‘Playing Hobart is almost like playing a secret’: Extra charity gig announced for Queens of the Stone Age

Keep your eyes peeled for a redhead rock star motorbiking the country roads of Tasmania this summer. It might be Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, who spoke to the Mercury with some good news for fans.

Queens of the Stone Age. Picture: Andreas Neumann

Keep your eyes peeled for a redhead rock star motorbiking through the country roads of Tasmania this summer.

It might well be Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, who is planning “to go get lost” in the back roads of the island in the coming weeks.

But the “ginger Elvis” himself comes bearing good news, with the announcement of an extra performance in Hobart – a “unique and intimate” charity gig in Mona’s Nolan gallery on February 15.

The semi-acoustic performance will be held the day before the band’s already sold-out Mona Foma concert on the lawns.

Homme, who hails from the American desert city of Palm Springs, said next month would be the band’s fourth trip to Hobart – and the second time performing a benefit gig for Tasmanian children’s charities.

“I look at Hobart a little bit like I look at my home town. It’s a little bit far off the beaten path, and it’s a little bit rugged, a little bit raw, but that’s my preference,” he told the Mercury from his current home in Malibu.

Homme said they first started visiting Tasmania because he had in-laws living in the state, but now felt drawn to returning.

“Hobart has just become somewhere where we have to go, and I don’t mean we’re forced to go there,” he said.

“It feels like playing Hobart is almost like playing a secret.”

Josh Homme performing a charity gig with Queens of the Stone Age at Mona’s Nolan Gallery in Hobart during 2018. Picture: Mona

Homme said he looked forward to moments that were “off the beaten path”, including some motorbike riding around Tasmania.

“What I would say is ‘please do not hit me, look for motorcycles when I’m around’,” he joked.

“Or you’re going to hurt the children, just keep your eyes open.”

The band’s trip to Tasmania comes after a challenging few years for Homme, in which he battled – and overcame – cancer, and divorced his Melbourne-born musician wife Brody Dalle.

Former bandmate, and Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, also passed away during a period Homme has described as the darkest in his life.

But Queens of the Stone Age is back in full tilt, with its eighth album In Time New Roman released last year.

Homme said he was planning for another “desert session”, a musical collective series involving some of the most famous musicians on the planet, with recordings taking place at a Joshua Tree ranch.

But Homme told the Mercury there were more similarities between Joshua Tree and Hobart than people may realise.

“The fact of the matter is that places out on the edge are all the same,” he said.

“Outposts have a similarity in the style of people that are there. You’re there by choice when you’re there, to escape.

Queens of the Stone Age performing at the Mona’s Nolan Gallery in 2018. Picture: Mona

“As in the case of America, every city you go to, these companies have finally won at homogenising everything. There’s the same lotion store, or soap store or jeans, as if the goal were to have the same thing in every town. So Joshua Tree, much like Hobart, it’s not like you’re going to The f … ing Gap.”

Homme said he was a huge fan of Australian music – including INXS, who he has loved since he was four years old.

“Obviously AC/DC is an easy one, there’s Cosmic Psychos. There’s You Am I, there’s Eddy Current Suppression Ring. The Chats were just with us,” he said.

“I think the luxury you have is you’re a giant island. And Tassie is an island next to an island and that isolation is wonderful, because AC/DC does not exist on a mainland territory, it exists in its isolation, and that’s the beautiful thing.

“People forget the gift of nothing. I think Australia has been blessed with that gift of nothing, and that’s where creativity comes from.”

Tickets for the benefit gig will go on sale shortly, with proceeds going to the Royal Hobart Hospital children’s services and 24 Carrot Gardens.

A number of other additional performances have also been announced for Mona Foma as of Monday, including Robin Fox’s Hyperbolic Psychedelic Mind Melting Tunnel, a free solo exhibition by Goan artist TextaQueen, Bollywouldn’t, a late-night circus in Launceston, and a host of extra live music.

Throughout the festival, various performers will jam and record at Mona’s recording studio, Frying Pan, with visitors able to catch a glimpse through a viewing window.

Courtney Barnett, FLLORA x Grace Chia, Little Ugly Girls and Mulga Bore Hard Rock are just some that can be watched in action.

For information and tickets, go to monafoma.net.au

Follow @ambervwilson