Nick Oliveri on Queens of the Stone Age Firing: “It Took Some Time to Heal”

It has to suck getting fired from your band, especially after said band is hitting new highs every day. Bassist Nick Olveri was fired from Queens of the Stone Age by bandleader Josh Homme in 2004, stemming from Homme’s belief that Oliveri was physically abusing his girlfriend (ironic, given that three of Homme’s children have filed for restraining orders against him). In a new interview with Eon Music, Oliveri says that he was hurt for a while after the acrimonious split.

“You know, we’ve know each other for so long it’s just weird to be at each others’ throats. 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. 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. So, 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. 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.”

Oliveri confirmed that he has seen Homme recently, at the funeral for late Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, who died in February.

“I just saw [Homme] at Mark Lanegan’s funeral and we were in good spirits remembering Mark. 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 [Mark Lanegan]; he was the only one not there.”

Oliveri played on Queens of the Stone Age’s Rated R and Songs for the Deaf. Prior to that, he played with Homme in Kyuss, recording on Wretch and Blues for the Red Sun. He currently plays with ex-Kyuss drummer Brant Bjork in stoner rock outfit Stöner.