Elton John announcescollaboration with Queens ofthe Stone Age: “A bit of amindfuck”

Elton John has announced that he’ll appear on the upcoming Queens of the Stone Age record. Yes, you read that correctly.

The some-time duck suited John teamed up with Josh “Baby Duck” Homme and the rest of the Queens crew just hours after recording a duet with England’s most recent Eurovision contestant, Engelbert Humperdinck. During an interview with Dave Grohl, who is guest hosting Chelsea Lately, Elton explained: “I was in Vegas and I flew back to LA and Engelbert Humperdinck had written me a very sweet letter and asked me to sing a duet with him. He is part of my history and I couldn’t say no so I went and recorded a song with him. Then I drove three blocks and went from Engelbert to Queens Of The Stone Age, which was a bit of a mindfuck.”

Picking up the story, Grohl added: “I remember [Elton] walking in and him being, like, “Have you got a ballad for me?” and we were just like, “No, we do not have a ballad for you.’” Elton says that the song took three hours to record with Grohl drumming on every take.

Queens of the Stone Age have reunited the classic Songs For The Deaf era line-up – Homme, Grohl, bassist Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan – on the new album. The crew dubbed “the baddest rock ‘n’roll band in the world” by Grohl, will also be joined by Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor and Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears on the upcoming album.

QOTSA’s as-yet-untitled new album – their sixth – is the follow-up to 2007’s Era Vulgaris and has been brewing for many years. In an interview with FL in early 2011, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen said the album was inspired by the blues. “It’s really early in the process and it’s not too defined what it is, but we’re all feeling really great about it and there’s no shortage of ideas. We’re trying to filter the best of the best.”