Queens Of The Stone Age musician Josh Homme briefly "died" during surgery.

The 'No One Knows' band's frontman was having a routine operation for a knee complaint last year when things went wrong and he had to be brought back to life after his heart stopped.

He said: "I had an operation and died and survived on the table. I had surgery on my leg and there were complications and I died on the table. I was in bed for three months."

The rocker - who also stars in supergroup Them Crooked Vultures - was only given the all-clear by doctors in mid-December, after his three month recuperation.

The 37-year-old singer and guitarist said the experience gave him time to "reflect".

He explained: "I was in bed for a long time, and I've never done that before so I had time to reflect. After three months of just living in my mind I was finally able to walk around again. So I just sprang into the New Year, basically."

Josh also said he now found it easier to look on "the bright side" of life because his near-death encounter made him cherish his existence more.

He said: "I've always been very much living kind of in the now - but for the first time I had to wait for my 'now' to come. And now that it is here I feel very much like looking on the bright side."

Josh is presently in the studio recording Queens Of The Stone Age's sixth album.