10 Rock Bands That Continued Without Major Members
6. Nick Oliveri - Queens of the Stone Age
It shouldn't really be that disheartening when you hear that Queens of the Stone Age have had a bit of a shakeup in the lineup. The entire project seems to just operate under the watchful eye of Joshua Homme anyway, so there's no reason to think that any one member is going to drastically change things overnight. That is, unless these are the people who have been around since the very beginning.
After completing the tour for Songs for the Deaf, it was completely understandable why Dave Grohl wouldn't be going the distance with QOTSA, going back to work on the Foo Fighters' next album. What did end up landing a heavy blow though was Nick Oliveri's departure...and it wasn't pretty either. Since Josh's time in Kyuss, he and Nick had always been friendly, until something shifted when the FBI got involved. Once hearing that the authorities paid a visit to Oliveri's house on calls for domestic abuse, Josh cut off ties with him as well, saying that there was a fracture between him and the band.
As much turmoil as it seemed at the time, Josh managed to persevere through the shakeups and put out Lullabies to Paralyze, acting as a nice companion record following the long story that you went on with Songs for the Deaf. The future of the band may have been uncertain, but it wasn't something that Josh couldn't handle.