Kyuss

Kyuss Was An Influential Stoner Rock Band, Originally From Palm Desert, California. After Forming In The Late 1980's And Releasing An EP Under The Name Sons Of Kyuss In 1990, The Band Shortened It's Name To Kyuss. Over The Next Five Years The Band Released Four Full-Length Albums Before Splitting Up In 1995. Since Then, Members Of Kyuss Went On To Form Or Feature In Several Notable Bands Including Queens Of The Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Unida, Hermano And Slo Burn.As Sons Of Kyuss (Late 1980's-1990): The Band Formed In The Late 1980's Under The Name Katzenjammer (German For "Hangover") Before Settling On The Name Sons Of Kyuss In 1989. The Name Sons Of Kyuss Was Taken From A Creature Found In The Dungeons And Dragons Role Playing Game. In 1990 The Band Recorded And Released Their Eponymous Debut EP, Sons Of Kyuss, Which Was Their Only Release To Feature Chris Cockrell On Bass. Later That Year, The Band Recruited A New Bassist And Shortened Their Name To Kyuss.Recording as Kyuss (1991-1995) Kyuss' First Line -Up Consisted Of Vocalist John Garcia, Guitarist Joshua Homme, Bassist Nick Oliveri, And Drummer Brant Bjork. The Band Gradually Built A Local Following In Palm Desert, California And Frequently Performed At Parties In And Around The Isolated Towns Of Southern California’s Desert Areas. These Impromtu Shows, Referred To As “Generator Parties”, Consisted Of Small Crowds Of People, Beer Drinking, And The Use Of Gasoline-Powered Generators To Provide Electricity For The Equipment. Homme Commented That Playing In The Desert “Was The Shapin Factor For The Band” Noting That “There’s No Clubs Here, So You Can Only Play For Free. If People Don’t Like You, They’ll Tell You. You Can’t Suck.” The Band Then Signed With Independent Record Label Dali Records, Who Released Their Debut Album, Wretch, In September 1991. Many Of The Songs On The Album Were Re-Recorded Versions Of Those That Appeared On The Sons Of Kyuss EP. Under-Produced And Poorly Financed, Album Sales Were Sluggish Even As Their Live Shows Gained Fame. However, Guitarist Josh Homme Soon Gained A Reputation For His Downtuned, Psychedelic Style Of Guitar Playing, And His Convention Of Playing Electric Guitars Through Bass Guitar Amplifiers To Create A Bass-Heavy Sound. In 1992, The Band, Along With Producer Chris Goss, Began Work On Their Next Album, Blues For The Red Sun. Released In June That Year, The Album Was Critically Hailed And Is Often Regarded As A Pioneering Stoner Rock Record. By The End Of June 1993 They Were Invited To Open Nine Dates For Metallica Touring Australia. After touring In Support Of Blues For The Red Sun, Bassist Nick Oliveri Left The Band And Was Replaced By Scott Reeder. The Band Then Signed With Elektra Records And Released Welcome To Sky Valley In 1994. The Album Received Critical Acclaim And, Musically, Demonstrated A Much Heavier And Psychedelic Sound. However, Personal Problems Soon Tore The Group Apart And Drummer Brant Bjork Left Following A Brief Tour Of The Album, To Be Replaced By Alfredo Hernández. In July 1995, They Released Their Fourth And Final Album, …And The Circus Leaves Town. The Group Decided To Disband In October Of That Year.Post-Break Up (1996-Present) Shortly After The Break Up, Homme And Hernandez Rejoined To Form Queens Of The Stone Age, And Soon Recruited Oliveri As Permanent Bassist. In December 1997, A Transitional EP Was Released, Featuring Three Songs By Kyuss (“Into The Void” (A Black Sabbath Cover), “Fatso Forgetso” And Flip The Phase”) And Three By Queens Of The Stone Age. Hernandez Later Played With Fatso Jetson, Che, And Yawning Man, While Oliveri Later Formed The Band Nick Oliveri And The Mondo Generator, Named After A Kyuss Song. Drummer Brant Bjork Went On To Form The Band Brant Bjork And The Bros And Has Recorded Several Solo Albums. John Garcia Went On To Form Slo Burn, Although The Band Was Short-Lived And Released Only One EP, Amusing The Amazing, Before Disbanding In September 1997. In 1998 He Began Working With The Bands Unida And Hermano, With Each He Has Recorded Two Records. Garcia Is Now Working On A Solo Album. In 2000, A Compilation Album, Muchas Gracias: The Best Of Kyuss, Was Released. The Album Was A Collection Of The Band’s Most Important Singles, But Also Contained B-Sides And Four Songs Recorded Live In 1994.Although The Band Left Behind A Lot Of Rarities, Some Of Them Were Released On Their Best Of Album Muchas Gracias, It Seems Unlikely Any More Will Be Released. Singer John Garcia Told This To Billboard.com In A 2005 Interview: “There Are So Many Untitled Songs That Have Never Been Heard, That I Have Up In My Little Crawl Space Up Above My Bed. I Don't See Those Songs Coming Out Anytime In The Near Future. Everybody's Too Busy To Do Stuff Like That. It's A Job To Go Back And Listen To It, And Then If You Want To Re-Record Them.”In Late 2004, On The Message Board Of QOTSA.com, A Kyuss Fan Asked About The Possibility Of A Reunion. Homme Replied That This Was Unlikely To Happen In The Near Future. However, On December 20, 2005, Garcia Made A Guest Appearance Onstage With Queens Of The Stone Age During The Encore Of Their Set At The Wiltern LG In Los Angeles. They Performed Three Kyuss Songs Together: "Thumb", "Hurricane" And "Supa Scoopa And Mighty Scoop". The Band Has Been Made Numerous Offers To Reform, All Of Which They Have Turned Down: “The Offers Come In All The Time. They're Getting More And More Expensive, And More And More Elaborate. The Money Is Crazy, But I've Never Been Tempted – I Don't Really Care About The Money, I Never Have. That's Not What Kyuss Was About, So To Punctuate The End Of Our Sentence With That Would Be Blasphemy. Kyuss Fans Are So Fuckin' Rad, They're Fuckin' Badass — But To Me, Reunions Are Just Not Necessary. It's Not What It Was, It's What It Is, And Kyuss Was A Really Magical Thing — And If You Weren't There, Well, You Weren't. That's Just The Luck Of The Draw. I Don't Feel The Urge To Do It For Somebody Who Didn't Have The Opportunity To See Us, Or Just Didn't Take The Opportunity To See Us. I'll Let Other Bands Alter Their Great Legacies. Kyuss Has Such A Great History That It Would Be A Total Error. I Like That Nobody Saw Kyuss, And That It Was Largely Misunderstood. That Sounds Like A Legend Forming To Me. I'm Too Proud Of It To Rub My Dick On It. –Josh Homme, May 2007”