Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 937 - Patrick Brink (Volume) on Launching The Mojave Experience Festival
Transcript
- 0:00No, it's definitely something that's been a long time coming
- 0:03and I hope this is a a long time series of festivals, you know,
- 0:07for a long time. I think that community needs it.
- 0:10I think people love the idea and the myth of the desert and they
- 0:15want to come out and enjoy the bands that were a big part of it
- 0:18and the new bands that you know, aren't inspired by it.
- 0:20So it's just like the perfect timing, like, you know, the the
- 0:23perfect storm, it's the perfect time for it.
- 0:31What's up everybody? It's Kefi at ghostcultman.com.
- 0:35I am super stoked to be joined finally in person, sort of by
- 0:39Patrick Brake of Volume. Also the Booker of the Mojave
- 0:42Experience, the founder and Booker and everything else.
- 0:46Patrick, how the hell are you? Man, I'm doing great.
- 0:47Just busy running around like a chicken without a head trying
- 0:51to, you know, get this festival going.
- 0:53But also I got a day job and trying to balance all that.
- 0:56So, you know, like everyone else, busy.
- 0:58I don't know if you ever this is a random reference.
- 1:01I don't know if you ever saw the 80s movie Broadcast News with
- 1:04Albert Brooks, and so this was shown to I.
- 1:06Haven't. This was shown to us in
- 1:08journalism school and like, you know, television used to be all
- 1:12on Betamax. That's why like how Betamax let
- 1:14like survive getting annihilated by VHS is the television and
- 1:18movie industry use Betamax a lot.
- 1:20So like the first scene of the movie?
- 1:21Is about that. Yeah, there's a guy running down
- 1:24a hallway. I'll use my little speaker as a
- 1:26as an example, the guy running down a hallway with a tape and
- 1:29he literally puts the tape in. And now it's 11:00 and it's time
- 1:32for the news. And it's literally like by the
- 1:34skin of your teeth and the seat of your pants.
- 1:36So as a journalist and played in bands for a long time, you know,
- 1:40I certainly understand the how hard it is to put on a festival
- 1:43or any show actually. So, you know, First things
- 1:47first, let's dial it back. Like obviously, you know, volume
- 1:49kicks ass and you've been around a long time.
- 1:51You're from the area, the high, high desert area.
- 1:54And there is the desert scene with more loved and and
- 1:58respected day by day. I think the Reddit just
- 2:01discovered like Stoner rock and psychedelic rock and do metal
- 2:04like in the last couple of years.
- 2:06So a whole new generation of kids are coming on.
- 2:08But like, this is something. Yeah.
- 2:10I don't think anybody has really tried to do something this well
- 2:13organized before in the area that I know of, other than the
- 2:16old generator shows. Yeah, No, they haven't.
- 2:20I know Desert Days did it one year out here and they were
- 2:26trying to do, but logistically, I don't know, like, you know,
- 2:30behind the scenes what? But they, it just didn't happen,
- 2:33you know, I think they're trying to be too big too soon and it
- 2:37just fell apart. But I have no idea.
- 2:39But yeah, no, it's definitely something that's been a long
- 2:42time coming. And I hope this is a a long time
- 2:46series of festivals, you know, for a long time.
- 2:48I think the community needs it. I think people love the idea and
- 2:53the myth of the desert and they want to come out and enjoy the
- 2:56bands that were a big part of it and the new bands that, you
- 2:59know, aren't inspired by it. So it's just like the perfect
- 3:02timing, like, you know, the the perfect storm, it's the perfect
- 3:05time for it. Right on.
- 3:06I love that. And I think about the European
- 3:08festivals that came before us and I really see like the
- 3:12fingerprints of like, in my heart, I feel like this could
- 3:15take off like a desert fest or a road burn did.
- 3:18Obviously, Rd. Burn changed over the years to
- 3:20become a little more avant-garde and eclectic and desert fest
- 3:23became like strictly like psychedelic rock, stone, a rock,
- 3:26do metal. But like, this could be like the
- 3:29American part of that. And I love that for us because
- 3:31we don't have enough. We have the big, big butt rock
- 3:34fests and there's some pretty good metal festivals and things
- 3:36around, but nothing like this that really caters to this music
- 3:39that people. Yeah.
- 3:41Exactly, and and I have hopes of making it a more eclectic but
- 3:46where they still tied to the desert?
- 3:48Still tied to the desert rock scene, still tied to rock music.
- 3:54But like when I set out to do this and what I liked about, I
- 3:59thought about festivals that I like and I like, like the early
- 4:02Coachella. It was it was eclectic, but it's
- 4:05still stuck that rock, it wasn't, you know, this pop rock
- 4:07music that, you know, Beyoncé and Justin Bieber wasn't none of
- 4:11that stuff. It was it, it, it, it the
- 4:14curation was really good. I think a festival like
- 4:20Levitation that's really good. They'll put bands like Mastodon
- 4:23next to the Black Angel, you know, and it works.
- 4:26And I want something like that, maybe not as eclectic, but I
- 4:31want to branch out. And I actually had a couple
- 4:33bands I can't name right now because I'm trying to get them
- 4:36for next year. But logistic wise, you know,
- 4:39they're they couldn't make it happen.
- 4:42That are on the fringes of the Stoner scene, but there's
- 4:45there's in more of the the sight scene, but they wouldn't
- 4:50necessarily you would think would be on a like a Stoner rock
- 4:54ticket, but they fit just well. But so I want to get more of
- 4:58that. I want I want the thing to grow
- 5:01and hopefully it just gets bigger and people really get
- 5:05into it. And it's a like, I think what we
- 5:08have different, one of the main things is we have the history of
- 5:12the desert and we have the vibe where a lot of these other where
- 5:17they'll have a lot of cool bands on there.
