Josh Homme & Scott Reeder File Federal Lawsuit over Kyuss Na

Desertblues · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:32 am

http://www.antiquiet.com/news/2012/03/j ... statement/

This can't end well.

Quote:

Earlier tonight, we received the unfortunate news that the delicate balance that allowed Kyuss Lives! to exist and tour without founding member Joshua Homme has begun to unravel.

We’ve learned that underhanded business tactics may have taken place in order to secure rights over the original Kyuss name – the legendary Rock band that consisted of Homme, Brant Bjork and John Garcia, and later Nick Oliveri, Scott Reeder, Alfredo Hernández and others during its existence between 1988 and ‘95. Within the past several months, while amicable meetings were taking place concerning the future of Kyuss Lives, steps were allegedly being taken to establish ownership over the Kyuss name, something which Homme & Reeder were entirely unaware of.

The band Kyuss Lives! has been touring for the past year, playing original Kyuss songs without Homme & Reeder (though Scott joined the band on select 2011 dates). To fans’ delight, Homme & Reeder had consistently wished the members of Kyuss Lives! well, and their business arrangements had been seemingly productive. The idea of a new studio record was on fans’ minds, but seemed a nonstarter idea for a band using an altered name, only touring on older material. However it appears as if steps were being taken by the newer incarnation of the band to capitalize further, which ultimately has undermined the arrangement between friends that had allowed Kyuss Lives! to operate.

A statement from Scott Reeder and Homme:

Kyuss partnership members Scott Reeder and Joshua Homme have regretfully had to file a federal lawsuit against John Garcia and Brant Bjork AKA Kyuss Lives! The suit alleges trademark infringement, misrepresentation, false designation, etc.

“It sucks. 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’s undoubtedly difficult on any side of the equation to envision John Garcia scheming to pull a bad one over on his old bandmate. As fans, we can only hope that it was the business people behind the sleight of hand. Either way, it appears that this will play out in a courthouse now between sharks in suits, rather than old friends with heartfelt intent.

Bongzilla · **Joined:** Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:29 pm **Posts:** 1722

Capitalism rears its foul head and contaminates art once again. What a drag...

spiritualleader · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:50 am

Bongzilla wrote:

Capitalism rears its foul head and contaminates art once again. What a drag...

I actually think it's much closer to "integrity" than "capitalism".

Kelprunk · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:58 am

Go get 'em, Josh! Go!

Ryno · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:47 am

Two sides to every story. While I'm waiting for the other one, i can honestly say that it doesn't surprise me one bit. As much ass as Kyuss lived recently kicked, I've always felt that there was some kind of disingenuous shit going on under it all. Not sure which side it was coming from but i always felt it wasn't going to end up as rosy as it was played.

What a bummer.

Mr Neutron · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:24 am

so 3 of the 4 players on the first kyuss album are trying to "steal" the name?

methinks there is more to this than meets the eye with Reeder being named as a plaintiff....
i'll reserve my snarky judgements, aside from this:

Really?

Bullio · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:25 pm **Posts:** 723

Don't really know what to make of this yet. I guess any very remote chance there was of a "proper" potential reunion is thoroughly dead now.

But what, if anything, is stopping them from going out and playing the old tunes under a new name that doesn't have "Kyuss" in it? They could easily reform under a new moniker and make new music under it, which might be something I'd actually be interested in after the good things I've heard about the Kyuss Lives shows.

Mr Red · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:08 am

Anyone who tells you what was brought out last year was as good as the 1992-95 KYUSS is a fool or pure idiot fanboy, but I was thikning Josh would let these guys slide and earn somewhat of a living off of their association of that name.

I guess not. It's cool though. Josh and Scott respect a legacy. Let 'em wrangle it out in the court. Maybe John Garcia wins the rights the name, who knows.

doomedfuzz · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:51 am

Don't know about "pure idiot fanboy" stuff, all I know is I went to the show last year and considering I've been to hundreds of shows since 1980, it ranked in the top 5 shows I'd ever seen. I'd say they were beyond excellent.

Lawsuits always have two sides and often it is the business people behind the scene. Don't let this side of the story fool you. Josh has been really detached and strange through this whole process from what I can see. Hell, Ozzy and Iommi were in court over the name just two years ago and they are now working on a new album together and had planned a massive tour before Iommi's cancer diagnosis.

Johnny Problem · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:47 am

This was too good to be true. But a legacy must be protected. This also doesn't really seem like something Brant Bjork would do (for example). He's a "peace and love, brother".

JemDooM · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:06 pm

I agree there are two sides to every story, and who knows what the hell is really going on from the start, the whole Kyuss Lives thing seemed stupid in the first place, im gonna do my best to ignore everything to do with this before they go ahead and ruin the memory and legend that is Kyuss...

