When you’re the iconic founding member and main man of a legendary, genre-shaping band, as well as the perpetrator of several well-known side projects, at some stage your mind is inevitably going to turn to doing something under your own name. This is exactly where John Garcia is at. As the driving force behind stoner rock trailblazers Kyuss, as well as subsequent acts such as Vista Chino, Slo Burn and Unida, Garcia has been a singing, songwriting and performing force for a quarter of a century.
2014 has seen the release of his debut, self-titled solo record, and speaking from his home in Palm Springs, California, he simply could not be happier. “The amount of freedom that I have as a solo artist, since being in bands with other musicians, is truly liberating,” Garcia says. “I’m in a good spot and I don’t see myself deviating from my current position anytime in the near future. I love where I’m at, I love the music that I’m performing live and writing.”
The album is a little more of a straight-up-and-down bluesy rock’n’roll record than what many of Garcia’s fans may have come to expect from him, which is exactly what he set out to do with it.
“I wasn’t looking to change the face of rock’n’roll with this record at all,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to be a mad scientist. What I wanted was something very simple – I wanted something that was very heavy on the music and melodic on the vocal side. When you have something that’s heavy, and then something that’s melodic that goes on top of something that’s somewhat heavy and mean, sometimes it marries well and sometimes it doesn’t. But I specifically set out to do exactly that. And my producers Harper Hug and Trevor Whatever made it a reality. And so did all the musicians on the record, so I’m very thankful and very appreciative … To have it finally see the light of day, it’s a dream come true and it’s a big relief.”
Australia, always a very good hunting ground for Garcia and his myriad bands, can think itself very lucky, being the first place on the planet to experience the new record in a live sense. His first solo tour on the back of the new album comes Down Under in mid-September.
“I’m really excited about getting down there. It’s a great time for us, the band’s excited, and although it’s only four pretty exclusive shows, to have the world tour start in Australia was very fitting. I love your country, love the people, love the food, love the seafood, and it’s just a pleasure to be going back down there again.”
The main focus of the tour will be the new solo record – but in news that is sure to please his long-time fans, Garcia is not about to ignore his illustrious back catalogue on this Aussie jaunt. In fact, he is likely to pull out some hidden gems from his past for some of his more loyal followers.
“It’s mainly [focusing] on the solo stuff, but on the flip side of the coin, I’m proud to say that I’m going to be playing past and present – some Slo Burn songs, some Kyuss songs that even Kyuss and Vista Chino never played live. I’m really going to concentrate on some of these untouched, untapped pieces that never had the chance to see the light of day live. And man, I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s gonna be a long set, and again, it’s playing past and present, it’s going to be a ‘best of John Garcia’ type of set. And I’m proud to say another desert band, another Palm Springs band is coming with me, Waxy. They’re opening the shows, as well as [Melbourne stoner rock outfit] Mammoth Mammoth. They’re opening, then Waxy and then my band, so the California desert is coming to Australia!”
Of course, we have plenty of desert here of our own. “Yeah, I know, and I love what I’ve seen of the Australian desert,” Garcia says, “but it’s the Californian desert that inspired this sound.”
Looking to the longer term, Garcia reiterates what an excellent time he had making the self-titled album, that his other projects are very much on hold at the moment and that he will be focusing closely on his solo career for now.
“Vista Chino’s parked in the garage, Unida’s parked in the garage, all my [other] projects are parked in the garage, I’m solely concentrating on my solo project. And I feel good,” he says.
“Making this record was a real eye-opener for me – it showed me what I could do outside of the context of my other bands. I’m not sure who’s going to be playing with me on this project moving into the future, it could be a whole bunch of different players. I’m not saying the other bands are all done – like I said, they’re parked in the garage at the moment and this solo thing is where my head is right now. I’m just enjoying it so much, I can’t wait to get to Australia and I can’t wait to do another record.”
John Garcia out now through Napalm. Catch him live alongsideWaxy and Mammoth Mammoth atOxford Art Factory onThursday September 11, ticketsonline.
