The voice that spawned an entire genre of imitators, John Garcia is returning to Australia in January 2020. Over the last two-plus decades, Garcia has set the standard for the sound of the California desert. His work in genre-progenitors Kyuss speaks for itself; loudly, and with much fuzz, as do subsequent desert rock institutions he formed such as Vista Chino, Unida, Slo Burn and Hermano. His contribution to the legacy of rock n roll is relentless, not historical.
Now, together with The Band Of Gold, John Garcia is returning to satiate his eager Australian fans with songs from their latest, self titled record. We caught up with John to discuss the tour but we also get into the bushfire crisis in Australia, the politics of music and his love affair with Australia.
Andrew: So hows things with you?
John: Things are good! I got a little over a week before we leave, trying to get things situated around the house. The holidays are done and so just trying to make sure everything is organised and getting my ducks in a row but we’re all stoked on coming down there and just very excited. How are you doing?
Andrew: Doing very well! Obviously with all that’s going on over here in Australia which I’m sure you’ve heard with all the bushfires and all that, we’re doing the best we can but we are very excited to see you in Australia though.
John: You know, I gotta tell you Andrew that the United States and I can tell you that 99.999 percent of all Americans are wishing you guys all the best and this is something that’s a world wide topic, Australia and everybody is keeping tabs on Oz and every night on the news whether the local news or national news, it is everywhere. It’s in the workplace, it’s everywhere and all the talk is just our thoughts and our prayers go out to all the families, all the wildlife, the animals. It’s a very sad thing and I’m glad that we’re coming down there because if only for 90 minutes Andrew, if we could take some Australian minds off of what is going on down there, to play some music and to give a little bit of happiness and hope, I’m glad that we’re going down there for that. It’s a sad time but on the flip side of the coin I think music and politics, global warming is something that I’ve always kept kind of seperate but I’m not going to do that anymore and it’s something that we need to bring awareness to this type of huge, giant environmental problems. I’ve never been a political guy, I’ve always kept music and politics seperate but if we can bring awareness to these giant catastrophes, this is my stage and this is the Band Of Gold stage to help bring awareness to this type of stuff and I’m just very supportive and very honoured to have been invited back to your beautiful country. Again if only for 90 minutes, take you guys minds off something and get back to reality of doing some change.
So I’m stoked and there’s a lot to go along with that but I’m very pleased and honoured to be coming back to your country regardless of the fires. Once the terrorists hit Europe over in Europe – Bataclan – when Eagles Of Death Metal were playing that venue and Ehren and I were supposed to be going over a month later and everybody was wondering if we were going to go and I said, ‘Absolutely, yes we’re going to go’, and we did. A lot of bands cancelled, a lot of shows got cancelled. Ehren and I did not cancel, we wanted to go because if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. But my job is just to bring, if only for 90 minutes, a little bit of joy, a little bit of happiness, a little bit of healing to this, then god damn it I’m going to do it. That’s why we’re doing it and a lot of people on my side of the United States were telling me, ‘Are you going to go, are you going to go?’, and I said, ‘Yes of course we’re going to go!’ We’re going to go, we’re going to show our support, we’re going to do our part and we’re going to bring a little bit of happiness in a time where it’s not the best time to go but we’re going to go and we’re going to give a little bit of happiness and hopefully we do that.
Andrew: Yeah definitely and thanks for those words, it’s great to hear. Obviously this is, which you are right, music is something that with what’s going is something that everyone needs, certainly for that small period of time to get away and have a bit of enjoyment. Thanks for coming down to Australia, we really appreciate it. It’s also something that a lot of fans have been wanting to see you again and you have been coming down here regularly which we really appreciate. So this time around with the Band Of Gold, what can we expect? Will it be strictly Band Of Gold stuff or a bit of variety?
John: Andrew there is going to be a lot of variety, we’re going to do the Band Of Gold, we’re going to be doing some Hermano, going to be doing some Slo Burn. I might even throw in some Unida, might even throw in some Vista Chino. I want to do a lot of the past, I’m very proud of my past and this is a special time for us. We don’t get an opportunity to do this all the time but when we do, I want to make the most of it, want to make the best of it and this is important to me and it’s important to Ehren and Mike and Greg and it’s important to our family and so we’re going to be doing a wide range of things. We haven’t rehearsed any Vista Chino, we haven’t rehearsed any Unida, we’re well versed in Slo Burn and well versed in Hermano. We’re obviously well versed in the stuff that we’re doing and of course Kyuss. I’m very proud of my past and we’re going to be doing a lot of that so if everything comes to plan, we’ll be able to pull it off. But regardless it’s going to be myself and the Band Of Gold doing what we do and we’re there for one reason and one reason only and I say that all the time because it’s true and we have a lot of work to do. We’re not there to have a vacation although it would be nice to have a vacation, I only have one day off and it’s near Byron Bay and that’s it. So I’m stoked, from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney to Brizzie and flying every single day, we’re there for one reason only and that’s just to play these shows and we’re certainly stoked and I speak for the guys when I say that. We’re all just very blessed and honoured to come back down there.
Andrew: It’s great to have you back again and obviously the Band Of Gold album came out a year ago now so how has it been during that time? Have you done a lot of shows and been getting good feedback on the music at all?
