The longtime musical partnership between Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme has come to an abrupt end as Oliveri has left QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, the band he helped found with Homme. The band’s management issued a terse statement reading, “a number of incidents occurring over the last 18 months have led to the decision that the two can no longer maintain a working partnership in the band.”

Singer Mark Lanegan (ex-SCREAMING TREES), who toured live with the band and contributed vocals on several songs on the band’s last album, has also parted ways with QUEENS. A spokesperson for Lanegan was quoted saying, “Mark is officially no longer playing with QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE so as to devote more time to his own band…his new album, Bubblegum, is finished and will be out in late spring.”

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE have had a revolving cast of band members and contributors but, as the driving creative forces, Homme and Oliveri have always remained constant until now. Their partnership dates back to the early 90’s where the band rocked together in KYUSS.

Homme is currently on tour in the UK performing with his THE EAGLES OF DEATH METAL side project fronted by Jesse “The Devil” Hughes. The band’s debut album, Peace, Love, and Death Metal, is now scheduled for a March 23rd release through Rekords Rekords/Ant Acid.

Oliveri’s most recent side project, MONDO GENERATOR’s A Drug Problem That Never Existed, was released in July through Ipecac Recordings.