by BBG

Nick Oliveri of Kyuss Lives! at Terminal 5 (more by Greg Cristman)

Looks like former Kyuss members Scott Reeder and Josh Homme aren't too pleased with the recently reformed Kyuss Lives!. Homme & Reeder have filed a lawsuit against Kyuss Lives! alleging trademark infringement and consumer fraud. Their joint statement reads:

"It sucks. To think we went to a meeting in January solely to help them with their request to continue Kyuss Lives! With open arms, we made every attempt to help them continue Kyuss Lives! respectfully. Only to discover while they looked us in the eye, Kyuss Lives! management and band had filed federal documents in 2011 in an attempt to steal the name Kyuss."
This is desperately what we were trying to avoid. It's a sad day for us and for John - but most of all for the fans. What a needless mess.

In related news, Kyuss & Kyuss Lives! member Nick Oliveri had his day in court regarding the little incident he had with the SWAT team. According to TMZ, the bassist faces "two counts of possession of a controlled substance with a firearm, 2 counts of possession of a controlled substance, and one misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer". Oliveri has pleaded not-guilty on all counts and will head to court in middle-April to face sentencing of up to 15 years in prison.

photos by Greg Cristman

Kyuss Lives! @ Terminal 5

The Aquarian Weekly: You're doing rehearsals?

John Garcia: It's pretty much pre-production for the next record has already started and we're just trying to get all of our ducks in a row and whatnot.

Wow. That seems really quick. Do you have new material already, or is pre-production writing it?

Yeah, it's more pre-production writing it, sitting in the room and bouncing ideas back and forth, talking about tones and drum sounds, guitars, whether it be sitars or 12-string baritones or whatever it may be. We're kind of ironing out all the logistics of it all. It's an exciting time.

Is Brant taking the lead role in writing the music?

One thing for certain is it's everybody's responsibility to come to the table with something. This is a group thing, and Brant expects that. Brant expects that out of everybody. Whoever brings something to the table, music-wise, he needs to put his 25 percent in there, I need to put my 25 percent in there, and Bruno does, so we all have to. Nick does. So it's definitely a planned thing, where the song deserves everybody's input. That's the good thing about it. It's not just one person, it's the whole band thing, whether it be writing lyrics--Brant's gonna come to the table with melodies, I'm gonna come to the table with music. There's switched roles, and I look forward to that. It's definitely a group project, though.

...Now, obviously, a huge, integral part of Kyuss is not there, and it's going amazingly well without Josh. Now, a lot of people think that there's--a lot of people want there to be a lot of animosity between Josh and Kyuss Lives! The flipside of the coin is that there's no animosity. We all love and respect Josh, and it goes both ways, so it's very, very interesting, how the process is going.

Kyuss Lives!, and apparently so does bassist Nick Oliveri. He was in the band, despite his recent troubles, when the reunited desert stoners hit Terminal 5 on Friday (9/23). Pictures are in this post.

The show was the first reunion show in NYC for touring quartet, which features John Garcia, Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and Bruno Fevery in place of Josh Homme. The setlist, as you can see below, stuck to the classics (despite the new material discussed above).

If you arrived early, you may have seen support from The Sword and MonstrO, the latter of which is the new project from ex-Torche member Juan Montoya and Kyle Sanders of Bloodsimple (and brother of Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders). Their debut LP is out now via Vagrant Records.

More pictures from the T5 show below...

Continue reading "Kyuss Lives! lived @ Terminal 5 with The Sword & MonstrO (pics & setlist)"

Former Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri has been charged with four felonies after a tense standoff with a S.W.A.T. team in L.A. last month -- and now faces up to 15 years in prison.

As we previously reported, Oliveri was arrested on July 12th -- after a fight with his girlfriend escalated into a four-hour standoff with police. Oliveri was booked on felony domestic violence -- and after police searched his home, they found a fully-loaded rifle.

But that's not all they found -- according to the charging docs, police also found cocaine and methamphetamines.

Oliveri is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with a firearm, 2 counts of possession of a controlled substance, and one misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer.

If convicted on all counts, the 39-year-old faces a max of 15 years in prison. -[TMZ]

Scott Reeder (Goatsnake/The Obsessed/Kyuss) recently filled in for Nick Oliveri on bass at four Kyuss Lives shows in Europe. It remains to be seen who plays with them for the upcoming North American tour with The Sword. Tickets are still available for the September 23rd show at Terminal 5. Updated Kyuss Lives dates are below.

Continue reading "Nick Oliveri charged, Scott Reeder recently filled in on bass"

by BBG

Mastodon at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 (more by BBG)

A new song called "Black Tongue" has made its way onto the interwebs from Mastodon's new/forthcoming LP The Hunter. Stream said track below.