Demon Lung · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:37 pm

i guess its back to home depot for john garcia. its a shame because he was finally turning into a good frontman

Demon Lung · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:25 pm

I mean really I expect this type of shit out of josh, but Scott? C'mon man he knows that he doesn't want to do this. He's going to be full time bassist in a few months anyways. Is josh looking for something to fall back on because all of his shit sucks now or is he just a bonifide douchebag? These guys went out and kicked ass live without missing a beat and they have earned the right to call themselves kyuss.

Bongzilla · **Joined:** Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:29 pm **Posts:** 1722

spiritualleader wrote:

Bongzilla wrote:

Capitalism rears its foul head and contaminates art once again. What a drag...

I actually think it's much closer to "integrity" than "capitalism".

Perhaps. I feel that remains to be seen at this point, but you may be right (we may not share opinion on their reformation to begin with, for example)

Scrit · **Joined:** Wed Dec 08, 2010 8:59 pm **Posts:** 233

The best perspective to take on this unfortunate development- is yes there are two sides to this. And both should be heard before assuming anything further. Additionally, it seems VERY unlikely to me that John and Brant are guilty of the kind of underhanded maneuvers alleged here. It's a safe bet it has more to do with the business people behind all this. We'll have to see how the next few months play out... Ultimately I'd really hate to 'pick a side' in this because I admire all those guys.

And yes, the 2011 Kyuss shows were fuckin outstanding. They proved they deserved to be called Kyuss if they wanted. Justice was done to those old albums.

RalphSnart · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:00 pm

Lord knows, you got to fight for those huge stoner rock royalties.

Reunion would have been cooler with Hommy involved, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, as did the rest of the "faithful" in the mid size venue with me. I was vaguely interested in a new album. I feel like this is a pretty common commotion that comes into play in most bands histories if they are still trying to make it happen after 20+ years. "It's my band too", or whatever. People have to maintain their property rights over what they've created. I get it.

But it comes down to the public in the end, the consumers, people biting into thick plastic cases or trying to shove wires in their ears and get that beautiful music in the head piece. We're eating their shit, and I think we all know who played guitar and bass on the three (okay, four) classic albums, regardless of whether the "new" lineup makes four more.

To paraphrase the immortal Sebastian Bach, "I remember you...Josh Homme."

Demon Lung · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:04 pm

in other news scott reeder to replace JPJ in them crooked vultures and also to appear on the latest desert sessions

Demon Lung · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 5:05 pm

josh homme wants to reform kyuss with reeder and grohl lol

Bullio · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:25 pm **Posts:** 723

So where is Alfredo Hernandez in all of this? He appeared on official releases, so shouldn't he have some say in this too? I don't see why one non-original member has more say in this over another.

Unless Alfredo doesn't want any part of this, which is a stance I don't blame him for taking. But it seems like he should have at least been contacted about this before going ahead.

Adam · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:59 pm

Repeating what I said in the other thread in the News Section...

Not sure I get why Homme should really care about them using Kyuss as I am sure he was invited to be apart of the reunion but declined. Is the legacy of the band affected any differently because they formed as Kyuss Lives instead of just Kyuss? Regardless of the name I think most will continue to view this as Post-Homme Era Kyuss but still Kyuss.

I do get Reeder's beef here since they seemed to (foolishly) choose Oliveri over him.

That all said, if an agreement was made that Kyuss was off limits than Garcia and Bjork should have just left well enough alone.

kojak · **Joined:** Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:34 pm **Posts:** 124

garcia didn't write any of the lyrics he's singing, nor write any of the music. a power grab is a bad idea under those circumstances. hopefully the suits made it and not john, cuz he really should just be satisfied paying his bills as Kyuss lives. most of kyuss's legacy is a straight line to josh, whether anyone likes it or not, and he gets to decide what happens with his music. it's pretty simple.

bjork and reeder's contributions should cancel eachother out. this is a showdown between josh and john unfortunately. and john will not win. it's too bad this is all going down.

h.p. taskmaster · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 1:34 am

I put this in the news forum as well, but figured it probably wouldn't hurt to double up:

Soundgardenia · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:31 am

ahah! they should've given Garcia some time to think.. that statement made no sense whatsoever... I'm really trying to look at "the other side of the story", but honestly, I see no reason for sneakiness..

HeavyEar · **Joined:** Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:11 pm **Posts:** 403

awesome lamps! Are there any body language experts out there? What does it mean when Brant is brushing his mustache, pauses intently, more brushing. I like how he doesn't feel the need to say anything, but what IS he saying?
/kthnx

cyberspaceship · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:40 am

Brant's expression and posture probably means he's pissed that they're having to deal with this obviously anti- love-thy-brother ordeal in public. That or it's been a long day of bullshit and he's ready to check out.

I found it weird that John used the word "respect" several times.

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Josh Homme & Scott Reeder File Federal Lawsuit over Kyuss Na

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