Uncle Jake’s Most Anticipated for

Desert Daze 2018

Well, it’s official. The RR crew is heading to Desert Daze this year. From October 12 to 14, Lake Perris will host a haven for the music loving weirdos of the world and we will be there to bare every detail of this experience we can wrap our heads around. However, there’s a problem. I, personally, want to be there right this second, but Desert Daze is in fact not happening right now. This strange sensation leads to a phenomenon known as anticipation. And with each passing second, this sensation worsens in me. These are the acts that will be making me lose sleep the most in no particular order.

Wand

Since the first time I heard the amazing sounds of Wand, they have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Their music weaves through the decades, gathering influences from bands like Television, This Heat, Radiohead, to even throwing in a dash of Joni Mitchell here and there. As someone who has seen them live numerous times, I can speak from experience when I say this band is absolutely fantastic live. Their extended jams of songs and well put together medleys make for an amazing listen, all fronted by a quirkily charismatic Cory Hanson. Wand are currently supporting their fantastic EP Perfume. If you plan on going to Desert Daze this year, do yourself a favor and just check this band out.

Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats

Rising out from the hazy shadows in Cambridge, Uncle Acid fuses together catchy melodic hooks with grimy Sabbathy riffs to form some of the best stoner metal out there on the market. This band, led by frontman K. R. Starrs, gained a cult following overnight after the release of their stoner metal classic Blood Lust. This album is personally one of my favorite metal albums out there. I can also speak from experience saying this is another band to make sure to see live. Uncle Acid are set to release a new album entitled Wasteland this month.

Kevin Morby

Just because a bunch of premier stoner metal bands will be rocking at all fronts at Desert Daze doesn’t mean relaxation time will be unavailable. Desert Daze wouldn’t do you like that. That’s where Kevin Morby comes in. Morby has been around for a while, being in bands like The Babies and Woods, but really started to showcase his own folk songwriting chops with incredibly solid albums like Singing Saw, City Music, and singles like “Beautiful Strangers” and “Farewell Transmission.” Morby will be smack dab in the middle of the Saturday schedule, which is the perfect placement for him. This will allow Morby to provide a much-needed rest before the anarchy and havoc Saturday headliners King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will most definitely cause. Also, I feel it doesn’t hurt to point out that Morby has a strong reputation for putting on stellar live shows.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Speaking of the devil, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have obtained the much-deserved primetime headliner spot for the festival. Other than having a very fun band name to say out loud, King Gizzard have put out an almost exhausting amount of material since their conception, averaging well over an album a year, with each album being more explorative, creative, and experimental as the last. They’ve fused their zany psych garage rock with microtuning, Eastern music influences, and very unconventional time signatures. Yet, their music is still quite accessible and catchy. This is made clear in songs like Rattlesnake. Personally, I cannot wait to end Saturday night by losing all sanity moshing with thousands of other patrons under the Lake Perris night sky. King Gizzard are currently supporting their 17 million albums released last year. (And yes, all of them are good)

Slowdive

Shoegaze legends Slowdive rose from the dead last year to release their eponymous album. It was their first album in 22 years, and much to my surprise (and probably most people’s surprise), it was good. Like, pretty damn good. They pulled off the miraculous task of producing an album that gives everything that an old fan of Slowdive could ever want while not just regurgitating a generic, uninspired form of themselves. Naturally, I am highly interested to hear how they sound live.

My Bloody Valentine

Speaking of shoegazers, the definitive shoegaze band will also be appearing at Desert Daze. My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 album Loveless is a masterpiece that shook the world and inspired the next several generations of bands. Then, they broke up and disappeared. Then, like apparently all shoegaze bands, they were resurrected in 2013 to release an impressive m b v. This will most likely be one of the only chances for this old chunk of coal to see this monumentally important band which makes me quite excited. Also, seeing as this band has most likely influenced almost every band on the whole Desert Daze bill, it seems only fit to have them close the festival out. In fact, this set has the potential to be the highlight of the whole festival.

Death Grips

On September 14, 2016, I saw Death Grips at The Observatory in Santa Ana. It changed my perception of what a concert is. Their shows are raw, primal, intense, vicious, and scary even. For how seemingly inaccessible their music can be at times, Death Grips attracts from every crowd there is. The punks, the metalheads, the hipsters, the redditers, the old, the young, and everything in between are in attendance at a Death Grips show. Death Grips’s intense performances and eclectic, cult-like crowds will inevitably be something to watch out for. Death Grips are currently supporting their album Year of the Snitch. It’s odd, demented, and strangely satisfying. (i.e. a Death Grips album)

Tame Impala

By far the most popular and well-known band performing is Tame Impala, who are headlining Friday. Seeing Tame Impala in concert is something that has somehow evaded me for a far-too-long amount of time. But not anymore. On October 12, this will be no more. Kevin Parker and crew, you can’t run from me anymore. I will see you live and I will enjoy it all, damnit. I also feel that the placement of putting Tame Impala as the Friday headliner is a very commendable call. Tame Impala are the perfect band to kick start the festival off to a stellar beginning. Another notable thing about Tame Impala playing this festival is that they have not released anything since Currents, which came out in 2015. Could this mean that the fair listeners/spectators of Desert Daze will experience some piping hot and fresh Tame Impala music? Everyone will just have to wait until that fateful night on October 12 to find out.

Ty Segall & White Fence

In 2012, there was an album that came out called Hair. It was released by neo-garage rock titans Ty Segall and White Fence, and to be honest, it has proven to be an opus among the garage rock community to me. This album found a perfect recipe of garage, noise, and abnormal studio experimentation and coated it with solid, strong songwriting. These two musician magicians struck lightning again with Joy, with even more quirkiness and expansions to their sonic palette. I do believe this will be about the only chance I will be able to see these two men perform together ever, so it gives me great joy to have the opportunity to experience this (apologies for the horrid pun).

Sons of Kemet

One saxophone, two drum sets, and a tuba – that’s all Sons of Kemet need to shake down the house with its politically charged modern jazz. Known for their incredibly energizing live performances, I feel that there are going to be a lot of people at Desert Daze that are in for a little surprise whenever Sons of Kemet hits the stage on Friday. Their latest album Your Queen is a Reptile is a monster album that is intense, invigorating, and presented with a sense of urgency. I must urge anyone heading to Desert Daze this year, watch this band and be awed.

King Khan and The Shrines

Blending the spirit and structure of a large ensemble soul band a la James Brown with the attitude and songwriting tendencies of 60’s pop, garage rock, and psychedelic rock, King Khan and The Shrines will make you get up and move your ass in the weirdest way. King Khan fronts this group with his usual eccentric, charismatic flare, adding a surprisingly comical and somewhat ironic side to soul music. Some antics pulled off by King Khan in the past have include frequent wardrobe changes into practically no clothing and having audiences collectively fake orgasms together. I, for one, look forward to fake climaxing with my fellow Desert Daze peers for King Khan and The Shrines.

****

So, these are the artists I look forward to seeing the most, but it does not come even close to covering all the fantastic music that the Desert Daze bill contains. If you still have not checked out the bill yet for some reason, you can do so here.

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And just a little PSA, tickets are going pretty fast, so if you’re contemplating going, just do yourself a favor and go.