Josh Homme, the formidable leader of the rock band “Queens of the Stone Age,” has been commanding the band to immense commercial success for a while now. But like it is said, you win some, and you lose some. Seems like the phrase is proving to be particularly true for the band.
The band has been enjoying the creative limelight, especially after the production and release of their sixth 2013 studio album, “Like Clockwork.” However, all this changed when Homme fired Nick Oliveri, a member of the band who used to play the base. He has often described Oliveri as his “best friend” and spoke rather highly of him.
Nonetheless, he was sacked after some disagreements with Homme, some of which were purportedly spurred by unproven reports of domestic abuse against Oliveri’s then-girlfriend. According to Oliveri, the matter did become a lot more serious than it seemed from the media reports, and he has since described the exchanges between the former friends as “fighting words.”
Therefore, it is pretty crystal clear that Josh Homme is not intimidated by uncomfortable conversations, and he certainly isn’t afraid of firing his bandmates for the welfare of the band. He also fired his drummer, Joey Castillo.
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Who is Joey Castillo?
Born on 30th March 1966, the American musician Joseph William Castillo is best known and most famous for being the drummer of the heavy rock band Queens of the Stone Age from 2002 to 2012. Now, he is a member of bands like Circle Jerks, The Bronx, DOOM Regulator, and Zakk Sabbath. He has prior experience working with bands like Danzig, Wasted Youth, California Breed, Sugartooth, Zilch, Scott Weiland, and the Wildabouts.
A Gardena, California native, Joey started playing the drums at the ripe age of 15 after getting a loan from his grandmother to pay for a drum set. War, Al Green, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Black Flag are his musical influences. He began his drumming career in the year 1984 when he joined the Los Angeles punk band “Wasted Youth.”
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He quit Wasted Youth and joined “Sugartooth” the year in 1991 after two albums of the band had been recorded and several tours had been completed. He founded the short-lived punk rock band “Chronic Halitosis” in the summer of 1994. Punk covers of bands like Misfits and Black Flag were the band’s specialty. In terms of his personal life, Castillo currently resides in Joshua Tree, California, with his wife and their three children.
Homme’s take on the situation
Homme openly discussed firing his friends and Queens of the Stone Age bandmates in a new “The Times” interview. When asked about the fiasco, he replied, “Sometimes you have to destroy something to preserve something,” he said. “When it comes to people exiting bands, it’s usually a consensus.
With Queens, for example, you probably got fired yourself, and I was just the guy that told you. But at least I drove over to your house and looked you in the eye. In another situation, you’d be lucky to get a text. There have been moments when people have attempted to give me a hard time about that, but I just say, ‘Could you fire your best friend?’”
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Reasons behind Castillo’s dismissal
It is said that Homme let him go during the recording sessions of their sixth studio album, “Like Clockwork.” A major cause of his leaving the band could be the fact that Castillo did not really like the direction in which the album was going.
Some even speculate that Joey’s dismissal was eventually mutual, and he was burnt out from the constant touring with Queens of the Stone Age, which seemed to be really extreme and punishing for him that he had put himself through over the last decade. With Dave Grohl filling in for him in the studio, Castillo has decided to take some time off from touring to spend some time with his girlfriend and focus more on himself also his private life.
“For myself, since the moment I joined Queens in ’02, it never stopped. Picking up right from Songs For The Deaf straight into two new records. The touring was relentless. It was non-stop. I think we all love that. It’s fun to be creative and be working and keeping something like that moving. But after a while, it really starts to beat you down.
We all kind of knew it was time to step away for a second. Ultimately, I was kind of thinking in my brain that I could use a little downtime and work on whatever, and my girl was happy that I was going to be home for a little while. Two weeks turned into two years. Just like that.”
He does seem to be in a better mental space and seems to be a lot less worked up, and we can only hope that after taking his break, which was long overdue, he gets back on track to performing on stage in no time.