Mastodon's only currently announced tour date goes down on 7/30 at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Gorge, WA with Soundgarden, Queens of The Stone Age, and Meat Puppets.

In semi-related news, ex-QOTSA member Nick Oliveri's run-in with the law never stopped Kyuss Lives from touring. According to the band, "TMZ blew this way out of proportion, nobody got hurt and any of that other bullshit." They played Belgium with Nick like one day after the incident (but not with Mastodon collaborator and QOTSA member Josh Homme who is not part of the Kyuss reunion). That said, nobody denied the arrest or S.W.A.T. team involvement.

Tickets are still on sale for the Terminal 5 show with the Sword. More dates HERE. New Mastodon song below...

Continue reading "new Mastodon song leaked (listen), Kyuss Lives playing shows (Nick Oliveri included)"

by BBG

A former member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age got into an intense standoff with a S.W.A.T. team at his L.A. home last night ... where cops found a high-powered LOADED rifle.

...Cops were called to the home of 39-year-old Nick Oliveri after a neighbor called 911 to report a "disturbance" between the rocker and his girlfriend.

Sources close to the couple tell us Nick's GF told police the rocker struck her during an argument the day before and she had come back to the home to collect her stuff so she could move out. That's when the two got into another heated argument and Nick locked themselves inside the duplex.

When cops arrived, Oliveri -- who played bass with the Queens for years before parting ways with the group -- refused to allow cops inside the residence and would not let his girlfriend leave.

A S.W.A.T. team was called to the scene -- and a standoff ensued. After two hours, Nick finally agreed to let his GF exit the duplex and two hours after that, he gave himself up without further incident.

When cops searched the home, we're told they found one high powered rifle -- which was FULLY LOADED.

Oliveri was booked on felony domestic violence. He has since been released after posting $100,000 bail. -[TMZ]

What is it with bass players going off the deep end this week... first from Coheed & Cambria and now Olivieri. No word on if/how the arrest may affect Olivieri's involvement in the forthcoming Kyuss Lives reunion shows (they are scheduled to play overseas this week), but we'll keep you informed. Kyuss Lives is scheduled to play Terminal 5 on 9/23 with The Sword (tickets). Updated tour dates are below.

Oliveri also did time (rimshot!) in The Dwarves who are celebrating 25 years with a dates that include two NYC stops this week: July 15th at Knitting Factory and July 16th at The Studio at Webster Hall. Tickets for both the Knitting Factory date and the Studio date are still available.

Continue reading "Nick Oliveri arrested after standoff with S.W.A.T team"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Tweak Bird - "Lights In Lines" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tweak Bird - "A Sun / Ahh Ahh" (MP3)

Tweak Bird at Union Pool (more by Justina Villanueva)

Mondo Generator will team up with Tweak Bird for a show at Santos Party House on August 19th, with support from Violent Soho and The Netherlands. Tickets are on sale.

The NYC show is part of a larger tour for Mondo/Bird, who will rotate in It's Casual on some dates (though not in NYC, where they will be playing with Fu Manchu/Black Tusk).

Mondo Generator is on the road and paying homage to their new Dog Food 7" from a forthcoming album (their fourth) by the band founded by Nick Oliveri (ex-Dwarves, Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss). The new single features Dave Grohl, Happy Tom (Turbonegro) and Marc Diamond (The Dwarves) as well. Get yourself one, it's a limited pressing.

Tweak Bird have a joint of their own, their upcoming self-titled LP due on 8/31 via Volcom. Produced by the Deaf Nephews (Dale Crover from the Melvins and Toshi Kasai from Big Business), the album record follows in a similar path to their LA cronies/production team; big drums, big riffs, and hidden pop sweetness. Dig on a pair of tracks from that LP above.

Some video and full tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Tweak Bird releasing self-titled LP (MP3), touring w/ Mondo Generator (dates)"

Nick (a rare shirt-ed moment)...

Nick Oliveri, of Mondo Generator, The Dwarves, and former bass player for Queens Of The Stone Age and Kyuss, put out a collection of home-recorded songs, Death Acoustic (Impedance Records), in October '09. He's touring the US with that material (which includes covers of past projects Queens & Dwarves as well as Raw Power, GG Allin and more) this January and February. The acoustic tunes come to Pianos on Saturday, January 23rd, where he'll be joined by acoustic versions of heavy Brooklyn bands Goes Cube and Weird Owl. Tickets are on sale.

Video of Oliveri doing his acoustic thing and joking about his solo project and Queens of the Stone Age ("No one can fire me anymore!") and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Nick Oliveri (ex-QOTSA) going on solo, acoustic tour (dates), playing NYC w/ Goes Cube & Weird Owl (both also acoustic) "