Nick Oliveri

Nick Oliveri

Nick Stephen Oliveri (born October 21, 1971 in Los Angeles) is an American musician from Palm Desert, California. He plays bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and is a vocalist.

Biography

Oliveri is most famous for being a member of legendary Southern California "stoner rock" band Kyuss, and a member of Queens of the Stone Age from 1998-2004. In punk rock circles, he is best-known for being "Rex Everything" in The Dwarves. Since 1997 he has fronted Mondo Generator, currently being billed as Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator. Oliveri is also a solo artist and frequent contributor to his friends' albums and tours, including Winnebago Deal, Mark Lanegan Band, and Masters of Reality. In the past he has been involved with The Desert Sessions and The River City Rapists. Oliveri is known for playing bare chested and often naked at gigs, causing some authorities to order him to cover up. Most memorably, he was arrested in Brazil, after a nude performance at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro.

Queens of the Stone Age years

Oliveri and Josh Homme were seen as the only two permanent members of Queens of the Stone Age. Being friends since childhood, the two meshed well together. Oliveri's punk background brought an element of danger and attitude to the Queens' live shows. His unique "howling" singing style made him easily distinguishable on songs such as "Six Shooter" from the album Songs for the Deaf; however, he also displays a more melodic singing style in QOTSA hits such as "Autopilot" and "Gonna Leave You".

After recording two albums and six years of touring with Queens of the Stone Age, he exited the group in early 2004 due to a conflict between him and frontman Joshua Homme. Nick allegedly developed a pattern of destructive behavior that Homme couldn't handle. Homme stated: "Everywhere we go, Nick is a like a whirlwind passing through. And I'm sick of being the one that has to clean up the mess all the time." Josh claimed that he was fed up with Oliveri's disrespect towards their fans and the destruction that he caused at gigs. However, a year later, Homme told Zane Lowe from BBC Radio 1 that he and Nick had actually fallen out over several third party claims that Oliveri was violent towards his girlfriend (an acusation which Nick strongly denies). In 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released their first album after Oliveri's departure, Lullabies to Paralyze.

Post QOTSA

Since his departure from Queens of the Stone Age, Nick has both toured and appeared on-stage with Brant Bjork, Motörhead, Winnebago Deal, Masters of Reality, The Dwarves, Mark Lanegan and Turbonegro. He also recorded an acoustic LP that was eventually released as a second disk in a limited edition of Mondo Generator's latest album, Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails.

Although now concentrating on the Mondo Generator project, in September 2006 Oliveri stated "I feel that Queens is something I can contribute to and (Josh Homme) needs me to do it." [1]

Partial discography

• Kyuss -- Wretch (1991, Chameleon)
• Kyuss -- Blues For The Red Sun (1992, Chameleon)
• The Dwarves -- The Dwarves Are Young And Good Looking (1997, Epitaph)
• Queens of the Stone Age -- Queens of the Stone Age (1998, Loosegroove) *
• Queens of the Stone Age -- Rated R (2000, Interscope)
• Mondo Generator -- Cocaine Rodeo (2000, Southern Lord)
• Masters of Reality -- Deep In The Hole (2001, Brownhouse)
• The Dwarves -- How To Win Friends And Influence People (2001, Greedy)
• Queens of the Stone Age -- Songs For The Deaf (2002, Interscope)
• Mondo Generator -- A Drug Problem That Never Existed (2003, Ipecac)
• Eagles of Death Metal -- Peace Love Death Metal (2004, Ant Acid Audio)
• Mark Lanegan Band -- Bubblegum (2004, Beggar's Banquet)
• Mondo Generator -- III The EP (2004, Tornado)
• Nick Oliveri -- Demolition Day (2005, Tornado)
• Nick Oliveri And The Mondo Generator -- Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails (2006, Mother Tongue)

Trivia

• Recorded guest vocals on the 2005 Turbonegro album, Party Animals.
• Appeared in a Roxy Saint music video with Josh Homme for the song "Firecracker".
• Appeared on numerous tracks of the 2006 Winnebago Deal album, Flight of the Raven.
• Appeared on stage with Amen (band) in 2002 as part of a warm up gig for the Reading Festival
• Formed a band with Homme, Twiggy Ramirez, Shannon Larkin, and Casey Chaos called The Headband, which never formulated.
• Formed "Suicide Pact" with Chaos, which has also never gone anywhere.
• Performs with Blag Dahlia in concert as The Uncontrollable.
• Appeared in the Tomahawk filmclip for "Rape This Day".
• In addition to his Rex Everything pseudonym, Oliveri is also known as "Pierre Pressure".
• Played bass on the Eagles of Death Metal song "Already Died".
• Arrested in Rio de Janeiro in 2001 for playing on stage naked during the Rock in Rio festival.
• Appeared on The Dwarves Come Clean as a guest vocalist ("River City Rapist").
• While his picture is on the back of the first Queens of the Stone Age album, he did not play on it. He joined as the recording was being finished, and an answering machine message from Oliveri can be heard at the end of the album on the song "I Was a Teenage Hand Model" stating "I'm in." He is not credited in the liner notes at all.