Stoner, a new band featuring former Kyuss rhythm section Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork, are to feature in a new livestream concert film series coming next year.
The band will perform deep in the heart of the Mojave Desert for the series, which is being presented by the California Desert Wizards Association. The Live In The Mojave Desert sessions will also be released as live albums/DVDs. Other acts featured include Earthless and Nebula.
On the formation of Stoner and playing with his Kyuss pal Nick Oliveri once again Brant Bjork says: "I remember playing Ramones songs with Nick in his mom’s living room in Palm Desert when we were kids. Nick and I have roots that go deep. Together again as the appropriately named Stoner. A testament to our collective and individual dedication to our past, our present and our future Rock n Roll.”
"CDWA once again commits to the ultimate Rock n Roll experience for the fans and the bands regardless of what might stand in the way. Covid literally shut down live performance around the world... what do you do? You use your imagination and you go all in. Congrats to CDWA and all the bands and crew involved in this Rock n Roll response of light in this year of concert stage darkness."
“I think that California Desert Wizards Association is doing a great thing,” says Nick Oliveri, “and a new thing under the circumstances of COVID-19, because what I do for a living stopped cold, dead in its tracks. I feel the powers that be are trying to stop and kill music or live music and I believe Dr. Jones is doing a great thing by keeping it alive. We need more people like him coming forward. Let me add, what a cool original idea - live stream while releasing a live record. For a collector like myself this is a great thing! Big cigars and cold beers to CDWA records. RnR will never die."
Inspired by Pink Floyd's iconic Live At Pompeii film, each of the concert films will be premiered online, and presented in a two-hour long live, hosted program. Some of the biggest desert rock legends will be on set attending and hosting, and the bands themselves will join the stream.
The series schedule runs:
Earthless: Jan 23, 2021
Nebula: Feb 6, 2021
Spirit Mother: Feb 20, 2021
Mountain Tamer: Mar 6, 2021
Stoner: Mar 20, 2021
CDWA's Ryan Jones' says: "This was a major undertaking to bring this many people and this much gear out to a very remote desert location. Including the bands we had 25 people onsite daily. Generators. Meals. Tacos. Burgers. Vegan food. Water. Coffee. Weed, Beer & Booze. Camping gear. Handwashing. Covid prevention plans. Portapots. Stage lights. Liquid light show. Full Sound System. So much cable to bury. Backline. Pro Tools Recording System. Computers. Cameras. Drones. Bands. Backline. Everything that came in had to go out, of course. With only one road in, all of these people and all of this stuff had to come up a half mile long hill of deep desert sand; 30 miles from nowhere. We had to hire local desert guys with huge 4x4 pickups to tow things up, tow things down, shuttle the bands, shuttle their gear, guitars, drums, and occasionally to rescue our vehicles. It was insane, but we did it for the love of the project and we really wanted to see our favourite bands play again!"
For full details and to buy tickets for the event, visit the CDWA website.
