In some scary-good news, former Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri will rejoin the band for their upcoming Halloween show at Los Angeles’ Forum on 31st October. Oliveri, who was fired from QOTSA by frontman Josh Homme in 2004, told NME that Homme invited him back for the Halloween set.
“Josh asked me to come up and do six songs with Queens, like an encore set,” revealed Oliveri. “A reunion, but not a reunion. I’m going to get up and play some bass and sing some songs at the end of the show. It should be an interesting night.”
When pressed on the possibility of rejoining QOTSA on a permanent basis, Oliveri said that he has made himself available on numerous occassions over the last decade but ultimately the decision falls to Homme as to whether he will once again be counted among their ranks.
“That’s pretty much up to Josh. It’s his band, and when he pulls the trigger on something, it’s up to him, explained Oliveri. “I put myself out there a few different times in the past 10 years at Queens shows. I’d go and see them play and say, ‘Hey man, I’m here! Do you want me to sing a song?’ I stopped asking him after a while, and then he asked me! It’s pretty much just when he wants to do something, these days. It’s not up to me, is what I’m saying.”
“I always put myself out there, and so finally he came up with this Halloween date. First he asked for my band [Nick Oliveri’s Uncontrollable] to open up, and I said yeah. Then he got back to me and said: ‘At the end, do you want to do some of the old songs?’ I was like, ‘Sure man! Let’s do it!’ It should be a very fun and interesting night.”
In a recent interview with Crave Online, Homme opened up about his seemingly turbulent relationship with Oliveri, stating that the two have maintained a close relationship despite what has been published in the press.
“Honestly, what they don’t know is that three months after I let Nick go, we were already going out and drinking beers together,” said Homme. “That’s a scar, but it healed 12 years ago. It’s been years and years now. And the truth is we’re always been their for each other, even when it got dark.”
“And the sad thing is that people get included in something that they don’t understand. But that’s the way this goes, you know?”
Oliveri featured on QOTSA’s 2013 album … Like Clockwork, providing back vocals for track If I Had A Tail, but last played as a permanent member of the band on 2002’s Songs For The Deaf.
The QOTSA Halloween concert will include sets from The Kills, JD McPherson, and Oliveri’s Uncontrollable. Now we just keep our fingers crossed for the next month that Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan decide to drop by too. And for the love of God someone put that shit on YouTube!
Watch: Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows
