Wednesday, February 11, 2004

IN THE FADE

Nick Oliveri has left Queens of the Stone Age

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.


What a shocker.

I'm absolutely shocked here, I really am. Nick Oliveri was a key cog of Queens of the Stone Age. While I'm a fan of Van Conner dating back to the Screaming Trees days, the loss of Oliveri is a big blow to QOTSA.

Oliveri and Josh Homme were a great 1-2 punch. I really didn't see this coming. Hell, I don't think a lot of people did.

In other QOTSA news, Barrett Martin, another ex-Screaming Trees member, has joined the band.

It should be very interesting to see how the new QOTSA record sounds, when it does come out sometime this year.

In the meantime, crank the hell out of "Millionaire"...

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