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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))