Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme will be on his best behavior for his band's upcoming fall tour with Nail Inch Nails.
Homme's going to have to--the singer-guitarist pleaded no contest May 23 to two battery counts stemming from an altercation with the Dwarves' Blag Dahlia at a November gig in Los Angeles. Homme allegedly dumped a bottle of beer on Dahlia and then hit him.
Homme was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to enroll in anger-management classes and a 60-day stint in residential rehab. Homme also agreed to stay 100 yards away from Dragonfly, not possess deadly weapons and to due his civic duty in the form of 15 days of city clean-up duty. He also must pay restitution to Dahlia.
In exchange, prosecutors chose not to pursue a more serious assault charge, even though they claim to have eyewitnesses who said Homme smashed a bottle over Dahlia's head. Homme vehemently denies that assertion and has his own witnesses to back him.
The rock feud stems from Homme firing Queens of the Stone Age cofounder and bassist Nick Oliveri last year. Oliveri played bass as a guest on the Dwarves' latest release, and the two bands have been taking potshots at each other for months.
Dahlia slams Queens in the track "Massacre" off the band's, The Dwarves Must Die. "This one goes out to Queens of the Trust Fund/You slept on my floor/And now I'm sleeping through your motherf--king records," Dahlia warbles.
According to eyewitness accounts, Homme allegedly turned up backstage at the Dragonfly to taunt Dahlia. But the heckling apparently got out of control.
Although police were not called to the club, and Dahlia went on to perform that night, he filed charges against Homme in late December.
Homme claims he "merely tapped Blag in the eye because he pushed me. A full swing it wasn't."
Homme is due back in court July 27 to show proof he has enrolled in both anger management and rehab.
Meanwhile, the "No One Knows" singer is taking his platinum-selling band on a headlining tour of Europe this month, including stops in Moscow, Prague and Munich. The ever-morphing QOTSA lineup will be without high-profile contributors like Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan (currently sidelined with exhaustion), both of whom were on the last Queens album, Lullabies to Paralyze, released in March.
The band will then return to the U.S. to open Nine Inch Nails' fall tour in support of With Teeth.
The multicity Nine Inch Nails-QOTSA jaunt, announced Monday, kicks off Sept. 16 in San Diego.