, struggle and just plain stuckness, for lack of a better term, hearing you identify and talk about the process of moving through these things, accepting loss, and transitioning from one phase of life to another, with gratitude and courage is amazing. Thank you both. I’ve been a huge fan of both of you for much of your respective careers and this conversation just heightened my appreciation of you both so much. Inspirational insights for real. Hope you both live very long lives and continue to share your art with us.

Not even half way through and feeling very grateful to you both for the vulnerability and willingness… so many things here to reflect on not just within your own life but also within music and art. Thank you. God, it’s hard being human.

“I’d like to do a good job, and it requires doing a good job” brilliant.

I think this is the best interview with a musician I’ve ever seen

man..... the more i watch interviews with josh the more and more i want to just sit and talk and talk about everything and nothing so intriguing feels like an old kindred spirit

Josh is the goat. I wish he’d do more comedy podcasts

JH...sounds like he's describing what I went through in life in some aspects. Now 45, just getting to the realisation of life. Also did EMDR and that helped immensely, changed my life. So happy and emotional to see him like this. Such a joy.

Just found this podcast as part of my own new path to figure out my blocks at age 52. I love that this wasn't just two friends talking in public, but rather a real exploration of two people being willing to be open with each other and talk about things. As a musician, Josh has been a fantastic influence of creative freedoms, so it was enthralling to hear about how he lives and the challenges he has been through. I recently learned about "compounding trauma" through tackling all of the loses over the years of my life (which still sounds odd to me to say). So again, this was really impactful. Thanks Neal, this made an impact.

Awesome interview. . . . Big QOTSA fan, and I am happy that Josh is in a great place - you can tell from the recent tour footage that he & the band have never been better. Big ups to NB for having JH on and cutting right to the bone & marrow. Thank you Neal.

For me the real gold here is the chemistry intersection of these two guys...

11 Minutes in and already 100x better than the Zane Lowe interview.

This video literally gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t have ever imagined this was the reality behind the scenes.

Énorme merci Neal d'avoir invité Josh, et énorme merci à Josh pour son honnêteté. 🙏

This is great. Josh has been doing some so fn real n authentic interviews recently n I love them

This interview was absolutely life changing! Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable. I feel like I need to take a moment and reflect. ❤

I stumbled upon this podcast at 1am as I usually do to ease me to sleep....well, this interview was so good that I stayed up till 3am and listed to the entire show. Brutally honest and real. Thank you Neal and Josh!

Oh, NB has just hit another plateau of magic by having this guest.

This was my favorite episode, Josh was a wealth of emotion and the dialogue was brilliant!

So pleased he’s still here to tell the tales. Saw queens last week and they were at the top of their game. Great to see Josh enjoying himself on stage. With what he’s been through over the last few years. Not seen him this open before so great vid 👍

This is everything I wanted to here him talk about . Thank you so much this was an amazing podcast.

These episodes are so great! Neal, I feel like you are healing things.

This one will be hard to top. You had me at compounding grief, trauma, disbelief, to surrender and acceptance. Still trying to get there myself. Keep the great content coming.

Fantastic interview. The best interview I ever saw with Josh Homme. Great, talented and funny guy. We can be glad to have him.

Josh speaks exactly how I feel . I have a spirit that I cannot deny that was influenced by Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Iggy, Perry Farrell, I can go on. I want to keep in touch with that wild "feral" side, but also enjoy the growth that recovery and its journey affords me. Its living between Chaos and Order...its a fine line. Great interview.

This is a great reflection on the struggles of drug addiction and self awareness. Homme really came through it a better human.

This was such a treat. Thanks fellas! Good job putting Josh at ease Neal.

Josh Homme is just giving the gift of his reappearance with so many great interviews shows the album. What a blessing to us. I feel so honored to share the same birthday as this man.

This is the best interview I’ve even seen Josh give. Used to be the Rogan interview, but this blows that out of the water. Thank you Josh for being you and this Neal guy in intelligent and funny as fuck. 👍🏻👍🏻 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☝🏻🥇🏆

really gave me a lot to think about, this probably helped a lot of other people as well. The rock world doesn't get enough of this.

