Queens Of The Stone Age are currently “taking a break”, according to bass player Michael Shuman.

Speaking to Gigwise, Shuman commented: “There will be future stuff with Queens, we’re just taking a break since we had a long, long two years of touring. We’ll take a break to do other stuff.”

Shuman is currently focusing on his Mini Mansions project. The trio – which also feature Zach Dawes and Tyler Parkford – release their second album on March 23, following on from 2010’s self-titled effort. ‘The Great Pretenders’ is due for release on T Bone Burnett’s Electromagnectic Recordings label and will also feature a guest appearance from Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.


The musician explained that QOTSA were at first keen to start recording the follow-up to 2013’s ‘…Like Clockwork’ straight away, but decided to ‘step back’. He stated: “We were eager because we were in a good spot, having fun and the record had done really well. But we decided to take a break because we had been going so hard for so long, and we really worked on that record for a long time. It’s not like we’re sick of each other and don’t want to do it – it’s just better to step back for a second and come back once the world has had a little bit of a break from you.”

The band played the last show of their ‘…Like Clockwork’ world tour on Halloween last year. The gig saw the band’s former bassist Nick Oliveri reunited with the group for an encore set at The Forum in Los Angeles. Oliveri – sporting a set of devil horns on his head – took to the stage during the Halloween-themed show to perform six songs, some of which had not been played live by the band in over a decade, including ‘Quick and to the Pointless’, ‘Auto Pilot’ and ‘Another Love Song’. Click above to watch fan-recorded footage of the set.

Josh Homme fired his long-time friend from the band in 2004 amid rumours that he’d been violent towards his then girlfriend. He briefly returned in 2012 to contribute vocals on the track ‘If I Had A Tail’. Asked whether the onstage appearance could be a precursor to him rejoining on a permanent basis, Oliveri asserted it was squarely a decision for the frontman.

