Getting in touch with Nick Oliveri for an interview is as chaotic as the man himself is rumoured to be. When sending off multiple emails, leaving answering machine messages and sitting by a phone waiting for a call (on six separate occasions!), one cannot help but wonder if Nick Oliveri lives the life of his uncontrollable on-stage persona.

Most musicians, regardless of stylistic leanings, are friendly and more than willing to have a chat. However, not all musicians have been arrested after playing a show in Brazil, the largest Catholic nation on earth, naked. When Nick Oliveri finally was located, he talked about his pet project since 1997 with the same brashness that he has become legendary for.

“We’re a band that’s loud, old, new, rude, nude, ugly, fast, heavy, pissed off and still laughing about it. We are a rock & roll band. Fuck emo, fuck rap rock, fuck fake punk rock bands, fuck crap rock, fuck techno and fuck Morissey! Mondo Generator is everything but these things. Techno… I say heck no! We come to rock!”

It’s this uncompromising attitude that Oliveri harnessed as the ying to Josh Homme’s crooning yang that saw the Queens Of The Stone Age produce the amazing, and commercially successful albums, Rated R and Songs For The Deaf. However, that all came to an abrupt end, when, after Queens’ run of Australian tour dates in January 2004, Oliveri was unceremoniously ejected from the band, something which still seems to be a touchy subject for Nick. “I used to get really mad when I heard something of Queens’ music. So I haven’t heard much of their new stuff. I don’t care for it so much!”

After the split, Queens Of The Stone Age’s music ventured one way while Oliveri went the other. Touring and recording with punk rock legends like The Dwarves, Turbonegro and Moistboyz, Nick Oliveri honed his punk rock chops before returning to the studio with Mondo Generator. The side project took centre stage as Mondo Generator recorded Dead Planet, an album that acknowledged Oliveri’s influences, past and present. “The music I wrote for Dead Planet was fuelled by what I like. And, as always, I was trying to keep old Kyuss fans in mind. I remember when we started doing Kyuss there was a very small following of people who came along to see us play and most of them didn’t get what we were doing. But those who did, still do and I always keep them in mind when writing music. They liked us back when it wasn’t cool to like Kyuss!”

Despite his endeavours in other bands, Oliveri and indeed Mondo Generator have not been able to escape the connection to the Homme-fronted hard rock act, but Nick is clear about the distinction between the two. “Mondo is a totally different band to what QOTSA has become. We are not a suit and tie wearing corporate rock act. Mondo Generator has the same style that Queens USED to.”

MONDO GENERATOR play The Arena Sunday Aug 24. DEAD PLANET: SONICSLOWMOTIONTRAILS available through Amphead Records

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