Filling The Void

It's probably fair to say that John Garcia is as close as it's possible to get to stoner rock royalty. Frontman of the legendary Kyuss from high school through to his mid-20s, he went on to form the underrated Slo Burn in 1996, and then the equally strong Unida in 1998. All three bands plied quintessential desert rock – thick, languid, hypnotic riffs combined with low-end tones, strange tunings and an often monolithic rhythm section – but the real uniting aspect was Garcia's distinctive, honeyed vocals, his voice seeming to glide over the mayhem below it with nary a care in the world.

In the last decade or so stoner rock – once a cult concern – has reached massive new heights of popularity, largely due to the success of former Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme's outfit Queens Of The Stone Age. That in turn brought attention back to the pivotal role that Garcia played in the genre's development, so of late he's been revisiting the Palm Desert of his youth, first touring with Kyuss Lives! (a reformed version of the iconic outfit, without Homme's involvement, which recently morphed into Vista Chino following protracted legal unease) and now with the resurrection of the powerhouse Unida.

“I think it did take its own course,” Garcia reflects on his initial agenda for Unida. “Unida versus Kyuss are two totally different animals with two totally different vibes, and two totally different types of energy. I think that Kyuss is more of a laxed-out type of vibe, when Unida is a little bit more uppity. There's no favouritism at all when it comes to the two bands, and there's an awesome amount of mutual respect when it comes to the type of music that the bands play. But again, I think there's a lot of different energy with Unida and how it came to be.

“Everybody in the desert... When you come from a small town, everybody who knows anything about music has a certain kinship and there's a certain camaraderie amongst the musicians. We all knew who each other were – we all knew of each other and we all knew what everybody did back in the desert – and I tend to be in awe of how it's perceived on the outside, when really it's just a bunch of small town musicians knowing who the music heads are. I don't care who you are or where you are, necessity is what it comes down to – and that's what it came down to. There was a void that needed to be filled – a huge hole that needed to be filled – and it was a necessity for some kids to fill that hole, and that's all it really was.

“Some of the other Kyuss band members might disagree with me, or have some long fucking drawn-out long-winded answer – but it's as simple as that for the singer of Kyuss and the singer of Vista Chino and the singer of Unida. It's not something that's overthought, it's not something that needs to be sat down and over-fucking-analysed – all it really was for a bunch of kids was just a necessity.”

The softly-spoken Garcia seems almost evangelical when discussing this time, as if the purity of the music was sacrosanct. “It was, it really was,” he concurs. “It was totally pure, and I guess that whether you're in the south of London or the suburbs of Brisbane, when you're super-hungry you're going to go hunting for something, and we were hunting. And we found it and we fed it. We nurtured that hunger, and Kyuss and Unida is the animal that we hunted, and we're still hunting. It's a good thing.”

As well as releasing one strong album, 1999's Coping With The Urban Coyote, Unida were renowned as a great live act, and Garcia seems stoked to be getting back onstage with the band. “I know that I certainly still enjoy getting up onstage and performing, and the minute that it becomes mechanical and redundant I'll stop doing it, but until then I certainly enjoy getting up there and doing what we do,” he reflects. “The plight is not self-indulgence, the plight is again filling a void and the plight is still being able to at my age – at 42 years old – being able to do it, and doing it while still being a responsible father and a responsible husband to my family back at home. So all of it really has to make sense for this to happen, and anytime we're able to do something like this – whether it be with Brant Bjork or Nick Oliveri or Arthur Seay or Mike Cancino – and it still makes sense, then I'm the first one to say, 'Yeah, let's do it!', because it's not very often that I'm able to do something like this.

“I'm so appreciative that I still get to do this, and people don't get that – there's an appreciation level that people just don't get. That I'm very fortunate, and I realise that I'm able to have an unbelievable [family] that allow me to do this, and an unbelievable relationship with my band members that allows me to do this, and once you lose that appreciation you can't [do it], and if that happens you're fucked! I don't give a fat rat's ass about what people think of me. I'm just grateful that I'm still able to do this, and still able to be a good father and a good husband and a family man – that's what's important. I don't give a fuck, I'm not here to make any friends – I can count my friends on my right hand – and it doesn't make a difference to me. What makes a difference is what bait I'm going to use with my son when I go fishing with him next weekend. That's important, the other shit is secondary.”

Excitingly it's not all about revivalism for Garcia, with Vista Chino finally working on new material, and Aussie fans in particular have reason to feel excited. 

“For Vista Chino I go in on Thursday to finish up the vocals – I'm almost done,” the singer reveals. “What I'm really, really excited about is that Australia is getting something that is different to the rest of the world. Brant Bjork and I, as well as Bruno Fevery, we all share that certain affinity for Australia, so the rest of the world is going to get the Vista Chino record, and Australia will also get the Vista Chino record but it will also get some rarities stuff that won't be available in north America or anywhere else. It's just a couple of songs and some other lyrics and other artwork that no one else gets, we're really excited. Hopefully it will be out by the end of this year in Australia – it will be out earlier in the States, but for the Aussies we're going to hold tight and make it something special.”

Unida will be playing the following dates:

Sunday 5 May - Cherry Rock, Cherry Bar, Melbourne VIC
Thursday 9 May - The Rosemount, Perth WA
Friday 10 May - Manning Bar, Sydney NSW
Saturday 11 May - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 12 May - Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 18 May - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD