Former Kyuss and QOTSA bassist/vocalist, Nick Oliveri, released his debut solo album Leave Me Alone last Tuesday, and a few days later rejoined his former bandmates, QOTSA, for a six-song encore at the last date of their current tour.
Leave Me Alone is a mind-tingling, sonic masterpiece which features Oliveri singing and playing drums, guitar and bass on every track, save the guitar solos, which were provided by an array of distinguished guests including Phil Campbell from Motorhead, Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) from Ween and Moistboyz, Stephen Haas from Moistboyz, Mike Pygmie from Mondo Generator, Marc Diamond from The Dwarves and Bruno Fevery from Kyuss Lives!/ Vista Chino; mostly once and future bandmates. There’s also a guest vocal by Blag Dahlia from The Dwarves. The songs address many of the dramatic events that have marked Oliveri’s life over the past few years – S.W.A.T. teams and all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_09BvURmaos
Links to footage of Nick Oliveri performing with QOTSA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOuqVUYiIXY (Nick joins in at 2:30 mark)
Reviews of the show and the new album from Nick Oliveri…
As promised, Queens of the Stone Age reunited with their former bassist Nick Oliveri at the band’s “The End of the Road” Halloween-themed performance at Los Angeles’ the Forum. Oliveri, who was fired from Josh Homme’s group in 2004, joined the band for their six-song encore Friday night.
With their former bassist back in the fold, Queens of the Stone Age dusted off a handful of Oliveri-sung tracks that hadn’t been performed live in a decade, like Songs From the Deaf‘s “Another Love Song” and “Gonna Leave You,” Consequence of Sound reports. Oliveri also joined his old bandmates for “Auto Pilot” and “Quick and to the Pointless” off 2000’s Rated R.
Back in April, Oliveri rejoined QOTSA onstage for the first time in a decade when he performed “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire” with the band in Portland, Oregon. That one-off, as well as Oliveri contributing background vocals to “If I Had a Tail” of 2013’s …Like Clockwork, opened the door for the Halloween reunion, which also featured Queens playing “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar…”
“Josh [Homme] asked me to come up and do six songs with Queens, like an encore set,” Oliveri said recently. “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.” Oliveri’s new project Uncontrollable also served as an opener for “the End of the Road” show, which marked the final date of Queens of the Stone Age’s long trek in support of …Like Clockwork.
David Kreps/RollingStone.com 11/1
Best known as the bassist/vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age, Nick Oliveri delivers a blistering solo debut in “Leave Me Alone.” Oliveri, who also spent time in Kyuss, The Dwarves and Mondo Generator, took matters into his own hands on nine-track slab. He sings, plays bass, drums and guitar on every song, leaving only shredding guitar solos on each track to a talented guest axe man. Oliveri comes firing out of the gate with “Human Cannonball Explodes” (with Gene Ween) and “Keep Me in the Loop (featuring Stephen Haas of Moistboyz) and sets the stage for what’s to come. He also scores with “Come and You’re Gone” (with The Dwarves tandem of Marc Diamond and Blag Dahlia), “The Robot Man” (featuring Motorhead’s Phil Campbell) and “Death Leads the Way” (with Mondo Generator’s Mike Pygmie). If you like your music hard-driving and loud with plenty of blistering guitar riffs, “Leave Me Alone” should be just what the doctor ordered.
JeffreySisk\/pghintune.wordpress.com 10/30
