John Garcia And The Band Of Gold
John Garcia And The Band Of Gold
Napalm Records
2019
Former Kyuss singer, John Garcia, caused a bit of a steer, even concern with some comments he made in an interview about being a bit fed up with the whole scene and music at this point. For all one knows, it could be a publicity stunt, a misquoting of what he said taken out of context, or the reality.
This album stays pretty true to the style of Garcia’s past (Kyuss, Slow Burn, Unida, Hermano) delivering just what you’d expect from him.
Opener “Space Vato” is an instrumental, at first pretty spaced out, but progressively noisier and among the heavier things that’s could be found in a recent album which involves the erstwhile chico.
“Jim’s Whiskers” has a nasty riff and a heavy groove that make it roll along nicely while, the delicious “Chicken Delight” has him sighing like it’s 1995… all over again.
“Kentucky II” feels like someone ‘verbed the fuck off a Hendrix lost tune. Nothin’ bad with that.
“My Everything” is a bit paradoxical… heavy as fuck, but smooth as butter otherwise and overflowing with love.
“Lilianna” again has a strong riff, but smoothens and lightens out a bit, trying to almost be a hit. And it doesn’t miss.
“Pop Corn” (Hit Me When You Can)” owes to both its heavy riff as well as Garcia’s channeling of Robert Plant in his own way.
“Apache Junction” offers more of the thick as molasses riffing and a vocal that’s at times reminded me a bit of 70s Meine at his most throaty…
“Don’t Even Think About It” is fuzzier than a furry ball, with tons of wah and very Kyuss-like.
“Cheyletiella” opens with a nice riff and percussion that sets it apart from the rest of the album, but just decides to drift into deep desert territory, slowing down and making things along the way, until it comes full circle in the end.
“Softer Side” does what it says on the tin, as it psychs and cools things down to a near halt, think Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” only even more soft… almost like a shorter version of the Door’s epic “Riders on the Storm”… it does get a bit antsy and explosive for about twenty second, but quickly dies out and fades away.
While, I’m not a huge fan of the whole stoner/desert style, almost always preferring the original 60s/70s heavy/psych/prog material from either side of the Atlantic, this album does touch and build on that inheritance with such authenticity and authority that I enjoyed it more than I expected. Cool, I guess.
This album stays pretty true to the style of Garcia’s past (Kyuss, Slow Burn, Unida, Hermano) delivering just what you’d expect from him.
Opener “Space Vato” is an instrumental, at first pretty spaced out, but progressively noisier and among the heavier things that’s could be found in a recent album which involves the erstwhile chico.
“Jim’s Whiskers” has a nasty riff and a heavy groove that make it roll along nicely while, the delicious “Chicken Delight” has him sighing like it’s 1995… all over again.
“Kentucky II” feels like someone ‘verbed the fuck off a Hendrix lost tune. Nothin’ bad with that.
“My Everything” is a bit paradoxical… heavy as fuck, but smooth as butter otherwise and overflowing with love.
“Lilianna” again has a strong riff, but smoothens and lightens out a bit, trying to almost be a hit. And it doesn’t miss.
“Pop Corn” (Hit Me When You Can)” owes to both its heavy riff as well as Garcia’s channeling of Robert Plant in his own way.
“Apache Junction” offers more of the thick as molasses riffing and a vocal that’s at times reminded me a bit of 70s Meine at his most throaty…
“Don’t Even Think About It” is fuzzier than a furry ball, with tons of wah and very Kyuss-like.
“Cheyletiella” opens with a nice riff and percussion that sets it apart from the rest of the album, but just decides to drift into deep desert territory, slowing down and making things along the way, until it comes full circle in the end.
“Softer Side” does what it says on the tin, as it psychs and cools things down to a near halt, think Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” only even more soft… almost like a shorter version of the Door’s epic “Riders on the Storm”… it does get a bit antsy and explosive for about twenty second, but quickly dies out and fades away.
While, I’m not a huge fan of the whole stoner/desert style, almost always preferring the original 60s/70s heavy/psych/prog material from either side of the Atlantic, this album does touch and build on that inheritance with such authenticity and authority that I enjoyed it more than I expected. Cool, I guess.