The high desert is getting a new music festival, but the most notable artist on the lineup is rooted in the low desert.
Palm Springs resident John Garcia, a founding member of desert rock band Kyuss, is scheduled to perform on the second night of the new Mojave Experience festival — and it won’t just be another local show. He’ll be performing at an event that celebrates the desert-born sound that has resonated around the world.
The Mojave Experience will take place on Friday, March 20 at Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley and Saturday, March 21 at Joshua Tree Lake RV & Campground, and it will also feature local musicians Mario Lalli and The Rubber Snake Charmers — who will play with Throw Rag frontman Sean Wheeler — as well as former Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri and La Quinta band Yawning Man.
The lineup also includes rock bands Earthless (San Diego), Dead Meadow (Washington, D.C.), Acid King (San Francisco), and Hippie Death Cult (Portland), among others.
Garcia’s bassist, Billy Cordell, was approached by festival founder Patrick Brink about booking him for Mojave Festival. It was a quick yes, even though Garcia isn’t performing as a headliner and his set is only 40 minutes long. Garcia described the festival and its venue, which also hosts the Joshua Tree Music Festival, as a “cool environment.”
“It’s a perfect opportunity to test out new material,” Garcia said. “It’s great not to have the headlining spot and that kind of pressure. I get to relax and see some music afterwards. The weather should be nice, there’s a lot of great heavy bands, and Nick Oliveri from Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age is going to be there. It’s really something to see him play acoustic live, he brings it, and he’s got that aura.”
Brink, a Twentynine Palms native, said that after living in Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, and Orange County, the high desert always draws him back, and that after 20 years in the desert, he created the festival for people to both experience the area and its music scene.
“There are things out here you can’t see elsewhere. The rock formations in the Joshua Tree National Park, and we have art installations if you drive down the street. There’s a lot to offer, and it’s growing in art and music. People are coming out here to be inspired, and it’s always been like that,” Brink said.
When The Mojave Experience was announced in December, Brink said the response was overwhelming. The first night sold out immediately, and he’s expecting 1,000 attendees at Joshua Tree Lake RV & Campground from not only the U.S., but from Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and parts of Europe.
He’s already planning next year’s festival to be bigger, and both days will be hosted at the Joshua Tree Lake RV & Campground.
Brink said desert rock will always be a “staple” in future Mojave Experience lineups, but he wants to ultimately feature an eclectic blend for festivalgoers.
“I want to model it after Levitation (in Austin) and the early Coachella festivals, and we’ll definitely branch out,” said Brink.
Desert rock’s origins began with generator parties
In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, there was a lack of venues for local bands to perform. The desert rock scene built itself on house shows and generator parties, many organized by Lalli, where bands such as Kyuss, Unsound, Fatso Jetson, and others would perform.
“(The festival) speaks to all of that,” said Garcia. “I was sneaking out of my bedroom on Avenida Herrera in La Quinta and going down to the Chihuahua house and seeing some of these house parties that Mario used to put on, and going from that to where we are now, and having it be legit, it’s really cool. Mario is the godfather of it all. He’s kind of the unofficial official guy who started it all.”
Unlike the “generator parties” during the late ‘80s through the ‘90s when desert rock bands would perform outdoor concerts in remote desert locations powered by generators, The Mojave Experience is a legally permitted festival with merchandise booths, vendors, on-site camping at the Joshua Tree Lake RV and Campsite, and sponsors such as Cactus Mart in Morongo Valley, The Joshua Tree National Park Association, 93.7 KCLB and more.
Brink said one of the first sponsors he reached out to was The Joshua Tree National Park Association, and a representative will speak during the second day of the festival about the park and local area, and how festivalgoers and the local community can support the organization.
“I want people who are coming here to learn about the community, enjoy what we have, but also have conservation in mind when they’re out here,” said Brink.
