Joshua Homme and Queens of the Stone Age are back on the clock

Queen guitarist Brian May and Jessie perform “We Will Rock You,” at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony at Olympic Stadium.Queens guitarist Brian May built “Red Special” 40 years ago with his father, according to his personal website. “It’s a beautiful day for some rock ‘n’ roll.” PHOTOS: Best albums of 2012 | Randall Roberts The band has been spending a week at the Wiltern rehearsing for a coming tour and running through songs from a new album, “… Like Clockwork,” set for release on Tuesday. But it comes a full six years after “Era Vulgaris.” Not that Homme wasn’t busy during the time between the band’s albums. It immensely helped me.” In 2011, Homme told Britain’s NME magazine that during knee surgery he’d stopped breathing, “died” on the table and had to be revived. I had to examine what was going on and there was no way around it.” Some of that experience can be heard in the new music, with some contemplative and self-explanatory song titles: “I Sat by the Ocean,” “I Appear Missing” and “Fairweather Friends.” The opening verses of the album’s quietly dramatic title song has Homme singing alone with a piano melody and at his most vulnerable: “Most of what you see my dear is purely for show / because not everything that goes around comes back around, you know.” One more crisis came in the form of drummer Joey Castillo’s exit from the band after 10 years, which Homme suggests was a difficult but mutual decision.