JOSH HOMME: Splitting With NICK OLIVERI Was 'The Hardest Thing'

February 17, 2004

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE frontman Josh Homme has told the U.K.'s NME that his decision to split with bassist Nick Oliveri was the "hardest thing" but that he'd rather stay "brothers" with Oliveri than carry on with the band in its current state.

Josh spoke to NME the day after playing his debut U.K. show with his other band EAGLES OF DEATH METAL at the London Met Bar (Feb. 10).

Homme explained that the decision had come as the result of a "number of incidents occurring over the last 18 months" but refused to go into details. Rumors had been circulating that Homme had become unhappy with Oliveri's partying and that things came to a head on the Big Day Out tour of Australia earlier this year.

Homme told NME: "For me it's the hardest thing. I will never talk shit about my bro or anything like that. Nick and I are still definitely that. I love making music and stuff but it's more important to me to be brothers with Nick.

"Everyone in the band is an individual and that was by design. It was what we were all looking for, to harness the chaos. The thing that always brought Nick and I together is that we have different styles of doing the same thing. Nick is probably one of the most unafraid people I know, and I'm not afraid either. And that's the reason we're friends.

"There's a part of me that goes, 'Man, it's just rock 'n' roll,' but then there's another part that is, 'I've know Nick since I was 14 years old.' I'm the only one that's going to have to deal with that."

Josh says he is concentrating on the fourth QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE album, which will be a return to his roots and inspired by the events of the last year.

"The first QUEENS album was myself and a drummer," he said. "A lot of this new material reminds me of the first record. I've already written 16 songs. I plan to take six more weeks and try to beat them. What I've been writing has come like a waterfall over the last nine months."

The new QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE album is scheduled to be recorded in the spring for a tentative late 2004 release.

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