Dave Grohl Rejoins Queens of the Stone Age After Drummer Exits

Queens of the Stone Age have been plugging away at a new album for some time now, we may have figured out why. Frontman Josh Homme broke the news of drummer Joey Castillo's departure from QOTSA (via Antiquiet) and posted a pic on the band's official Facebook page (seen above on the right) featuring all the information fans needed to understand the situation. Dave Grohl is back!

Grohl last collaborated with Queens on 2002's 'Songs for the Deaf,' the album for which he recorded the drums. He even considered joining the band full time, as Foo Fighters had hit a rough patch during the initial sessions for what became 'One by One.' Lucky for us, Foo Fighters decided to give it another go. Former Danzig drummer, Joey Castillo, then stepped in for the tour and played drums on the band's following albums -- 2005's 'Lullabies to Paralyze' and 2007's 'Era Vulgaris.'

Rumors of a new QOTSA album go back as far as 2008, but the venture was put on hold for Josh Homme's side project, Them Crooked Vultures (another collaboration with Dave Grohl on drums). The band has recently confirmed that recording sessions for their next album are back underway, with most expecting their sixth effort in 2013.

Although the photo could be from Homme and Grohl's recent collaboration on the 'Sound City' doc, the Queens frontman made it very clear in his interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe that Dave was all in.

"If we're talking about ['Songs for the Deaf'], three records later... Dave is playing drums on this record as well," says Homme. "It was really more of the search for something classic. If we're gonna do this and everything, you know, I'd really like to put everything I have into it and make it a record that somebody can really fall in love with. I mean, cause at the end of the day that's all there really is. So I called Dave and he and I have this wonderful musical relationship that we kind of don't have with other people. And it started with ['Songs for the Deaf']. So here it is, three records later and the feeling is the same. It's a very cool and comfortable position."

Grohl recently announced that Foo Fighters were taking a break, which makes this the perfect time for him to rejoin Queens of the Stone Age. More details about the album may have been divulged during the interview, but we won't know for sure until the full clip hits the airwaves on December 3rd.