Oliveri: Nostalgia or Good Riddance

There is no denying that Queens of the Stone Age last album, Lullabies to Paralyze, was a good album. It was different from previous offerings, but that’s has always been the way with QOTSA, with an ever changing lineup they remain fresh producing albums of different styling while retaining that identifiable sound that’s makes them great and that one step above the other Stoner Rock bands. Yes Lullabies was a good album, but it was missing something wasn’t it. The absence of Nick Oliveri was apparent, but don’t get me wrong, the bass on Lullabies was not below par and was pretty good, but lacking the ferocity of Olveri. Songs for the Deaf cracked along at a blistering pace whereas Lullabies felt more laid back which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I said before I did enjoy Lullabies but Oliveri along with Homme have been an essential part of QOTSA and Kyuss from the beginning. I have a lot of respect for Troy van Leeuwen and Alain Johannes as guitarists in their own right and they have done a good job in holding up the bass ends of QOTSA, but without Oliveri, it almost feels like QOTSA is half there.

On the other hand Homme’s sacking of Oliveri is fully justified in my eyes, it is fine by me that Olveri used to go nuts and break stuff and occasionally ‘forget’ to wear his clothes on stage but being 'physically abusive' to Josh’s girlfriend is not on. What actually happened is a mystery but it was enough for Josh to sever his ties with the man who has been the backbone of his bands sound. It remains to be seen if Josh will forgive Nick as the new QOTSA album is being created. Nick has made is clear that he would love be back in the band but is also quite content with his current band Mondo Generator. Will we see QOTSA and Oliveri again, hopefully yes.