Nick Oliveri Reunites Onstage With Queens of the Stone Age
Bassist Nick Oliveri appeared onstage with his former bandmates in Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in a decade Wednesday night, grabbing a mic and howling Songs for the Deaf‘s “You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire” during the encore. Although footage from the gig at the Keller Auditorium in Portland, Oregon is a bit shaky and the audio is rather muddled, you can check out a fan-shot video of Oliveri’s performance below.
Oliveri was fired from Queens of the Stone Age in 2004. While the specifics were vague at the time, it was rumored his dismissal was partly due to his hard partying (“Yeah, I get fucked up,” he said at the time, “I get real fucked up, but I show up to play”), though there were also reports that frontman Josh Homme had discovered Oliveri had physically abused his girlfriend. In 2011, Oliveri was involved in a domestic dispute, which led to a stand-off with a S.W.A.T. team and ended in his arrest on felony domestic violence charges.
The bassist’s appearance with the band on Wednesday night marked a major step in mending Oliveri’s tenuous relationship with Homme and Queens of the Stone Age, though it was not the first. According to Homme, the two have remained on fairly good terms since the incidents in 2004, and Oliveri recorded his latest album at Homme’s studio, and even provided backing vocals on Queens of the Stone Age’s 2013 album, . . . Like Clockwork.
“He was going to drop off some records and he said ‘Hey, need anyone to sing backup?'” Homme recalled. “And I was like ‘Actually, yeah, come on in.’ It’s that causal, and that’s a nice thing. It was easy. It’s nice to know someone since you were a little kid, and still know them.”