"You're not gonna get heard if you don't go out on tour."

Nick Oliveri - the notorious former bass player of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss - talks about the upcoming tour of his current band, Mondo Generator, destined to lead him to the Tangra Mega Rock Night in Bulgaria on June 20, too!

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Nick, how are you?

Nick Oliveri: I'm doing great!

V. V.: Are you in LA now?

N. O.: Yeah, I'm in my home in Los Angeles.

V. V.: When shall the next Mondo Generator tour start?

N. O.: On June 15 in Estonia. We're looking forward to come out and play in all these different places and bringing our brand of music there.

V. V.: Tell us please something more about the other guys in the band. We know Ernie Longoria is an impressive drummer, but what about the others?

N. O.: There's Simon "Spud" Beggs playing lead guitar, and he's really good. He lives in England. Then I've got my old guitar player from the desert, Ian Taylor, so I've got guitars on both sides of my head, and I'm playing bass and singing.

V. V.: You know, Mondo Generator leaves the impression that in this stupid world of jaded motherfuckers there are still real rock'n'roll bands around, I'm mean you're able to play live, to do real music...

N. O.: I think it's something that I kinda chose, but at the same time it chose me. I play music, because I have to, and I love to play live. You're not gonna get heard if you don't go out on tour. Besides, it's good to see new places. It's important to me.

V. V.: You used to be in Kyuss and then in Queens of the Stone Age. Do you feel better now, with Mondo Generator?

N. O.: It is what I wanna do right now, and it's my main release these days. Of course, I play on other friends' records as well, but Mondo Generator is my main focus, and I think it's important to have one. Josh has the Queens, Kyuss is dissolved, and I have Mondo Generator.

V. V.: On your latest release, "Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails" (2006), you've put much respect to different bands like Turbonegro, Motorhead, The Ramones, etc.

N. O.: Yeah... You know, with Queens and Kyuss we never put out thanks lists or anything like that, but Mondo is a new band, and all these bands mentioned have helped us by taking us out on tour, so I wanted to give them a little tip on the hat by saying thank you.

V. V.: Do you remember this Ian Dury song "Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll"?

N. O.: Yeah!

V. V.: It's not on the list, you know.

N. O.: That's because it's obvious, he-he!

V. V.: Ok, have a nice trip to Europe and see you on June 20 in Sofia!

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock