John Garcia
at Turf Club (July 09, 2025)
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Very hot days, with much more comfortable evenings have been the norm in the Twin Cities for a hot minute. On an appropriately warm day in St. Paul, John Garcia, one of the founders of desert rock, was playing at the Turf Club.
Side note: While it was loud, I felt like the band had taken just the smallest edge off the volume, which made it pleasantly loud and not simply painful loud. Thanks guys! |
We got some programmed electronic synth sounds at the start of the next number, Ancient Nug, and a lot of impressive drums before the guitar came back in. This was a very spacey sounding version of the hard rock/metal, and the crowd was head banging to that irresistible beat. Telekinetic Yeti was also doing a great job of riding the line of psych band without going into full jam session, with songs averaging a little over five minutes each. A little technical set up from the drummer prior to Beast probably had the most scream-like vocals of the set, and also had the fastest tempo guitar work in a very stoner rock vibe. Finishing on Himalayan Hymn, Telekinetic Yeti started on a slower tempo song that had at least two or three movements, with distinct changes in feel. This was a well-paced and enjoyable forty-minute set.
John Garcia is a stalwart of the Palm Desert Scene. He was a co-founder of the hard rock band Kyuss, the progenitor of the desert, stoner rock, that Garcia, Brant Bjork, Queens of the Stone Age, and others have really built out. That hard rock base with some psych rock jam sessions and a bit of alternative rock hooks is a distinct sound. Post-Kyuss, Garcia has been in several projects while always keeping his solo career going with multiple album releases, including 2019’s John Garcia and the Band of Gold. A quartet (vocals, guitar, bass, and drums), the band went all over the back log of those different projects. They started with Cowboys Suck, a Hermano song, and went straight into a Kyuss number and then into Jim’s Whiskers off the afore mentioned Band of Gold album. And while Garcia is/was lead singer for all three of those bands, his vocal style was slightly different across them. It’s also worth noting that while he could (and did) slide into that more spoken/ screamed style throughout the evening, he really is a singer at his core.
Thanking the crowd for being at the show (“Is it a Tuesday? A Wednesday? I don’t f’in know.”), the band moved into Rolling Stoned, a harder edged song both musically and vocally, with Garcia giving a more gravelly sound. The driving guitar lick was super catchy, and Garcia spoke highly of the band Black Mastiff that he had seen originally perform it. Garcia went on a small tangent about getting older, but how much he appreciated the crowd age range and helping keep music like this alive. Don’t Even Think About It was nearly metal at times, and Garcia went significantly higher in range, including some well-done falsetto before a longer guitar solo closed it out. Introducing the band, Garcia launched into Dragona Dragona from yet another band he fronted, Vista Chino. It was a lot of fun to essentially get the full tour of that Palm Desert sound.
Garcia left the stage, allowing the rest of the band the opportunity for an extended instrumental jam, another hallmark of the desert rock genre. Returning to the stage, Garcia started the slow descent towards the close, though that didn’t mean a decrease in intensity. All These Walls had a heavy drum and bass intro and Garcia fully into the lyrics. I’m a big fan of performers who care, and it seemed like Garcia cares a lot for the music and the experience the band was trying to share with the audience. Garcia and band went into Thumb, with the crowd erupting. After a brief break, the band came back for the encore, ending with Green Machine, a pretty great encapsulation of the evening, with a thankful Garcia ripping ripping through the song and raising hands victorious as they left.
thaddeus ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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