First time listening, Neal... halfway through and this is unbelievably amazing. Great episode, refreshing to see Josh vulnerable and open.

Terry Gross, Marc Maron... Neal Brennan. Damn, dude. Every episode is killer. Getting Josh to be this real and putting his feet to the fire... crazy confidence and genuine curiosity. That's why he spoke to you. You were real, you were genuine and you were courageous. You're an amazing comic and a brilliant writer. This channel may be your finest artistic moment. Cause it's just real shit. Huge fan.

Thank you for this, Neal. It's beyond words how helpful this sort of conversation is to me, as well as a ton of other people, I'm sure.

1:03:19 is CRITICAL to understand. Great episode. Didn't see this coming. So many gems in this one. Thank you to everyone involved in making this show 🙏

The best interview I've seen in a long time. Great job guys.

What an amazing conversation. I could watch these two chat for hours. Genuine, heartfelt, fluid, relatable, and totally engaging. Also, B is a master interviewer. Ask a question, listen, and engage. Damn this was excellent to watch.

What a great Podcast! It is really interesting to hear the differences and the similarities in how comedy and musicians deal with their art and real life situations. I love both of your perspectives and I learned from you both, even at 52 years old, and find that I am always learning, which is a beautiful place to be in this life. Thank you Neal and Josh for this. This was good therapy!

Great interview, I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Queens of the Stone Age, but I’ve heard a few of their songs over the years. Great insight of what this singer has going on behind the scenes. Thanks for sharing and another supreme Blocks episode from our main man, Neal!

As a fellow speed freak dabbler in remission, its been clear to me from his lyrics that he enjoyed getting spun out. That shit is evil though but glad to hear him speak about it. First it giveth then it taketh away

As a long time fan, but also through the perspective as someone who works in the health/healing field, it's so wonderful to see that he wanted to do the work, get through his 'dark night of the soul,' and come out wiser, happier, and healthier for it. To clarify his question on anger being a response to fear/anxiety, etc., it's an emotion that when used correctly, results in making necessary adjustments and/or changes. When we get stuck in anger, it can kind of fester and become depression. Sometimes the anger is over having those fearful emotions in and of themselves, because it feels better than experiencing anxiety/fear. Anger causes movement, which is something he prefers, and fear often causes us to be still or freeze. If there is a fear of not being able to get back up, anger can feel like an accelerant to power through and dampen the discomfort of anxiety/fear. This healthy vibe suits him well. It's evident he's chosen to face his issues/traumas head on, and that is hard to do. Requires lots of reflection, change, difficult emotions, but the reward is growth and so much more freedom. I wish him continued success and health!

Josh has always been one of my favourite musicians and now I feel even more connected with him. So proud of him. I completely relate. 5 years of hell and all along I was being slowly led into peace. So much growth and learning came in the last 5 years. So much was condensed into that time and I really changed forever 🙏🫶

Never in my mind did I see these two gettin together! What a treat! Thanks Neil!

Thank you both for such an open and honest discussion. I will turn this knowledge into wisdom.

One of life's greatest gifts is heads on a swivel you don't have to see things that you don't like over and over and you can leave to not even listen! 🙌 y'all nailed it!...your guest are incredible !

What an incredible gift this conversation is, thank you.

Wow, this is the best one of these so far!!

Josh,Oscar Wilde was 6'5",and a poet,writer and an incredible artist.

This is an amazingly rich conversation. Thanks for posting this.

Homme carries the torch forward (Thank you for having this chat, Neil, and letting us look in)

This feels like it’s not a real life interview cause Josh is talking about the shadow and Carl Jung and making intense connections about suicide and pain and realization. Wonderful interview

I know this is corny as hell to say but I am so proud of him.

So relatable. We all go through these emotional peaks and valleys. Some really good insight here, love Josh and Neil great job on this one.

Listening to Josh Homme talk about his life and writing songs about it brings me some sort of comfort and motivation to keep going

this podcast seems to just be getting better and better.