Reznor guest spot adds mystery to Queens album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Nine Inch Nails frontman

Trent Reznor did indeed join Queens Of The Stone Age in the studio during the recording of its upcoming album.

However, his contribution to the title track of "Era Vulgaris," due June 12 via Interscope, didn't make the final cut.

"We're going to get creative about how that song comes out and where it goes," QOTSA frontman Josh Homme told Billboard.com.

One guest appearance that did come to fruition was from the Strokes' singer, Julian Casablancas, on "Sick, Sick, Sick."

Said Homme, "(Casablancas) is singing and playing a digital guitar. It's a lame looking thing, but it sounds really cool."

Due to scheduling conflicts, Homme was unable to reconnect with ZZ Top guitarist Billy F. Gibbons, who guested on the prior QOTSA album, 2005's "Lullabies to Paralyze."

"I heart Gibbons. That's the T-shirt I'm wearing," he said. "He was going to come down and then I was going to go there, but it just criss-crossed. Or didn't criss-cross."

QOTSA will spend the first portion of the summer touring in Europe, but Homme said an unconventional U.S. tour will follow.

"We're about to announce American dates that start in Bakersfield, Calif.," he said. "It's actually not any major cities. I learned something really great from Gibbons. He will play San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Medford, Ore. That's why it's the people's music. So, we're going to places we've never been or rarely been. We want to play to people who hardly ever get shows and just burn the house down."

Asked about the status of his long-running Desert Sessions projects, the last of which was released in 2003, Homme said, "There's nothing going on. I wish, but I've run out of time. I'm talking to this one guy about adding four more hours to each day, but he's not real positive about it. Those are never going to end, because there's no reason for them to end. But I'd like to make them more regular."

Reuters/Billboard