Singer and guitarist Josh Homme, founder of rock band Queens of the Stone Age, has revealed he was diagnosed with cancer last year.
He had a successful operation to remove it and is “still healing”, according to Revolver magazine.
Josh Homme told Revolver: “Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know? I’m extremely thankful that I’ll get through this.”
The 50-year-old has not disclosed what sort of cancer it was.
“I never say it can’t get any worse,” he told the magazine. “I never say that, and I wouldn’t advise it. But I do say it can get better.”
He added: “There’s a lot of stuff I want to do. And there’s a lot of people I want to do that with.”
Queens of Stone Age are known for songs like 2002’s No One Knows, which featured the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl on drums. They have had three Grammy nominations and won an NME award for best live band.
Homme spoke following a tumultuous several years, which has also seen the deaths of several close friends and a bitter divorce and custody battle with Distillers singer Brody Dalle, with the pair accusing each other of physical abuse.
Asked about Dalle by Revolver, he said: “I would never talk bad about the mother of my children. And I will not talk about my children.”
Josh Homme now has custody of the three children, who will accompany him on the Euoropean dates of the Queens of the Stone Age’s tour this summer.
He told Revolver he was determined to get back on the road. “When I’m on tour, I’m back on the streets where I belong,” he said. “I’m not such a caged animal out there.”
Queens of the Stone Age are about to release their eighth studio album titled In Times New Roman and will play a string of UK dates including the Glastonbury Festival later this month.
However, the band will spend less time on the road than in previous album cycles so he can spend more time at home with his family. “Things have changed a little bit for me. However long I go away, I must come back for at least that length of time,” he said.
Homme also co-founded Eagles of Death Metal, with whom he plays the drums.