Pet Sounds #60: Nick Oliveri of QOTSA, Kyuss, Dwarves Finds Peace With His Cats
“Frisky” is a mild way to describe, Nick Oliveri, one of the most prominent rock bassists of the past 30 years. “Feral” or “untamed” would be much more accurate. The eminently talented Oliveri, who was the bottom-heavy-playing backbone of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, and now Dwarves and his own Mondo Generator project, would likely react to even the wildest stories of John Bonham, Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe with a shrug – and his trademark laugh and smile.
Indeed, there is a tender side to the 53-year-old, Palm Desert-based musician who sometimes goes by the aliases Rex Everything, Pierre Pressure, the Great French Manipulator, Rock & Roll Komodo Dragon and Nikolai Svetlana. Don’t take our word for it: Hear about his deep affinity for felines and check out these photos he sent us for proof.
The Bad Penny recently caught up with Oliveri via video to talk not about the times he played gigs in his birthday suit, his still-intact friendships with QOTSA’s Josh Homme and Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, or how he won over Dwarves’ Blag Dahlia by smashing a vase, but rather about his love for cats.
Hey, Nick. Such a pleasure and an honor to talk with you. Thanks for taking part in my Pet Sounds series. How apropos: I just saw a cat behind you.
Yeah, I have a cat that lives out here with me. I have a house that’s separate from my main house, and one of my best friends lives in it. And she has two cats, which we got together. My cat is a Ragdoll and Siamese mix.
She’s what, almost a year old, it looks like?
No, she’s seven! We also have Jackie Cat and Newbie Cat, whose got these like tuxedo colors. [Oliveri turns to Newbie Cat.] Let’s see your eyes, let’s see your eyes, baby.
She’s beautiful. Where’d you find her?
I got her for my girlfriend Julie [as a] birthday [gift]. She had found her online, and we went and picked her up in Orange County. She was the last cat [in her litter,] and they gave her to us for just a hundred bucks. We already had the two cats that I found underneath the hood of our ’71 El Camino. They were tiny kittens. Good thing I didn’t start the car. I guess the mom put them in there, to protect them from coyotes at night.
They were really hungry but wouldn’t come out of the car, so I let them live in there until they wanted to come out. I made a little path that went up to my door, and I saw them come out, and they were looking around. I opened the door and let them come in. I shut the door behind them and fed them and kept them. I figured the mom was coming back. She hadn’t come back in days.
They were the size of my hand. Now they’re huge cats. [Oliveri turns toward Julie.] How heavy are they, Julie? Twelve pounds. They’re massive. One’s a Maine Coon and the other one’s an American Shorthair. They’re brothers, somehow. I guess they can have different dads.
It looks like you have dogs there too?
Yeah. This is Tiger. I’ve got to get her fixed. She goes in heat and drives everyone crazy. She’s seven months old. And then there’s Pepe, who’s 14. He’s a Chorkie.
I see all these guys every day. I clean their litter and feed them. We don’t let them out. We had one cat that was living here and let it out, and it never came back. I figured coyotes must have got it. So we just keep them in the house. I feel bad sometimes, but I don’t think they know what to do out there. They love it for a minute, but it ain’t safe out in the desert. They didn’t grow up out there.
What advice would you give to somebody who’s getting a cat for the first time, probably a kitten?
I’d say, “They have a lot of energy, so you’ve got to be prepared to play with them a lot, but they’re great.”
Here’s another one. She’s great. She’s a Siamese, but the colors come in later. They take a year to develop. She started out just white and had a black nose, and now she’s getting gray. Pretty cool. Her nickname’s what, Julie? Richard Ramirez. She’s quick to hiss at you. She does it in a nice way, but it’s weird. She’s the serial killer cat.
Are they all pretty social?
Yeah, except for Newbie. He’s very one-on-one. Jackie will jump on the table when you’re trying to eat. He wants to be the center of attention. He demands it, and he gets it. He’s really nice and outgoing. If you’re sleeping, you open your eyes and Newbie’s right there. But he ain’t there when the rest of the people are.
Do they like your music?
Well, I don’t play here. I used to have a studio in here. But I moved everything to a studio I have in L.A. It’s easier for me to jam down there. I thought that was too much for the cats when I’d be playing guitar, bass, drums. I’m sure they could hear it from the other room. But I don’t know if they liked it or not. Probably not.
I had an old cat, Meowme, who would come and hang out. He was great. He liked the guitar a lot. He would stare at the strings, like, “What’s that? What are you doing?” And he would sing along, meow, a lot. He was a really nice cat. It was a terrible loss to lose him.
Sorry about that. Do they ever do any damage to your equipment?
Well, I have a record collection, and I keep the door to that room closed, because it’s the perfect scratching pad, like a scratching post you buy at the store. I have to turn around some of the amps and keep them in a different room if I want to keep the cats [not to scratch them].
What are some of the funniest things any of your pets have ever done? Anything come to mind?
Oh yeah. I have a stepladder with these holes, and I had to tape over them because the cats would go through the holes and get stuck in them. One time I heard one of the cats screaming. Her body was stuck halfway in this ring inside of this plastic stepladder. I freaked out and called [Julie,] but she finally started working herself out. She was freaking out just like me. It seemed like she was expanding and getting more scared. Finally she got out. That was funny and scary at the same time. Kittens get into everything.
Another funny thing is that [one of the cats] used to jump in the air and do this crazy dance. A dog was living here, and she would drive him crazy [doing that]. She had so much energy. She’d jump over his back and on top of him, and he’d try to get away from her. But she was everywhere. Sometimes she’d be hiding, and he’d walk around the corner, and she’d jump out and do this dance with her paws. [Oliveri cracks up laughing.] We would clap. It was so hilarious. He’d even bark at her, but she’d keep doing it. Man, I love kittens.
Can you tell me a bit more about Pepe?
Well, he’s Julie’s dog. But he loves me. We bro-down. He’s a little dude and likes to hang out. But sometimes he gets depressed. He got depressed when our cat got put to sleep. He was so bummed. He was [in a] bad [state] for two months. Then I went on tour, and he was really upset.
But you can put him in a bag or Julie’s purse – he keeps his head out – and take him into a store, and he’ll stay quiet. He’ll look around, but nobody will see him.
It almost looks like you have a kitty kingdom at your place.
Yeah, I built a couple of A-frames, like beams, so she can walk across them up high. They’ll get to the very top pillar and climb up in there.
Dude, is that a gold Songs for the Deaf record on your wall?
Yeah. I try to keep the cats away from that, haha.
Go to Mondo Generator’s website for much more on one of rock and roll’s most talented, notorious and well-known madmen.
For previous installments of Pet Sounds, check out our installment featuring Nick Oliveri’s Dwarves bandmate Blag Dahlia, as well as editions starring Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Buzz Osborne of Melvins. Go here for the Pet Sounds index.
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