Garcia looks fit and healthy as we sit on one of those vinyl couches for our 15-minute chat. He speaks with an intense directness, yet his eyes project a measured gentleness and serenity as we talk about his music, his home world of Palm Desert, California (home of the definitive “stoner rock” sound), the resurrection of his band Unida, who will be performing at the 7th annual CherryRock Festival this weekend, and the fact that the moniker Kyuss Lives! will no longer be used, seeing as how former Kyuss bandmate (and now figurehead of Queens Of The Stone Age) Josh Homme launched a lawsuit to stop them from using it.
“It’s a fucking nightmare, really,” he admits when asked about the latter issue. “Honestly, it’s just a bunch of high school bullshit. I’m not into that! I’m concerned about what fish and bait I’m using with my kids when I hang out with my family, but regardless – we’re changing the name. [Josh] sued us. We could have fought it, all the way to the fucking Supreme Court, but it’s like you know what? How much money do most of these cases cost? I don’t have that kind of fucking coin!”
It doesn’t matter too much to Garcia, anyway – he and his mates in Kyuss Lives! have moved on and are starting a new band called Vista Chino, and, Garcia informs me, they’ll be releasing a new album in August or September of this year. “We’ll still be playing all the [Kyuss] songs – it’s my God-given right to sing any Kyuss song the way I want to sing it, and I plan to do so!”
Aussie fans of his offshoot Unida should be excited as Garcia brings his buddies Arthur and Owen Seay (guitar and bass) and Miguel “Mike” Cancino (drums) Down Under for the first time.
Born in 1999 out of the dissolution of Kyuss in 1996, Unida exemplified the stoner rock sound – droning guitars, intense drums, and a distinct heaviness in its delivery of music that, yes, one could certainly get stoned to. Their debut record Coping With The Urban Coyote was released to good reviews, but unfortunately the follow-up, 2001’s The Great Divide, got bogged down in inter-label dramas and – at the time of this writing – has never seen the light of day.
Sanguine as ever, Garcia bears no ill will towards American Records or Def Jam – it’s just part and parcel of working in the industry. “When you’re in the music business,” he declares, “sometimes deals go through, and sometimes deals go bad. That’s by no fault of anybody. I don’t think [Rick Ruben] was out to fuck us or anything like that. I saw a t-shirt not too long ago, and it read, ‘Welcome to the music business – you’re pretty much fucked!’ And sometimes it’s true!”
But certainly it sucks that the label won’t let you buy the record back? “It is what it is,” he says simply. “We spent $350,000 on that record, and they wanted to sell it back to us at a fraction of the price – it’s not that horrible of a deal, but I just don’t have $125,000 laying around in my back pocket!
“Now, I’ve got two kids, and for a father and a family man like me – when you’re a family man, you live a pretty simple life, and [your family] is the number one priority. And so, when the time comes, I would love to be able to talk to [the label] again … and that’s going to happen. That’s a personal project of mine, to have that record see the light of day.”
When Garcia says this, there is no doubt in my mind that it’s going to happen sooner or later. But for now, he grins wildly when the subject of CherryRock 2013 comes up, and he’s super chuffed about bringing Unida down to Oz for the first time in the band’s life. “I am so excited about this!” he smiles. “I can’t wait! I have a certain special place in my heart for Australia … it’s just a different vibe over here, and I really appreciate it.
“And Unida? We’re a no-frills rock band, and I think [the show’s] going to be exactly that!” He gestures with his arms, taking in the entirety of the surrounding Cherry Bar. “And we’re playing at this legendary place, to be at this bar, down this little lane, and that makes it that much more special. And now I can check this off my list!”
BY THOMAS BAILEY
