The result is Post Pop Depression, a nine-
Post Pop Depression is a dream come
song, no-filler album that finds Pop at the
true for fans of Homme and of Pop.
peak of his abilities and Homme lending
But for Homme himself, the process of
the Midas touch he has given to not just
collaborating was enough of a reward.
QOTSA albums but also to his lauded
“We both went out on a limb,” Homme
Them Crooked Vultures project with
says. “Because our relationship was so
Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones.
new, we were in a beautiful spot where
we were trying to dazzle each other and
Homme says he felt obligated to “pervert”
surprise each other.”
instruments to get out of his own comfort
zone. Accordingly, and similar to his work
Just as Pop and his collaborators hadn’t
on his collaborative Desert Sessions series,
embarked on the project with any grand
he dabbles with slide guitar, synths, lap
designs, neither had a tour been planned.
steel, the Fun Machine, and steel drums
But once Fertita said after the recording
(playing the latter instrument for the first
that he was suffering from “post-Pop
time since “I Think I Lost My Headache”
depression,” the guys decided they had to
from QOTSA’s 2000 album, Rated R). He
play together again. Pop says the band will
also produced the record.
tour this spring, and will not only play the
new album in its entirety but also tackle
Meanwhile, Pop takes on the perspectives
some of his previous and overlooked solo
of multiple characters, touching on the
songs, like “Success” and “Baby.”
theme of death several times throughout.
(“I hope I’m not losing my life tonight,”
It appears that Pop is finally getting the
he sings on “In the Lobby.”) The Far East–
rest of his rewards. In his words, he’s
sounding “American Valhalla” could also be
experiencing a level of attention that a
the first song in which a Baby Boomer asks
successful artist typically gets when he’s
what retirement in the US looks like, to the
twenty-eight—not sixty-eight. Meanwhile,
extent it exists at all. And “Sunday” features
Homme says no band ever had to wait as
a cacophony of instruments calling to
long between the release of their albums
mind both early Stooges and QOTSA.
and those albums receiving their due.
Homme notes that, following their recent
Closing the album is “Paraguay,” in
joint appearance on The Late Show with
which Pop—playing a character, he
Stephen Colbert, Pop said to him: “I’ve never
says—promises to flee to said country
put out a record where anyone cared.”
and yells at the listener, “You take your
motherfucking laptop / And just shove it
“There’s a part of me that would rather
into your goddamn foul mouth.”
just stroll off and enjoy a quieter
existence,” Pop says. “But that usually
48
F LO O D
“The point of that song is that the guy’s
ends up translating into some old white
not going to get that life,” Pop says. “It’s
guy in the Third World drinking himself
a dream.”
to death. I’m a little engine that can.”