With a little prodding, Homme (rhymes with "mommy") will admit he is still on probation after pleading no contest to two counts of battery against Blag Dahlia, the lead singer of a punk outfit called the Dwarves. It happened at the Dragonfly club in Hollywood three years ago; an incident Homme regrets not one iota.

"I went there to attack and humiliate him," he said. "That's what I did."

Among other dicey talking points the QOTSA lead singer and songwriter doesn't shy from: how he arrived at a mental and physical collapse while on tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2005 and his problem with prescription medication -- specifically, how around that time he was taking "enough Vicodin to kill a small child."

But what Homme, 34, who stands nearly 6 feet 7 inches tall in his motorcycle boots, really wants to talk about is his new hobby.

"Sewing is the best thing!" he exclaimed. "I can feel my heart rate going down when I do it. I forget everything else. It's great when you're on the tour bus."

Last month, just before the release of Queens' fifth album, "Era Vulgaris," the singer was in an ebullient mood. Early reviews had been positive. Better yet, later that afternoon, he was scheduled to meet up with his wife, Brody Dalle of the on-hiatus Aussie punk band the Distillers, to splash in the pool of their Toluca Lake home with their 18-month-old daughter, Camille. "Best music I ever made," Homme said of fatherhood.

It's been a long, strange path out of Palm Desert and onto the arena stage for Homme, who remains QOTSA's guiding force and lone original member since he ejected hard-partying bassist Nick Oliveri from the group in 2004. The stoner quartet emerged from the Palm Springs alterna-rock scene 11 years ago after the breakup of Homme and Oliveri's earlier group, the grunge-psych-garage-punk band Kyuss.

Although Queens' roster has continuously and deliberately changed over the years to include the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on drums and former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan on vocals, Homme scuttles the notion that the group is some elaborately wrought solo project a la Trent Reznor's stewardship of Nine Inch Nails. Instead, credit is given QOTSA's current studio lineup, which includes drummer Joey Castillo and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen.

"This is a pirate ship," Homme said. "People have a misconception that the pirate captain is the most important thing. But the captain is really no more important than a rigger. He fails, we die."

Since 1996, Queens has sold 1.7 million albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan, earning international acclaim and multiple Grammy nominations.

After the group's breakthrough 2002 album "Songs for the Deaf" -- selling nearly 1 million copies in the United States and spawned the modern-rock radio staples "Go With the Flow" and "No One Knows" -- came its only misfire: 2005's "Lullabies to Paralyze."

"I knew I wasn't going to make '(Songs for the) Deaf Two,' but I definitely got it loud and clear that that would be the right thing to do," he recalled. "Then I fired Nick. And it was so public, I couldn't get it out of the way. It got very me-centric. I wasn't clearing my head at all."

Homme doesn't like to recall the nine months he was on tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2005 but admits to having been "mentally sick," suffering through bronchitis, knee surgery (hence the Vicodin) , and a bout of exhaustion that led to a collapse onstage in Germany. "I'm always an accidental masochist, so that's bound to catch up with me at some point," he said.

As for the run-in with Dahlia, a longtime friend of Oliveri's, Homme refused to be pinned down on the specifics of what caused the attack -- or even mention Dahlia by name, instead calling him "someone who doesn't deserve any press." But Homme outlined some of what led to two counts of misdemeanor battery, to which he pleaded no contest, resulting in 60 days of residential rehab, anger management , and three years of probation.

"I was there alone (but) all his people were there. I said, 'Does anyone have anything they'd like to say before I get started?' It was totally quiet. So I was like, 'OK, I'll get started,' " Homme said. "Everyone in this world deserves to be slapped -- not too hard -- and I hope they are, because it's a great teaching tool."

Dahlia, who has known Homme since the QOTSA frontman was 21, recalled the incident differently. He said Homme became enraged after hearing the 2004 song "Massacre," in which Dahlia sings: "This one goes out to Queens of the Trust Fund / You slept on my floor / And now I'm sleeping through your . . . records."

