Legendary desert rock act Kyuss ended in 1996. The band's lineup throughout their existence included guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), bassists Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator, ex-Queens of the Stone Age) and Scott Reeder (ex-Goatsnake, ex-The Obsessed), vocalist John Garcia, and drummer Brant Bjork. The band has never reunited, though in 2010 we got close when Garcia, Oliveri, and Bjork formed Kyuss Lives!. A lawsuit between Homme and the band over trademarks disrupted activities and Kyuss Lives! turned into Vista Chino.
Now in an interview with Kyuss World Radio, Homme dove deep into how the lawsuit came to be. Homme said he spoke to his ex-Kyuss bandmates about performing under the Kyuss Lives! name and was fine with it, but was completely unaware that they were also trying to copyright the name behind his back. Homme later adds he'd be open to playing a Kyuss reunion show just to end the band on a good note.
"I suppose at the end of the day, [Kyuss Lives!] didn't need a blessing [to play Kyuss music], but I was giving it to 'em. I want those guys to do well. And they were playing Kyuss music for a generation that had only heard of it and never heard it. I didn't see the harm in that. But trying to usurp it and take it away was just like dirty pool. The problem with all that stuff is that in a lawsuit or something like that, everyone loses; everyone looks bad. People that have loved Kyuss for so long go, 'Fuck these guys.' And that's terrible. That's why I say it's so fragile. That's why I say I've always wanted to err on the side of don't finger bang the ice sculpture; it's gonna break. If you don't touch it, it's just classic. But you don't punctuate the end of a band with a lawsuit. Those things are tragic, and they're awful. And then they lost, because, of course, you lose when you do things like that. But that damage is awful.
"But to be honest with you, and to answer your question, there have been times I thought it cannot end that way, and the only real way to end it correctly now would be to play," he explained. "And because they sort of perverted the punctuation and they knocked the wing off this beautiful dragon that's an ice sculpture, and the only way to put the motherfucking wing back on would be to [play again].
"I have thought about this, especially in the last few years, to do something special, and even to make up for that mistake of Brant and, unfortunately, John, to make up for it. [I thought we should] play and give all the money away. Like, play for the fans — cover your costs and make it five bucks. Figure out a way to be, like, this is how the punctuation will end the sentence of this band. Because it was never about money — it never was about money. It never was about fame, and when it felt like that was the move they were making, I was so sad."
Read the full, lengthy here.
