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Post by Circus James on Feb 12, 2004 2:43:30 GMT -5
--"Founding Bassist Nick Oliveri Leaves Queens Of The Stone Age 02.11.2004 7:36 PM EST Nick Oliveri (file) Photo: Gregg Delman Queens of the Stone Age have always had a revolving door of members, but at the heart of the band was always the partnership of singer/guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri. Not anymore. At a time when the band's lineup seemed more stable than it had been in years, Oliveri has unexpectedly left the band, breaking off a musical relationship with Homme that goes back to their days playing together in Kyuss in the early '90s. "A number of incidents occurring over the last 18 months have led to the decision that the two can no longer maintain a working partnership in the band," read a terse statement from the band's management. On Queens of the Stone Age's Web site, Screaming Trees member Van Conner is now listed as the group's bassist. There has been speculation that something dramatic happened while the band was in Australia on the Big Day Out tour, but Ipecac Records co-owner Greg Werckman, whose label has released projects by both Homme and Oliveri, said he talked to Homme on Friday, following the completion of the tour, and had no idea there was any bitterness between any of the Queens bandmembers. "This definitely took me by surprise," he said. "They're both extremely talented people, and they seemed pretty much like kindred spirits. They both just love the music and love rock." Queens of the Stone Age plan to hit the studio this spring to work on a new album. When MTV News talked to Queens in June, the band said it had more than 25 songs written and hoped to have a new record ready by the spring (see "Queens 'Giveth' Third Single, But No New Songs This Summer"). At the time, they had just hired drummer Joey Castillo and said they were looking forward to a long period of stability and productivity. "We've finally found players that want to stay and we want them to," Oliveri said. According to the band's Web site, Castillo is also no longer with the group. The new drummer is Barrett Martin, who was also in Screaming Trees. Homme is currently on tour in England drumming with side project Eagles of Death Metal. The band's debut album, Peace Love Death Metal, comes out March 23. Oliveri's most recent side project, Mondo Generator's A Drug Problem That Never Existed, was released in July. " - - - This hopefully is just a bullshit rumour on MTV, cause i looked at www.qotsa.com and found no word of Nicks departure, as it says in this article. Nick was one of my main bass influences in my life, dont leave Queens nick!!  |
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Post by Circus James on Feb 12, 2004 2:53:03 GMT -5
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Post by spncr on Feb 13, 2004 17:59:12 GMT -5
holy FUCK me too....................how could this happen james?......whats goin on
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dont worry about it
Guest
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Post by dont worry about it on Mar 8, 2004 18:23:31 GMT -5
you guys need a life lol
shitty deal that queens broke up...but shit happens....
and besides 10 bucks that something good will happen with the members....
but you 2 should still go commit suicide anyways...
it'd be nice..trust me, you'll love it
haha later
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Post by Circus James on Mar 8, 2004 22:52:14 GMT -5
How would you feel if you saw your favorite band breaking up before your eyes?
The Queens changed my life
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Post by Circus James on Mar 9, 2004 23:51:38 GMT -5
Queens' Homme Casts Emotional Eye On Bassist's Firing
03.08.2004 8:51 PM EST
A few weeks after bassist Nick Oliveri was fired from Queens of the Stone Age, frontman Josh Homme is still visibly pained about ousting his musical sidekick of the past five years.
"It feels almost like my kid went to jail, or I got out of jail," Homme said, sounding choked up. "I can't tell which one."
In a press release issued last month, the band's management stated that "a number of incidents occurring over the last 18 months led to the decision that the two can no longer maintain a working partnership in the band" (see "Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan Leave Queens Of The Stone Age"). The vague statement fueled speculation that rampant drug use was responsible for Oliveri's removal, but Homme said the problem wasn't a direct result of partying, but rather the way Oliveri behaved when he was wasted — and even when wasn't.
"Our whole band is full of hard partiers," Homme said. "We have put more people in rehab than Mardi Gras. But when you get drunk, you either get drunk with class, or you get drunk like a slobbering, toothless f---. And that's just an analogy. It's not just drinking, it's how you live your life."
Homme said there were dozens of times Oliveri got the band kicked out of parties or banned from hotels. Homme added that he played a major role in keeping Oliveri out of jail by "snowing his probation officer" and smoothing out countless other tense, volatile situations. "He's a tornado, and a tornado just destroys and goes on to the next city," Homme said. "I'm in the tornado cleanup crew, and all I ever see is his detritus and I'm sick of it."
When Queens of the Stone Age released their third album, Songs for the Deaf, in 2002, the press categorized them as troublemaking prodigies. Homme said that Oliveri tried hard to live up to his reputation.
