Queens of the Stone Age frontman and general rock behemoth Josh Homme has revealed that he was close to death in 2010 after contracting superbug MRSA. He goes on to explain that he was briefly clinically dead during surgery for the illness.
Talking to Marc Maron for his 'WTF' podcast, the man behind narcotic listing classic 'Feel Good Hit of the Summer' explained "I think I just beat myself until I got really sick and needed surgery because it was physically manifesting itself".
During the surgery there were complications when trying to insert a surgical tube and the singer "kind of choked to death". Showing that he hasn't lost his trademark dark humour over the incident, he quipped that he didn't see any classic near death imagery such as light at the end of a tunnel during his ordeal "Or there was traffic at the tunnel".
The surgery and subsequent recovery affected Homme's ability to write for some time afterwards, the 40-year-old claiming that the music he'd heard in his head since childhood had disappeared and that "when I woke up this time, I heard nothing for a couple of years... I'd never been knocked down that hard."
When the music returned he was able to write and record ...Like Clockwork with QOTSA earlier this year. Despite being a notoriously hard living rock icon, he was still shaken by the incident. On hearing that another patient on his ward has died of MRSA he simply thought "Oh no, what have I done?"
Below: Queens of the Stone Age headline show at iTunes Festival 2013
