Kyuss Members Reunite to Form Kyuss Lives, Without Josh Homme

It seems the demand was just too much for the originators of desert rock, so Kyuss have returned -- though without guitarist Josh Homme. The remaining members -- Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork and John Garcia -- are returning as Kyuss Lives.

From the late '80s to the mid '90s, Kyuss developed a cult following for their melody-infused brand of stoner rock. Kyuss were way ahead of everyone else, to the point that the band stayed in an uncategorized purgatory between punk and metal until the they disbanded in 1995.

In the wake of the break up, a slew of bands came forth: Homme with Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures, Bjork did stints with Fu Manchu, Garcia in Unida and Hermano, and Oliveri has been a jack of all trades doing time in his own projects, as well as Queens of the Stone Age and Dwarves. Everyone's activity created a mystique for Kyuss, and made people want to pay to see what they missed out on.

Homme has always addressed the questions of a reunion with a clear "no." "The offers come in all the time. They're getting more and more expensive, and more and more elaborate," he said in a 2007 interview with Music Mart. "The money is crazy, but I've never been tempted -- I don't really care about the money, I never have. That's not what Kyuss was about, so to punctuate the end of our sentence with that would be blasphemy. Kyuss fans are so f---in' rad, they're f---in' badass -- but to me, reunions are just not necessary."

This thee-quarters reunion first took form this past June at Hellfest in France, where Garcia performed a Kyuss set. Oliveri and Bjork joined in on the classic tracks 'Gardenia' and 'Green Machine.'

Joined by guitarist Bruno Fevery, Kyuss Lives have already booked a European tour to run from March 11 into April. No American dates have been at this point.