On Wednesday, while speaking with Radio 1 host Zane Lowe, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme discussed his current tour, supporting the re-release of their 1998 eponymous debut (via Some Kind of Awesome). In addition to digressing on the cyclical nature of performing the same setlist night after night, Homme dropped word about the band’s forthcoming studio effort – their sixth – which he states could be finished by year’s end.

“Our record will be done by the end of the year,” Homme tells Lowe. “We have enough songs. We’re at a weird moment where we really don’t feel like we have anything to prove. We just want to play to the people that are into us and we want to play right at them.”

He contends that they’re first going to take a month off, then return to the UK for Glastonbury, and then hit the studio. Let’s not forget about their recently announced West coast tour, which features an inclusion on a star-studded bill at the Gorge alongside Soundgarden, Mastodon, and the Meat Puppets, or Labor Day’s Pearl Jam 20 festival, either. Or, Homme’s recent hobby of remixing and, you know, writing theme songs. One would hope he’s a man of his word.

Queens of the Stone Age 2011 Tour Dates:
05/19 – Dublin, IE @ Olympia Theatre
05/20 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy
05/21 – Manchester, UK @ Academy
05/23 – Pars, FR @ Olympia
05/24 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
05/25 – Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie Club
05/26-28 – Dudingen, CH @ Bad Bonn Festival
05/28 – Budapest, HR @ Petofi Csarnok
05/29 – Prague, CZ @ Kutumi Centrum Vltavska
05/20 – Warsaw, PL @ Klub Stodola
06/22-26 – Pilton, UK @ Glastonbury Music Festival
06/24 – Victoria, ES @ Azkena Rock Festival
06/28 – Bournemouth, UK @ O2 Academy
06/30-07/03 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
06/30-07/03 – St. Gallen, CH @ OpenAir
07/01-03 – Belfort, FR @ Les Eurockeenes
07/01-03 – Arras, FR @ Main Square Festival
07/23 – Las Vegas, NV Cosmopolitan
07/25 – Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
07/28 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
07/29 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
07/30 – Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre #
08/02 – Calgary, AB @ Southern Jubilee
09/03 – E. Troy, WI @ PJ 20
09/04 – E. Troy, WI @ PJ 20

* = w/ Soundgarden & Meat Puppets
# = w/ Soundgarden, Mastodon, and Meat Puppets