mondo generatormondo generator
 

was formed in 1997 by former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri. Nick had also previously been a member of depraved LA punks The Dwarves. He was famously thrown out for being "too sick". Nick’s fomer Kyuss bandmate Josh Hommme went to see a Mondo show in Austin in 1998. He was putting together a new band and asked Nick to join them, they were called Queens of the Stone Age.

Mondo Generator remained barely in existence as a solo/side project. The classic Cocaine Rodeo album was recorded as far back as 1997, but was shelved until the Southern Lord label released its singular brand of criminal insanity to widespread acclaim and horror in the summer of 2000. By this time, Queens were well on the trail to world domination, their second album Rated R garnering critical and commercial acclaim around the world. They developed a reputation for debauchery and consumption that would have had them all thrown out of the Dwarves.

By the time Queens released their third album Songs for the Deaf in 2002 they had arguably become the biggest band in the world. Around this time Nick decided to return to the Mondo Generator project and record their second album A Drug Problem That Never Existed. Teaming up with drummer Brant Bjork (another Kyuss alumni, as well as a former member of Fu Manchu and his own band the Operators), guitarist Dave Catching (QOTSA, earthlings?, Texorcist) and Molly Maguire (earthlings?, Yellow #5), the album was produced by Oliveri with Brad Cook (R.L. Burnside, Vandals, Foo Fighters) and infamous singer/carnival barker/pain in the ass Blag Dhalia of the Dwarves.