Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss) One-Ups Mic Todd's Armed Robbery With a Five-Hour SWAT Team Standoff

By Michael Lopez Thu., Jul. 14 2011 at 9:00 AM

Categories: News

Former Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri

It's been a rough week for bassists of widely-known rock bands. First was Coheed and Cambria bassist Mic Todd and his Sunday night arrest for armed robbery in Massachusetts. Today comes the news of former Queens of the Stone Age, Dwarves, and current Kyuss Lives! bassist Nick Oliveri and his arrest at his Hollywood home late Tuesday night on suspicion of domestic violence.

As with Todd's ordeal, Oliveri's arrest has it's own bizarre plot twist -- Oliveri was taken into custody after a five-hour standoff with SWAT officers. It's no alleged bomb threat in a Walgreens, but Oliveri's arrest definitely raises some eyebrows of the "what the fuck" variety.

The 39-year-old Oliveri apparently had an argument with girlfriend at some point on Monday during which Oliveri allegedly struck his girlfriend. When she decided to pack up her things and move out Oliveri's house on Tuesday, he locked the doors and barred her from leaving. This produced yet another argument between the two -- one that eventually got the attention of a neighbor who called the LAPD.

Upon their arrival, Oliveri refused the police entry into his home. The police responded by calling in reinforcements in the form of a SWAT team and a standoff eventually ensued. Reports have the standoff being from two to five hours long. At the end of everything, a search was done of Oliveri's house which turned up a fully-loaded, high-powered rifle. Oliveri was booked and has since been released, posting $100,000 bail.

Oliveri has had a history of domestic abuse, effectively getting himself fired from Queens of the Stone Age in 2004 after suspicions frontman Josh Homme had over Oliveri's violent past. In this video from a few years ago, provided by Antiquiet, Homme responds to a woman in the crowd's remark that she "misses Nick" by saying, "If you miss Nick then you can go out in the parking lot and go fuck yourself." Homme also adds, "And you know what else? Maybe if you're really lucky he'll beat the shit out of you, too."

While many fans of QOTSA were shocked to see him go, Josh Homme knew what he was doing when he kicked Nick Oliveri out of the band. Oliveri's arrest Tuesday night only proves to confirm Homme's decision.

No telling if the October 6 Kyuss Lives! show scheduled at The Marquee is still a go -- it's looking a little unlikely, but hopefully The Sword and Monstro can still play. We need our metal.

First Mic Todd, now Nick Oliveri -- these things come in threes, right? We can only wonder which bassist will be arrested next and under what bizarre circumstances it will all happen.