"I was seated with my back to him," Dahlia said. "He poured a beer over my head. When I got up, he hit me over the head with a bottle. Then he was hustled out of there and ran down the street."

He added: "He became a horrible person . . . somebody that none of us recognized or liked very much. I threw a good-natured but pointed barb his way, and he just couldn't take it."

Counterintuitively the road to recovery started with more work: Homme produced a second Eagles of Death Metal album, followed by a tour with that band, for which he plays drums and sometimes sings. Then he returned to the studio with Castillo and Van Leeuwen to begin cutting "Era."

Set to embark on tour, Queens will hit a number of "second tier" towns rather than the usual big-city rock 'n' roll whistle stops.

Asked about his current chemical intake, Homme -- whose ecstatic 1999 single "Feel Good Hit of the Summer," after all, boasts the repeating stanza: "Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy, and alcohol / C-c-c-c-cocaine!" -- said he was abstaining from the high life. "I have to take a drug test for an insurance policy," Homme explained.

Just then, a roadie wandered through the rehearsal space and shook a bottle of prescription pills he spotted atop an amplifier. "What are these?" he asked Homme, mockingly.

"I'm into reality," Homme said. "The music has always been a great escape for me."

The 11 additional tracks include:

· Miss Murder (by AFI)
· Through Fire and Flames (by Dragonforce)
· Number of the Beast (by Iron Maiden)
· 3's and 7's (by Queens of the Stone Age)
· Suck My Kiss (by Red Hot Chili Peppers)
· Raining Blood (by Slayer)
· Reptillia (by The Strokes)
· Paranoid (as made famous by Black Sabbath)
· Cities on Flame (as made famous by Blue Oyster Cult)
· Mississippi Queen (as made famous by Mountain)
· La Grange (as made famous by ZZ Top)

"Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock features the most comprehensive song list ever assembled for a game," said Tim Riley, Activision's worldwide executive of music. "Artists and music execs from the major and independent record labels and publishers respect the brand and have given us unrivaled access to their music vaults allowing us to give gamers what they want - to grab their Gibson guitars and shred to their favorite music."

In fact, real rock stars like Jade Puget, guitarist for AFI, a band featured in the game is anticipating the upcoming release of the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and wants fans to know that "if you're going to start playing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, make sure you have, say, the next 2 years free, because that's all you're going to want to do."

In addition to the newly announced tracks, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock's previously announced tracks include:

· Slash's Original Boss Battle Recording
· Welcome to The Jungle (by Guns N' Roses)
· Paint It Black (by The Rolling Stones)
· Cherub Rock (by Smashing Pumpkins)
· Sabotage (by Beastie Boys)
· The Metal (by Tenacious D)
· My Name is Jonas (by Weezer)
· Knights of Cydonia (by Muse)
· Even Flow (by Pearl Jam)
· Lay Down (by Priestess)
· Cult of Personality (by Living Colour)
· Rock and Roll All Nite (as made famous by Kiss)
· School's Out (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
· Rock You Like a Hurricane (as made famous by Scorpions)
· Slow Ride (as made famous by Foghat)
· Barracuda (as made famous by Heart)

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will include explosive new content and features including a multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a host of exclusive unlockable content and visually stunning rock venues. Expanded online multiplayer game modes will also allow axe-shredders worldwide to compete head-to-head for true legendary rock status. While continuing to retain all the key features from their prior legendary performances, fresh downloadable content will be offered on multiple platforms, and players can now shred to a killer set list from many of the most popular rock songs ever recorded.

For the first time ever, Guitar Hero fans will also be able to thrash and burn with new wireless guitar controllers available for each platform, including exclusive Gibson Guitar's Les Paul model for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo, and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. PlayStation®2 gamers will also get to shred on a new exclusive shape, Gibson's Kramer guitar, popularized by hard rockers and known for its body design, pickups, electronics and construction for furious finger fretting.