Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley: 25 years of stoner rock masterpiece

Needless to say, Kyuss supposes a before and after in the concept of rockbecause they opened a reef from which bands as huge as Queens of the Stone Age, and they promoted a Californian youth that was looking for a sound that represented them beyond the thriving grunge, style that would become mainstream From overnight. Although there are clear similarities between the two styles, the Stoner never managed (nor did he want to) leave the underground more pure. What’s more, when Kyuss they were known worldwide, they left it.

We traveled back to 1994, a quarter of a century back in time. We travel to the bowels of Kyuss by the hand of Welcome to Sky Valley, a seminal album, impressive, perfect.

Four teenagers placed on grass up to the top had in their hands the present and future of the rock of the desert, commonly known as stoner rock, a young tour style. Invented, so to speak, by Across the River -a band that only published a demo-, a band made up of Mario Lalli to vocals and guitar, Scott Reeder to the bass and Alfredo Hernández to the battery. These names may not tell you much, but this Palm Springs trio invented the sound of the rock of the desert. Later fate would reunite Scott already Alfred in which, unfortunately, it was the last work of Kyuss. But we continue our way, without deviating.

The previous break

His previous work, titled Blues for the Red Sun (1992), it was a punch in the jaw of the rock. Despite selling only about 40,000 copies, the legend of Kyuss they grew up and were talked about almost everywhere in the world. But they were very young, they were close to 20 years old, and they wanted to rock out without thinking about the record contracts and those adult things.

After the unexpected jump to fame, the band decided to get a little more serious and they needed a small line-up for this. While Nick Oliveri, the original bassist, possessed amazing abilities on all four strings, his insanity was hard to get along with seriousness. On a tour with the seminal band The Obsessed, the incorporation of the then bassist of the band doom, Scott Reeder. Josh Homme offered the position to Scott without consulting with John and Brant, and without having yet fired Nick; that was how complicated adolescence was in Kyuss. John supported the idea of Josh, and Brant It was not complicated, because it was fan of Scott and his stage in Across the River.

This is how the first change in the formation of Kyuss, and would not be the only one. Brant was not happy with Josh, Josh was not happy with Brant. A battle of cocks was sensed in the corral.

The recording

Once they got into the studios Sound City they rehire as a producer to Chris Goss, a great success. Joe Barresi was in charge of the mixes and engineering, Eddy Schreyer of mastering and Alex Solca of photography.

The entire process slowed down due to an unexpected call with an invitation that no one expected: Metallica wanted to Kyuss open the shows from his already scheduled Australian tour, almost nothing. In addition, the filial seal Dali Records sold the rights to its main label Chameleon Records, with whom they agreed six albums. To put you in context, incredible what he said Josh about: “We were 19 years old, we signed with Chamaleon for six records when he had dropped out of school a week ago”. Pure adolescence.

After several days rehearsing at the parents of Josh, the band entered the studios and in 23 days they left the album ready.

Inside war

I was commenting Brant Bjork than “We recorded Blues and turned almost non-stop until the recording of Sky Valley. We were very young, stupid, we drank a lot and spent much of our time in high gear. When we re-entered the study I was already exhausted. We didn’t get along. ”

Despite the incredible work of Scott Reeder, the loss of Nick It was a turning point in the band. What was once a team effort was becoming a Josh & friends. The creative ability of Brant it was still intact but Josh he did not pay attention to his ideas, to his compositions. Little by little the drummer was losing Kyuss and Kyuss was losing, piece by piece, to Brant Bjork. Nothing would be the same again …

He commented the good of Brant than Josh distanced himself. We no longer shared rehearsals, riffs, or created together anymore. She started working with Scott. “ His ideas were not even valued, “How does a drummer convince a guitar to play his song? I stopped participating in the composition. I do not want that.” Brant years later when he stated that one of the reasons for his departure was that he could not bear Scott nor his wife. After publishing the album, Brant Bjork abandonment Kyuss.

The disc

Welcome to Sky Valley It is surely the album that best defines the sound of the desert. We are, if you have any doubts, in front of a masterpiece. Its short-term impact was as great as it is still 25 years later. Anyone who enjoys stoner / desert rock He has his Holy Grail on this album.

In it we find ten songs in just over 50 minutes. We also find the most mythical cover of the rock from the desert, a timeless cover that serves as an invitation, something like:

“Enter Sky Valley, here you will find everything you are looking for …”

The album is recorded with the three musicians playing live false and with the voices of John overlapping on top of the themes. Risky, but effective, the effect of placing the voices of John on the music it took away some clarity from the lyrics. The themes were pure music, they transmitted aridity, they breathed desert.

Despite being an album of independent cuts, the band experienced it as a concept album, not for aesthetics or lyrics, but for the sentiment imprinted on it. Living near Sky valley and being able to sing and compose about it, it was like pouring the feelings on the melodies.

Here we find monumental cuts such as “Gardenia”, the theme that opens the album, a heavy theme that addresses one of the most used themes in the stoner rock: cars, motorcycles, gasoline. While the letters in Sky valley They are the best to date, there are still songs with totally bland lyrics. such as “Demon Cleaner”, which tries to brush your teeth in a metaphor. “100 Degrees” is quite literal; that pleasant temperature of the area in which they reside.

Another huge topic is “Asteroid” with its almost five minutes of orgasm. Stoner, or “Whitewater”, the theme with which Brant Bjork leaves the band, an impeccable song of almost nine minutes long. It is the song that closes the album and closes a stage, the largest of the stoner rock.

Beto Lagarda

… metal in all its extensions … the rest is saying