Former Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Scott Reeder have announced that they’re suing former Kyuss bandmates John Garcia, Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork.
According to Noisecreep the lawsuit accuses Garcia, Oliveri, and Bjork of trademark infringement, misrepresentation, and false designation.
The stoner rock band reformed two years ago, but both Homme who is now the frontman for Queens Of The Stone Age and Reeder declined to rejoin. They were however supportive of their former bandmates who went under the name Kyuss Lives!
That was until they found out that while they were having meetings with the group to nut out details about rights and royalties the band members were also trying to wrestle the name Kyuss free of Homme and Reeder with some shady legal wrangling.
Cue fireworks and the fragile truce between the members has now collapsed. “It sucks,” Homme and Reeder said in a statement. “To think we went to a meeting in January solely to help them with their request to continue Kyuss Lives! With open arms, we made every attempt to help them continue Kyuss Lives! respectfully.”
“Only to discover while they looked us in the eye, Kyuss Lives! management and band had filed federal documents in 2011 in an attempt to steal the name Kyuss. This is desperately what we were trying to avoid. It’s a sad day for us and for John — but most of all for the fans. What a needless mess.”
It isn’t the only problem facing Kyuss Live however. Over the weekend Oliveri pled not guilty to multiple charges stemming from a five-hour drug-fuelled stand-off he had with the Los Angeles SWAT team last year. If convicted he faces 15 years in prison.
Fans of Kyuss have been quick to take sides and not everyone agrees with the actions of Homme and Reeder with some verbally attacking the musicians via social media.
Reeder, who was caught by surprise by the backlash took to his Facebook page this morning to defend his actions saying “Maaaaaaan, I’ve been called every foul name in the book [on Saturday], and all I did was make a choice to stand up to defend and retain small rights that I should be able to keep sacred and unhindered for the rest of my life and beyond.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice: lose all of the rights in two weeks, or keep them forever,” he added. “I didn’t choose to be in this situation at all — I was forced to react very quickly with a looming deadline, and it’s been rough.”
“I saw people bitterly divided [yesterday] over this stupid stuff… crazy. But the overwhelming support from friends and family was very much appreciated and needed. Thank you.”