Nicole Holland, owner of Cactus Mart, said her love for the desert rock genre of music and longtime friendships with Lalli, Wheeler, Garcia, and others on the lineup made her throw support behind the festival. She added that when events like Mojave Experience have local vendors and local sponsorship in the high desert, it “helps to pay it back.”
“This is their passion, and my passion is tourism, helping guide things through and helping to support our local communities as much as I can,” said Holland.
There’s more appreciation for desert rock in Europe
Several festivals in Europe showcase desert rock bands, including Desertfest. In May 2026, Desertfest will host festivals in London, Belgium, and Oslo. Additionally, New York and Antwerp will have festivals in the fall. Although there have been some local festivals in the past, such as the Desert Generator and Stoned and Dusted festivals during the 2010s, very few others have emerged since then.
There are also bands in Europe that have been inspired by desert rock bands and what is also known as stoner rock, such as the Swedish band Truckfighters, the German band Samvayo, the British band Desert Storm, and more.
Before Kyuss broke up in 1995, the band’s seven-year history included touring with White Zombie multiple times from 1992 to 1995, opening for Metallica on their 1993 Australian tour, and touring in Europe with Soundgarden in 1995. Even though Kyuss and desert rock has a fan base, the band had a better reception and crowd response in Europe than the U.S.
Garcia said that when bassist Scott Reeder joined Kyuss, he always insisted that they tour in Europe. The band didn’t understand why, but when they finally did, Garcia said the crowds “embraced” Kyuss.
“When we played in Germany for the first time, I didn’t know what to expect,“ Garcia recalled. We came out on stage, and I think we were in Cologne, we opened with ‘Thumb,’ I started singing, and I could not hear myself sing because the crowd was singing louder than me at such full force. Maybe 1,000 kids singing word for word, or what they thought was word for word.”
Garcia said that he will be touring in Europe for the first time in many years, and even though he’s performing in venues with smaller capacities of 500-700 people, the shows are sold out. Garcia didn’t compare Kyuss or himself to The Beatles, but thinking about the reception The Beatles received in the U.S. in 1964, he said the excitement of a band from overseas captivating a different country shows American audiences are “hungry for something they’ve never seen or heard before.”
“Why is it so much more popular over there than it is over here? I never could answer that question. I do well, and I’m still selling out shows over there,” Garcia said. “What a trip it is to go over there with the incredible reception that we get. And then I play in Salt Lake City four months ago, and there were 25 people there. …My booking agent is like, ‘You’re the singer for Kyuss!’ and I’m like ‘I’ll play anywhere you want to book me. I’ll play in front of five people, 500 people and 50,000 people. And I’ve done it all.’ It’s still fun for me, I genuinely love being on stage, but what causes (Europeans) to be more welcoming and receptive to this type of music? I don’t know.”
The four new songs that Garcia will perform at Mojave Experience have a theme: his 16-year-old son Marshall, a student at Xavier College Preparatory High School, who is on the Varsity Water Polo team and Junior Varsity Soccer Team.
“It’s heavy, it’s mean, it’s melodic and it’s inspired by Marshall,“ Garcia said. “He doesn’t know it at all, but he’s a great muse. And to be able to sing about how he inspires me, to share that with the crowd, and have such great musicians backing me behind that, it’s something that I look forward to. I can’t wait to play some of this new stuff.”
He added that his day job these days is a veterinary technician, so Marshall receives financial aid to attend Xavier.
“There’s a big difference between a veterinary technician salary and a veterinarian salary, and it’s great to do some of this stuff to put Marshall through a good school and give him opportunities that I didn’t have as a kid,” Garcia said.
If you go
What: Mojave Experience music festival
When: Friday, March 20 is sold out, but passes remain for Saturday, March 21
Where: Joshua Tree Lake RV & Campground, 2601 Sunfair Road, Joshua Tree
Cost: $79.80
More info: mojaveexperience.net
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: New Mojave Experience festival in Joshua Tree keeps desert rock alive
Reporting by Brian Blueskye, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
