Pitchfork

Josh Homme photo by Chris Owyoung

"They want to submerge themselves in a place that's the opposite of where they're from and what they're used to," Queens of the Stone Age frontguy Josh Homme told NME.com about his plans to fly Sheffield, England's Arctic Monkeys to Joshua Tree, California for some Homme-helmed recording sessions next month. Sounds like that ought to do it.

Homme's reportedly bringing the Monkeys out to the desert to, as he puts it, "make something that they dig so much that everyone else can too." This is like their Beatles meet Maharishi moment, isn't it? Or, at least, their Beatles get introduced to pot moment?

The king of Queens also spoke to BBC 6 Music about his intentions to record the Arctics in Joshua Tree. Quoth Homme, "Being Arctic Monkeys, the polar opposite would be Desert Monkeys, so they're going to come out and just experience that, and their idea is to submerge themselves in something else and do some tracks. That's the sort of pressure-free 'lets-do-something-cool' environment that really pays musical dividends at the end, you know? They're a talented bunch of guys-- it's going to be a lot of fun."

What we can glean from this: 1. Josh Homme is still funny; 2. Josh Homme likes the word "submerge."

Homme's camp did not respond to requests for comment, while a rep for the Arctics' label, Domino, would neither confirm nor deny Homme's claims.

Homme and his Queens are lying fairly low following last week's tribute concert for recently deceased Eleven frontwoman/sometime Queens touring member Natasha Shneider. They did, however, put together an auction to raise additional money for the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund; check that out here.

As for the Monkeys, drummer Matt Helders' Late Night Tales mix is due October 13 on Azuli, and frontman Alex Turner's other act, the Last Shadow Puppets, will hit the road again that same month.

The Last Shadow Puppets:

10-11 Wolverhampton, England - Civic *
10-12 Manchester, England - Apollo *
10-13 Leeds, England - Academy *
10-15 Stockholm, Sweden - Cirkus *
10-16 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega *
10-17 Berlin, Germany - Tempodrome *
10-19 Brussels, Belgium - Cirque Royale *
10-20 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso *
10-22 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy *
10-23 Sheffield, England - City Hall *
10-24 Liverpool, England - Liverpool Philaharmonic
10-26 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo *
10-27 Newcastle, England - City Hall *
10-30 New York, NY - The Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center
11-03 Los Angeles, CA - The Mayan

* with Ipso Facto