Former Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri has said that he “took some time to heal” following his departure from the band.

The musician was a core member of the Josh Homme-led group between 1998 and 2004, contributing to their albums ‘Rated R’ (2000) and ‘Songs For The Deaf’ (2002).

Oliveri was fired by Homme in 2004, with the frontman accusing him of disrespecting QOTSA’s fans with his on-tour behaviour.

The bassist reunited with the band in 2013 when he provided backing vocals on ‘If I Had A Tail’, which appears on their sixth record ‘…Like Clockwork’. He then joined Queens Of The Stone Age on-stage for the first time in 10 years in Portland, Oregon the following year.

Speaking to Eonmusic recently, Oliveri opened up about his relationship with Homme.

“You know, we’ve know each other for so long it’s just weird to be at each others’ throats,” he explained. “You can’t force somebody to play music with you. It ran its course just playing music together.”

Oliveri went on to say that he and Homme were “still friends”, adding: “It’s just that we don’t make music together right now.”

He continued: “We did so much in a five-year period, in a concentrated period, so much work, that we kind of burned out on each other. So, it is what it is, and he kind of wanted the band to go in a different direction anyway, so he’s taken it there, and that’s where he wants it to go, and it’s great for him.

“Unfortunately it’s one of those things where, it used to bother me a lot, but it doesn’t anymore. It took some time to heal over some things, and for him too.”

Oliveri revealed that he last saw Homme at the funeral of former Queens member Mark Lanegan, who died this February aged 57, “and we were in good spirits remembering Mark”.

He added: “It was a good memorial for him. We had all the crew there, the whole band was there that was from that era, at that funeral, except him [Mark Lanegan]; he was the only one not there.”

Oliveri was speaking to the outlet about ‘Totally’, the latest release from his band Stöner.

Back in 2012, the bassist said of his departure from QOTSA: “It took me six years to figure it out, but you know what, I would have axed me too. We did this show in Spain and I was freaking out when he didn’t show up for soundcheck. When he didn’t turn up, I drank a bottle of vodka and then the show wasn’t good.

“Then when we supposed to go back out after the set and Josh was like, ‘I’m not going out there with you’ and I freaked out. I wished now he had just knocked me out, I’d have been sorry when I woke up then.”

Oliveri’s musical partnership with Homme dates back to the early 1990s, when they were both members of Kyuss.

Queens Of The Stone Age released their seventh and most recent album, the Mark Ronson-produced ‘Villains’, in 2017.