Former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri really wishes he could go out and play some Kyuss music for the fans, but unfortunately the name isn't his to use. In an interview with Goetia Media, Oliveri expressed his disappointment that guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Scott Reeder own the name but have no intention to do anything with it (including the Kyuss Lives! iteration of the band).
"It's one of those things. I feel personally that it's a fans' band. When the band existed [until] '95, with a record company push and all behind it, as a band, it got [big]]. And the band broke up, and then years later, fans traded MP3s, CDs, cassettes, whatever, and it grew [much bigger] without any label push, without the band existing. So it's a fans' band; they took it further than we ever did."
"[The fans] wanted us to play. I wish we were able to play. But I don't have any ownership or stake in the name. [Drummer Brant Bjork] came up with the name; he didn't have ownership in it. He left the band at one point. The existing members registered the name. So it's just as simple as that. I kind of feel a lot of different ways about it. I feel like why do you wanna own the name if you wanna kill the band? Let us run with it and have a good time. We're playing [the songs] with all respect to the music that we can, as close to it as we can. And the fans, we owe it to 'em."
Kyuss' lineup included guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), bassists Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator, ex-Queens of the Stone Age) and Scott Reeder (ex-Goatsnake, ex-The Obsessed), vocalist John Garcia, and drummer Brant Bjork. The band has never reunited, though in 2010 we got close when Garcia, Oliveri, and Bjork formed Kyuss Lives!. A lawsuit between Homme and the band over trademarks disrupted activities and Kyuss Lives! turned into Vista Chino, who broke up in 2014.
Bjork said in a 2021 interview that he'd reached out to Homme about potentially doing something with Kyuss again, but he never got a response. Which is strange considering Homme said in a 2020 interview that he'd be down for a reunion.
"As far as a Kyuss reunion happening, that was my attempt at not necessarily getting the band back together but at the very least developing some communication with Josh," said Bjork at the time.
"And it seemed at first that it might be time and [we] actually [might] be able to connect. But it didn’t happen. That was months and months and months ago, so it’s clear that it’s not gonna move forward. And who knows? Maybe he puts Kyuss together and puts his own version together or whatever. I don’t know what he’s gonna do. We’ll have to just see."