John: Yeah and it’s not like we’re Metallica or the Foo Fighters or Queens Of The Stone Age, we’re not a big major act, we’re a small act. We all have full time jobs, two of us are in the restaurant industry, one of us is in the drilling industry, I myself am in the veterinary industry and any chance we get to get a break from that and a break from our normality, our lives of being husbands and fathers, it’s a great break. So we’re very lucky, very honoured, very blessed to be able to still do something like this. This is a fucking giant opportunity for us and to even have 50 people or 250 people or 350 people show up, we appreciate that. This is something that is not taken lightly by any of us, we appreciate that and I certainly do. This is something that is monumental to me regardless of how many people show up, just to go down to your country and play music is an absolute phenomenon for me and something I do not take lately. So again we’re just super stoked and super honoured and super blessed by the big man upstairs to come down there and see your beautiful country and your culture, the wildlife and bring awareness to a lot of things that are going on in the world right now and I’m just stoked to be able to talk about this.
Read review of John Garcia and the Band Of Gold
Andrew: You mentioned being a Vet yourself and I guess you may have an appreciation and a deep insight into the wildlife and how they cope in these tragedies. Do you have any thoughts on that as someone who is an animal lover?
John: Yeah I’m saddened by the billions of animals that have perished in the fires and I’m an animal guy. I help run the most successful animal hospital in Coachella Valley and Palm Springs, I have always done that my entire life. I’m an animal guy, I love animals ever since I was a kid and I should have become a veterinarian but I didn’t make it and now I’m just the doctor’s right hand – I was in surgery the day before yesterday. That’s who I am, I’m an animal guy, I’m a father, a husband, I love my career and I’m just stoked that I can do both really. Play music and help animals in Coachella Valley and Palm Springs and that’s just what I do. Australia is a very unbelievable country when it comes to the wildlife, I mean you guys are known for your wildlife and to see horrific images and they’re played every night in the United States on the local news and national news platforms and it’s disheartening and it’s hard to watch. But there’s one thing about it that you have to know, that global warming is a thing and now I can’t keep politics and global warming on two seperate platforms. They are the platforms and if I can bring awareness to this with music then god damn it I’m going to and I want to and it is my platform, it is something that I want to do.
I’m at the age now, I’m going to be 50 years old this year and it’s time to not keep politics seperate away from music. Whether it be on a low platform or a high platform, just to bring awareness to it. I think it’s important, us and the States and the amount of killings that happens here with the guns and the lobbyists for all the guns, it’s fucking unbelievable and you gotta be out of your god damn mind not to say enough is enough. But our youth is going to make a change and if I can help the youth make that change and put laws in order for environment, for guns, I want to be able to do that and enough is enough. This is new territory for me, this is a new platform for me to go, ‘Alright I’m not going to keep politics and music seperate’. Typically music was always an escape for me to get away from all that shit but now it’s not, now I feel a cometh upon me to start talking about some of these real things to make change to make the world a better place. Because humans are the earth’s parasite, you look at a dog or you look at a cat and sometimes they get round worms, hook worms, whipworms, Giardia, Coccidia, all these internal parasites that can kill an animal if they are completely and totally infected with something like that. And humans are the earth’s parasite and we’re destroying it and earth is a beautiful place and especially Australia, I have a certain affinity in my heart for Australia. I told my wife and said, ‘If I ever have enough money to have a second home someplace, it would be Gold Coast’. Because I love your country so much, it’s just a beautiful country and I love the environment, I love the people, I love the wildlife and it’s just something that’s very important to me and it’s a topic that should not be disregarded anymore especially by me and I’m tired of it and I’m done.
Andrew: Yeah it’s certainly an interesting time and I think the perfect time to do that kind of thing because it does remind me a lot – and obviously I wasn’t around at that time – of what was going around in the 60’s and 70’s where a lot of music and politics kind of intertwined with each other. I’m sure you may or may not relate to that but there is something going around that is a bit of a turning point I think for the entire world.
John: I agree and it’s time and it’s people like you, it’s people like me, it’s people like the Band Of Gold that support Australia, give strength to people who want to do things that are good for the world. You look at Bataclan when Eagles Of Death Metal were playing and Dave Catching was up on stage along with Jesse Hughes and close to a hundred people were killed at that show in Paris and I had played that venue. I’ve been to that venue and I know Dave Catching and I had just seen him the other day and to know that he survived something like that, that is still thriving, it’s an honour to know someone like that and it’s an honour to know that he is still strong and moving forward and moving on with the movement of just ‘Fuck terrorism, fuck global warming’ and we need to do something about it. Again it’s not something that I’ve pushed very hard in the past but now at my age and where it’s at and where we are and for my son and for my daughter, for my grand kids, this is something that is real and it’s happening and I say this overlooking an absolutely beautiful Mojave desert on my deck right now and look at this environment and wanting to keep it the exact same way as we found it and that’s important to me.
Andrew: Yeah absolutely! Well we are stoked to see you back in Australia again, it’s one of those perfect storms so to speak. Looking forward to seeing you down here again and also really appreciate all the kind words you’ve been saying about Australia over the years. Thanks for your time John, really appreciate it and I hope that can do what you can and enjoy what you can while you are here.
John: Thank you very much Andrew, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for the kind words and thanks for taking time out of your day to speak with me, I appreciate it. Thank you!
TOUR DATES
Thursday, January 23: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Friday, January 24: Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Saturday, January 25: Crowbar, Sydney
Sunday, January 26: The Brightside, Brisbane
Tuesday, January 28: Great Northern, Byron Bay
Tickets: www.tickets.destroyalllines.com
