Nick Oliveri has spoken about his 2004 split from Queens Of The Stone Age, admitting that it “took some time to heal over some things”. The musician who played bass with the desert rock kings from 1998 until 2004 made the confession while chatting to eonmusic about Totally, the latest release from his band Stöner.
Oliveri and QOTSA founder Josh Homme have a long musical relationship stretching back to the early 1990s when they were members of the dessert rock pioneers Kyuss. Speaking about reconnecting with Homme for a guest appearance on Queens Of The Stone Age’s …Like Clockwork release in 2013, Nick said; “You know, we’ve know each other for so long it’s just weird to be at each other’s throats”.
Speaking about their personal relationship, the bassist continued; “You can’t force somebody to play music with you. It ran its course just playing music together. We’re still friends, it’s just that we don’t make music together right now”.
Oliveri, who played a pivotal role in the creation of Queens Of The Stone Age’s breakthrough releases Rated R [2000], and Songs For The Deaf [2002] admitted that the band’s intense productivity contributed to his eventual split with them. Said the Mondo Generator man; “We did so much in a five-year period, in a concentrated period, so much work, that we kind of burned out on each other”.
Continuing, he was pragmatic about how things have turned out in the years since; “It is what it is, and he kind of wanted the band to go in a different direction anyway, so he’s taken it there, and that’s where he wants it to go, and it’s great for him.”
Touching on his personal feelings, he revealed; “Unfortunately it’s one of those things where, it used to bother me a lot, but it doesn’t anymore. It took some time to heal over some things, and for him too”.
When asked when he and Homme last saw each other, Oliveri said that it had been at the funeral of former band mate Mark Lanegan, who passed away on February 22, 2022. “I just saw him at Mark Lanegan’s funeral, and we were in good spirits remembering Mark”, he confirmed; “It was a good memorial for him. We had all the crew there, the whole band was there that was from that era, at that funeral, except him; he was the only one not there.”
Check out the entire interview at eonmusic.co.uk.