"We used to have a thing we called 'Jekyll and Hyde' where, whenever Nick did something, we blamed Nick in the press, and whenever I did something, we blamed Nick in the press," Homme explained. "But I think Nick started believing our press and thinking that he's gotta be the next Sid Vicious or something. And I think Sid Vicious is a badass, but also I think Sid Vicious is a dumb drug addict who couldn't play bass and never wrote a song, and if he stayed alive most guys would have went, 'This guy's a worthless piece of sh--.' And so I don't think that's something to aspire to."
Homme said he was amused by Oliveri's antics for a while, but when the bassist became noticeably more mean-spirited, his amusement waned. When it became apparent to Homme that Oliveri's irresponsibility and cruelty was more than an act for the media, he realized the relationship couldn't continue.
"He really doesn't even know why I kicked him out," Homme said (see "Fired Bassist Fires Back At Queens Of The Stone Age"). "In the press, he admitted he threw bottles into the audiences, but he's saying, 'I do it for the fans. Isn't that what they really want?' But what Nick really did was come up to me between the first and second song and say, 'This audience isn't good enough — they're sh--,' and then he threw full bottles of Corona at them, like a baseball pitcher. Is that for the fans? That's not my style. I get drunk with the fans, I don't throw bottles at them."
The final straw came after a show in Australia in which Oliveri trashed all of his equipment, then later got the Queens banned from a hotel in Perth. "You can just put that in a box with the other hotels we've been banned from," Homme said. "You know Nick's been accused of a lot of things, and basically all of them are true, and I can live with the sh-- I've done, but I can't be tied to the sh-- I haven't done."
After Homme decided to part ways with Oliveri, he drove to the bassist's house to confront him. Even though Oliveri had caused Homme plenty of headaches, the two also shared lots of good times, and the frontman felt he owed his "bro" an in-person explanation. "He was bummed, man," Homme recalled. "It was the only time that an irrational guy was rational. He was going, 'I don't want this to happen.' But when you see a guy winging bottles at the audience, you eventually just say, 'F--- this!' If you don't, then you're just somebody's bitch."
Homme admitted that the musical chemistry between he and Oliveri helped drive the last two Queens of the Stone Age records, and he added that he'll miss touring with Oliveri and would be open to working him in the future if he can change his behavior. "I still love the guy, man. And Nick had a vital spot in the band," Homme said with a hint of regret. "Nick has great energy. He scares people, I guess."
A few seconds of silence followed while Homme pondered the statement. "You know what? I don't want to scare people," he finally said. "I want to enrapture people with music. And I want them to get the goose bumps when they hear our album. I don't give a f--- if they're scared about looking at us."
This spring, Homme plans to return to the studio with Queens guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo to work on the band's next album. (Part-time vocalist Mark Lanegan quit the band to focus on his solo career around the same time Oliveri was booted.) Homme will play all of the bass parts on the disc, as he did for the group's self-titled debut in 1998. At the moment, he's got 16 songs completed, and he insists that it's the best stuff he's ever written. And for those worried that the band will suffer without Oliveri's contributions, Homme insists they have nothing to fear since he has always been the band's main songwriter.
"I write 90 percent of the music. Which I never say, because I always try to stay mellow about it," he said. "I wrote most of the music and took care of all of the business, and kept it so our bass player could just play for an hour and a half a day and that's all he had to do. If you're wondering if Queens has no balls, you don't have to wonder. If you want to see balls, go see Nick with the Dwarves, because I understand he's playing with them again." Homme added that when Oliveri played with the band in 1997, he would expose himself.
Oliveri could not be reached for comment, and spokespeople for both his former label, Interscope, and current label, Ipecac, said they don't know where he is.
—Jon Wiederhorn
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Green
is a Dry Hump
Posts: 14
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Post by Green on Mar 10, 2004 1:07:10 GMT -5
Don't worry man, its hard at first. Its happened to me twice. One of your favourite bands loses a member. and then you relize that audioslave isn't even half as good as rage and the new I mother Earth really sucks. And you miss the day when everything was right. But we've gotten past that. There will be other good bands. And its not like you've lost queens. I still listen to all my old Rage and IME albums... cheer up and remember rock and roll will never die  . |
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Post by Circus James on Mar 12, 2004 1:01:39 GMT -5
Thank you Green. I'll be fine, as long as I talk about it, then i will be okay. This will be where i vent out all my Queens rage. Or else i'll freak out and slit my wrists, you know? |
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Green
is a Dry Hump
Posts: 14
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Post by Green on Mar 12, 2004 19:49:18 GMT -5
no, don't go emo on me. We've lost to many good people that way.
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Post by Circus James on Mar 13, 2004 1:48:56 GMT -5
Youknow what a FUCKin good song is?
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
its FUCKin trippin me out
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