ENDED! – Vista Chino (formerly Kyuss Lives!) Meet & Greet / Ticket Giveaway [Seattle]

Win an opportunity to meet Vista Chino [Brant Bjork, John Garcia, Bruno Fevery, and Mike Dean (COC)] and see them play live in Seattle

Contest has ended…


[CLICK HERE to jump directly to contest details]


photo by Joe Gall
photo by Joe Gall

The contest has officially ended and the winner has been contacted.  The winning entry was “Josh Home,” mostly because that answer is so obvious, that I can’t believe that it never even crossed our minds.  Thanks to everyone who entered and be on the look out for more giveaways soon (we’ve been doing quite a lot of them, lately).


In 1987, John Garcia (vocals), Brant Bjork (drums), Josh Homme (guitar), and Chris Cockrell (bass) formed the band Katzenjammer in Palm Desert, Ca with Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age, Moistboyz, Mondo Generator, The Dwarves, Eagles of Death Metal, etc) as a second guitarist.  Oliveri left in ’89 and the quartet changed their name to Sons of Kyuss; he later returned to replace Cockrell on bass, while the band name was shortened simply to Kyuss in 1991.  It was with this formation that Kyuss would truly begin its rise to what would eventually find them credited as pioneers of the stoner rock genre.  Alongside bands like the San Francisco outfit, SLEEP, their sound infused sludgy, doom-laden, grooves with psychedelic-tinged guitar riffs, and heavy pummeling drums, in the vein of forebearers like Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath, differentiating themselves vastly from the majority of other “metal” acts of the time period.

But Kyuss was a reflection and product of their environment–if not an answer/reaction to it–as much as any musical influences that came before them.  With few venues available to them, they would often be forced to play for free, commonly throwing what were referred to as “generator parties.”  With cohorts like Yawning Man, they became notorious for these shows, which were often hallucinogen-fueled gatherings–sometimes involving beer and BBQ–performing for hours as the sun went down behind them in remote areas of their desert communities.  This was the landscape in which “desert rock” was birthed.  Despite coming from a relatively unknown music scene, Kyuss‘ unique sound managed to gain them enough traction and notoriety to find themselves on a nationwide Danzig/White Zombie tour in 1992 and, by the following year, opening for Metallica in Australia.

After the death of his father, in 1992, Oliveri would quit the band and be replaced by Scott Reeder of The Obsessed.  Bjork would ultimately leave as well (replaced by Yawning Man’s Alfredo Hernandez), and, by the group’s official breakup in 1995, Homme and Garcia would be the only original members remaining.  Of course, Homme would go on to form the highly successful Queens of the Stone Age, with the first official QOTSA release coming on a 1997 split EP with Kyuss (featuring songs recorded prior to the dissolution of the band).  Kyuss went on to achieve legendary status and the members went on to be involved in a multitude of various projects, often collaborating with each other, over the years.  In 2010, Garcia, Bjork, and Oliveri recruited guitarist Bruno Fevery to tour playing old Kyuss material under the moniker of Kyuss Lives!Homme had no interest in joining the project.  For the most part, everything was going smooth, until plans to record new material were announced, at which point, Homme and Scott Reeder, who had actually performed as part of the group on a number of tour dates, jointly filed a lawsuit against Kyuss Lives! for “trademark infringement and consumer fraud.”  This did little to slow progress, and Kyuss Lives! simply became Vista Chino.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UU099OGaDQ

With a brand new album, Peace, released last Friday, August 30th on Napalm Records, just two days after scoring “Album of the Week” honors on SPIN.com, the response has already proven to be unbelievable.  Longtime Kyuss fans are discovering that the wait has been well worth it, with the new band name only reflecting their ability to move their sound forward into the future effortlessly, without losing what garnered so much acclaim in the first place, or sounding redundant.  Their first US Tour dates will launch Tuesday, September 10th at El Corazon, right here in Seattle and will feature them playing both new tracks and Kyuss classics.  Thanks to our friends at Mike Thrasher Presents, we are not only offering one reader with the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to catch them live for free, but to win a meet and greet* with the band, as well.


[*While Nick Oliveri does appear on Peace, touring bassist will be the legendary Mike Dean of Corrosion of Conformity fame.]


 

((BUY TICKETS HERE))


garcia bjork

THE CONTEST / GIVEAWAY:

*One winner will receive a pair of tickets to see the following show, and a meet and greet with the headliners:

VISTA CHINO
w/ Witchburn (CD release party)
Black Pussy
Live @ EL Corazon
Seattle, Washington

Sept. 10th, 2013

HOW TO ENTER:

This contest will focus around Kyuss’ penchant for creating tripped out desert music

#1

If you’ve ever ingested a decent amount of hallucinogens and know much about the nature and patterns of humans, there’s a strong possibility that you’ve come to a similar conclusion as the one that I did–and, most likely, endless others have–so many years ago:  “There are specific people out there who could benefit from being dosed up and dropped off somewhere to figure some shit out.”

Your job as the entrant is to think of someone that you feel either deserves and/or needs to have their asses pumped full of hallucinogens and dumped in the desert, looped out of their gourds for a while.  This could be a public figure, or just someone that you know personally.  This could simply be for their benefit, or for all of mankind.  Be as detailed as you want… or don’t.  It’s up to you.

#2

Post your answer in the comment section below.

#3

There is no part 3. That’s all there is to the contest. It’s pretty easy… but you should probably read the fine print.


 

The Fine Print:

Show is 21+.

All entries must be received by Saturday, September 7th at 11:59pm to be eligible.
You can enter as many times as you want, but use a valid email so that we can contact you. If you sign in with Facebook, make sure that your account can accept a message from us. Winner will be chosen arbitrarily, based on our personal “favorite.”

If you are not sure that you will be able to attend the show, do not enter! You’d be surprised how often that shit happens and we don’t want these going to waste.

If we are unable to contact the winner in a reasonable amount of time, a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

4 thoughts on “ENDED! – Vista Chino (formerly Kyuss Lives!) Meet & Greet / Ticket Giveaway [Seattle]

  1. As an advocate of hallucinogens in general, I believe most everyone would benefit from taking a short trip into themselves and (hopefully) experiencing the world around them anew. This sort of reconfiguration and self-evaluation should be a necessary housekeeping for individuals wishing to keep in touch with a child-like sense of awe and wonder regarding the world around them. In the words of Tim Leary, “You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind.”

    But I guess I digress… the question remains: “Who would most benefit from this proposed desert vision quest?”

    She might seem like an easy target, but my proposal is former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin. Not only do I believe that she’s never been to a desert in her entire life, but her recent comments about Syria lead me to believe that some forced consciousness-expansion might be the only cure for her perpetual state of ignorance and horribleness. Then, of course, there’s the likely potential of actual pink elephants being involved as her spirit guides, and the irony-loving sadist in me giggles with an unfathomable glee.

    Although, ultimately, the words of a great doctor of journalism should be heeded:
    “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”

  2. This girl with a dead tooth that works at the mini mart where I buy my smokes need to get dosed up. A desert’s not bad, but maybe a man vs wild scenario would be better. Something’s wrong with her.

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