Co-writing with an icon usually means letting the resulting songs stay put, treated like relics of a specific room and moment. When Josh Homme sat down with Iggy Pop a decade ago, however, he was reluctant to completely surrender what he had just created. That reluctance eventually worked its way into Queens of the Stone Age's ninth album, Perfecth, released through Matador at the close of October, where the track Sunday resurfaces in an altered form.
The song traces back to the creative summit behind Pop's 2016 record Post Pop Depression, a lineup rounded out by multi instrumentalist Dean Fertita and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. Having written the core framework one evening, Homme walked into the tracking space the following morning and told Pop straight away that he had nearly kept the piece for himself. Holding back material felt contrary to what they were trying to build together, so Homme offered a straightforward compromise. The track would belong to both men equally, leaving either musician free to release their own interpretation whenever the mood struck.
Homme anchored that choice in rock history, pointing directly to the partnership between Pop and David Bowie in the late seventies. When Pop dropped China Girl on his 1977 solo effort The Idiot, the tune possessed a raw, murky weight. Six years later, Bowie stripped it down, polished the edges, and turned it into an enormous presence on his 1983 LP Let's Dance. Homme saw no reason why Sunday could not follow a parallel path, functioning as shared creative currency that could suit distinct intentions across different stages of their careers.
Reclaiming the track for Perfecth answered a practical musical dilemma during the recording process. Running through the running order, Homme decided the collection was short on a specific kinetic drive. He wanted a rhythm that carried the light, bubbling propulsion of seventies French disco. Sunday delivered that exact movement, injecting a brighter cadence into a tracklist that also houses songs such as Where The Goth Girls At, Insignificant Other, and Easy Street.
Before sending the new version out, Homme made sure to run it past Pop. He playfully claimed at first that his old cohort hated the revision, but quickly admitted they had obtained his blessing. Homme remains plainly reverent toward the veteran performer, describing him as a singular survivor who outlasted contemporaries by clinging stubbornly to his idiosyncratic nature, even when that independence leaves an artist on an island. As for future joint sessions, Homme leaves that prospect open, though he stresses that creative alignments cannot be forced. If another project happens, it will come about organically.
The decision to dust off an older composition fits into what Homme categorizes as the third distinct chapter of Queens of the Stone Age. The band's earliest run concentrated on building an odd, heavy architecture outside standard rock conventions, while their middle era leaned into friction and combative intensity. This current chapter is about finding a calmer center. Homme and bassist Michael Schuman noticed that the recent writing period pulled the members into tighter focus, carrying forward momentum ignited during their earlier Catacombs tour dates.
That renewed internal focus now faces an extensive itinerary across multiple continents. Queens of the Stone Age have performances lined up through Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. Looking further ahead, the band will share top billing with Interpol for a major night in Mexico City in March 2027, followed by a North American summer leg, European festival and arena stops, and an expected round of United Kingdom appearances.
