For his first full-length release since his exit from Queens Of The Stone Age in early 2004, singer/bassist Nick Oliveri has teamed up with several friends for his latest Mondo Generator release, “Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails.” In addition to some pals from his Palm Desert, Calif., hometown, British duo Winnebago Deal (guitarist Ben Perrier and drummer Ben Thomas) appear on several tracks.
Oliveri met the band on the road, and eventually asked the duo to join him on stage. Soon after, Winnebago Deal had become part of the latest ever-rotating cast of Mondo Generator.
“We were on tour with Motorhead and wanted to make a record,” Oliveri tells Billboard.com. “I kind of brought them out here. We went to [Dave Grohl’s] Studio 606 and recorded some stuff — we got in and got out quick. Then I had some more songs come about after they left, so I recorded some other stuff at another studio, with other people as well. [But] my favorite stuff is the stuff that they’re on.”
Like Mondo’s 2003 album “A Drug Problem That Never Existed,” Oliveri’s latest mixes metal-punk (“All the Way Down”) with quieter material (“All That I’ve Got”). The album is due Sept. 4 in Europe via Mother Tongue, with a North American release still pending.
Beforehand, Oliveri will trek through Europe for festival and headlining dates with Mondo, which is now staffed by guitarist Ian Taylor and drummer Josh LaMar. “I’m really excited to go over there and play,” he says. “It’s been two years or something since I’ve had a new record out over there.”
In addition, Oliveri will appear on the next Dwarves album and has returned the favor on Winnebago Deal’s “Flight of the Raven,” on which he does some singing. Also percolating is an all-acoustic release, “Demolition Day,” but Oliveri admits, “I really don’t know what’s going to happen with it. I just kind of lost interest in putting anything out myself. It’s a matter of if somebody wants to put it out or not.”
One event seemingly not in the cards is a reunion with Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. “I haven’t talked to him, so I don’t really know,” Oliveri says. “I have no idea.”
Here are Mondo Generator’s European tour dates:
Aug. 19: Hasselt, Belgium (Pukkelpop)
Aug. 21: Sheffield, England (Leadmill)
Aug. 22: London (Underworld)
Aug. 23: Coventry, England (Colosseum)
Aug. 29: York, England (Barfly)
Aug. 30: Glasgow (King Tut’s)
Aug. 31: Liverpool, England (Barfly)
Sept. 1: Manchester, England (Roadhouse)
Sept. 3: Vitoria, Spain (Azkena Rock Festival)
Sept. 4: Oxford, England (Zodiac)
Sept. 5: Southampton, England (Joiners)
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