The Desert Sessions

The Desert Sessions
Origin	Palm Desert, California, USA
Genres	Stoner rock, hard rock, desert rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Rekords Rekords Man's Ruin Records Southern Lord Records Ipecac Recordings
Associated acts	Kyuss Queens of the Stone Age earthlings? Masters of Reality Eagles of Death Metal Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator
Website	www.desertsessions.com

The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jeordie White (a.k.a. Twiggy Ramirez), Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, John McBain, Ben Shepherd, Josh Freese, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Troy Van Leeuwen, Karl Doyle, Dean Ween and many others from the Palm Desert scene have contributed as songwriters and musicians.

History

The Desert Sessions began in August 1997 at the Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree when Homme brought together musicians from the bands Monster Magnet, Goatsnake, earthlings?, Kyuss (his own band, which had split in 1995) and Soundgarden.^{[citation needed]} The ranch is an old house filled to the brim with rare and unique recording equipment and instruments and was owned by Dave Catching and the late Fred Drake. Songs are written "on the spot", and in matters of hours. Many stories have grown around the Sessions. For example, the song "Creosote" from Volumes 9 & 10 was written by Dean Ween and Alain Johannes on the ranch's front porch within four minutes of meeting each other.^{[citation needed]} Similarly, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey wrote the song "There Will Never Be A Better Time" for I See You Hearin' Me after going out onto the porch of the ranch for four minutes with an acoustic guitar; they re-entered the house and recorded the song in one take, the only time the song was ever played by the collective.^[1]

The first Desert Session was not actually a "session" per se, but Homme and his band at the time (The Acquitted Felons) playing for three days straight on psychedelic mushrooms.^{[citation needed]} Since then, the Desert Sessions have become legendary, growing in intensity and artistic merit.^[1]

“

At Desert Sessions, you play for the sake of music. That’s why it’s good for musicians. If someday that’s not enough anymore, or that’s not the reason behind you doing it--that’s not your raison d’être--then a quick reminder like Desert Sessions can do so much for you, it’s amazing. It’s easy to forget that this all starts from playing in your garage and loving it. - Josh Homme

”

Current status

“

There's nothing going on [now]. I wish, but I've run out of time. I'm talking to this one guy about adding four more hours to each day, but he's not real positive about it. Those are never going to end, because there's no reason for them to end. But I'd like to make them more regular. --Josh Homme interview with Billboard.com, April 13, 2007[2]

”

“

The Desert Sessions are gonna go on forever. There's no reason to stop them. No, it wasn't me that said there would be only 12 volumes — I'm gonna do 112! It's just a mix tape — the longest-running mix tape in existence. It's awesome: doing them is just a matter of making the time frame come together. I was really wanting to do one before the new album "Era Vulgaris" came out, but we didn't put a time frame on it and it consumed what would have been that time. I didn't want it to take away from what we were doing. --Josh Homme in May 2007 as recorded by Blabbermouth.net.[3]

”

In a 2007 interview with Rockline, Homme stated that he was going to be working on a new Desert Sessions album in December 2007, and the first ten will be re-released as a box set.^[4]

Discography

Original 10" vinyl releases

Title	Year	Label
Volume 1: Instrumental Driving Music For Felons	1997	Man's Ruin
Volume 2: Status: Ships Commander Butchered
Volume 3: Set Coordinates For The White Dwarf!!!	1998
Volume 4: Hard Walls and Little Trips
Volume 5: Poetry for the Masses (SeaShedShitheadByTheSheSore)	1999
Volume 6: Black Anvil Ego
Volume 7: Gypsy Marches	2001	Southern Lord/Rekords Rekords
Volume 8: Can You See Under My Thumb? There You Are.
Volume 9: I See You Hearin' Me	2003
Volume 10: I Heart Disco

Compact disc compilations

Title	Year	Label
Volumes 1 & 2	1998	Man's Ruin
Volumes 3 & 4
Volumes 5 & 6	1999
Volumes 7 & 8	2001	Southern Lord/Rekords Rekords
Volumes 9 & 10	2003

In November 2005, RekordsRekords announced that Desert Sessions Volume 1 through to 6 would be reprinted and available by 2006 on both vinyl and CD, though this never came to fruition. Instead, the remaining original copies of the Man Ruin's releases were put on sale in the official RekordsRekords shop in April 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Collaborating artists

Member	Associated acts	1 & 2	3 & 4	5 & 6	7 & 8	9 & 10
Josh Homme	Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, Screaming Trees, Them Crooked Vultures	X	X	X	X	X
Fred Drake	earthlings?, Ministry of Fools	X	X	X	X
Dave Catching	Queens of the Stone Age, earthlings?, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal, Yellow #5, Goon Moon, Peaches	X	X	X		X
Brant Bjork	Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Brant Bjork & The Bros, Fatso Jetson, Mondo Generator, Yellow #5,	X		X
Alfredo Hernández	Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Orquesta del Desierto, Yawning Man, Across The River	X	X
Pete Stahl	Scream, Wool, Goatsnake, earthlings?, Orquesta del Desierto	X	X
Ben Shepherd	Soundgarden, Hater, Wellwater Conspiracy	X	X
John McBain	Monster Magnet, Hater, Wellwater Conspiracy	X	X
Nick Oliveri	Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, The Dwarves, Mondo Generator, Masters of Reality		X	X
Mario Lalli	Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, Across The River		X	X
Larry Lalli	Fatso Jetson		X
Jesse Hughes	Eagles of Death Metal		X
Craig Armstrong			X
Loo Balls			X
T. Fresh			X
Blag Dahlia	The Dwarves			X
Gene Trautmann	Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal			X
Barrett Martin	Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age			X
Adam Maples	earthlings?			X
Teddy Quinn	Dig Your Own Cactus, Ministry of Fools			X
Tony Mason	Dig Your Own Cactus			X
Chris Goss	Masters of Reality, Goon Moon				X	X
Alain Johannes	Eleven, Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures (live)				X	X
Natasha Shneider	Eleven, Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age				X
Mark Lanegan	Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age, The Twilight Singers, The Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell				X
Brendon McNichol	Rattlebone, Masters of Reality, Queens of the Stone Age				X
Samantha Maloney	Hole, Mötley Crüe, Eagles of Death Metal, Peaches				X
Nick Eldorado	LIKEHELL				X
PJ Harvey	PJ Harvey					X
Troy Van Leeuwen	Failure, A Perfect Circle, Enemy, Queens of the Stone Age					X
Joey Castillo	Zilch, Wasted Youth, Danzig, Goatsnake, Sugartooth, Queens of the Stone Age					X
Dean Ween	Ween, Moistboyz					X
Josh Freese	The Vandals, Devo, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails					X
Jeordie White	Nine Inch Nails, Goon Moon, A Perfect Circle, Marilyn Manson					X
Brian O'Connor	Eagles of Death Metal					X
Barry Conley	aliens that ate hollywood			X
Chris Laine	aliens that ate hollywood			X

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Blandford, James (2004). PJ Harvey: Siren Rising. London: Omnibus Press. p. 153. ISBN 1844494330. 
2. ^ Reznor Guest Spot Adds Mystery To QOTSA Album, Billboard.com, April 13, 2007
3. ^ "Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme Rules Out KYUSS Reunion". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-05-08. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=72065. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 
4. ^ Coburn, Bob; Josh Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (2007-07-30). "Queens new material" (radio interview). Rockline radio. http://www.rocklineradio.com/modules/mod_mp3player_files/mp3/QOTSA.mp3. Retrieved 2007-08-01. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Desert Sessions Official site
• Desert Sessions at Allmusic
• Rekords Rekords Official site