- 5:19But it's just like any other festival.
- 5:21You go to a you go to a big building or you know what I
- 5:24mean? It's it's, it could be that
- 5:27festival could be put on anywhere.
- 5:28This festival can only be put on in Joshua Tree.
- 5:31That's amazing man. I'm so pumped.
- 5:33By the way, I love the Black Angels, like one of the most
- 5:35underrated bands of all time. So good, so good.
- 5:38They play out here, they play out Happy and Harry's a lot.
- 5:41Yeah, I missed them when they came through.
- 5:43I don't think they quite came here to San Francisco, but they
- 5:46came, they did a West Coast tour and I missed it and I was
- 5:49kicking myself. There's just a times in lineup.
- 5:51But yeah, man, this is an, you know, I love that it's
- 5:54experience, right, Mojave experience because it just tells
- 5:57you kind of like it paints a picture in your brain.
- 5:59You know, every single thing about this, how you've handled.
- 6:01I know you have a long history with your booking company, and
- 6:04I'm sure that's how you made a lot of these ships.
- 6:06You've played with these bands, you've toured with some of them.
- 6:09And I think it's, I think you just wrapped up a tour not too
- 6:12long ago with Nick and a few other bands.
- 6:15Yeah, of course. The great Nick Oliveri.
- 6:17And and Frank Meyer from the street walking cheetahs.
- 6:21So, like, I'm really pumped for this.
- 6:23I think this is great. I think it's very telling that,
- 6:25you know, it's hard enough to put out a festival.
- 6:27You didn't put your own band on this on the bill.
- 6:30No, no one could have blamed you.
- 6:31That all the time. Yeah, no one could have blamed
- 6:34you, but I think it's just to have it run the first year
- 6:36smooth. I'm sure it's going to take all
- 6:38your focus. It is, it is.
- 6:39And I, I, the goal was to make everybody have a great time from
- 6:45the attendees to the bands, to the, to the volunteers, the
- 6:48staff, all that. And I, I just felt like, you
- 6:51know, I would be kind of taken away from some of that if I had
- 6:55to focus on Volume 2. Right on I figure.
- 6:58And of course day of show I was always in a band nerve wracked
- 7:01the day of the show even if I had all my shit locked down
- 7:04cold. So I can't imagine also running
- 7:07a festival experience. I've put on some charity shows.
- 7:10That's about it. I don't know about a whole
- 7:11festival. It seems a lot, but it's a lot.
- 7:15So, you know, we have the big, big names.
- 7:16And I was so proud and excited to be a part of releasing this
- 7:20lineup. But it was a great idea.
- 7:22You had to have us help release the lineup a little bit at a
- 7:25time. And obviously, like huge names.
- 7:26To me, Earthless and Dead Meadow are iconic bands, as is John
- 7:31Garcia and Acid King. I see Lori at all the shows here
- 7:34in in San Francisco. I just.
- 7:35I'm sure. I just bumped into her at
- 7:37Witchcraft last week which was insane.
- 7:40Yeah, the early moves played with them.
- 7:42They early moves played with them were also on the bill I
- 7:45got. I got to catch some of them.
- 7:47They were fantastic and but like there's a the depth on this
- 7:50lineup is crazy. Just between the two days, the
- 7:53night, the party party and the night before.
- 7:55I'm really excited. I haven't seen yawning man in a
- 7:57long time. I love hippie death cult people
- 7:59know ecstatic vision. I've seen a bunch of times
- 8:02howling giant the freaks. I'm really excited about
- 8:05barracho insomniac soft sun never seen.
- 8:08So I mean Sean Wheeler and Mario.
- 8:11I mean, like, there's so much. Oh yeah.
- 8:16Well, that's what I tried to do. I wanted it not just to be like
- 8:20interchangeable bands. I wanted it to be, you know
- 8:22what? I put the bands together for the
- 8:24most part. I've said this before in a
- 8:26couple of interviews, like what we see here on this was pretty
- 8:30close to my original list of what I wanted when I sat down
- 8:33and started thinking about what bands would I want to see, You
- 8:36know what I mean? And most of these bands I've
- 8:38either seen or played with or, or, or whatever.
- 8:42And, and there's only been a couple couple that I've been
- 8:45wanting to see and I haven't. And the static vision is like
- 8:47that. I'm definitely going to make
- 8:48some time as I'm running around to check out their, I want to
- 8:52check out the set. I want to see all the bands at
- 8:54least a little bit. But I'm sure I'm going to be
- 8:56running around putting out buyers.
- 8:58But I got to see a static vision just watching them on videos
- 9:02that they have up on YouTube and on their Instagram.
- 9:05I mean, they go off they're, they're, they're, they put on a
- 9:08show as far as I could see. Like how Rock'n'roll to be put
- 9:14on. I mean, they just throw caution
- 9:15to the wind and just go at it. It's great.
- 9:18So I can't wait to see that alive.
- 9:20Yeah, they're so good. I've seen him twice and every
- 9:23time isn't it again a whole a whole vibe as the kids say?
- 9:26My wife just real quick, my wife's like because I've showed
- 9:29her some stuff and he's always plotting on things and so she's
- 9:33like, well, what about insurance?
- 9:34I was like, well, let's hope that he he'll be cool on this
- 9:38one. So we'll see.
- 9:40Never know what he's going to do.
- 9:41That's true. That's true.
- 9:42What I like, what I like to say when I I host events at the bar
- 9:46is like our bond. Our bar is not bonded and
- 9:48licensed for any physical injury you may incur in the in the
- 9:52pursuit of fun. Please be responsible.
- 9:58Good stuff, man. Good stuff.
- 9:59Yeah. I'm just so pumped.
- 10:00This thing looks so well put together and I'm just so hyped.
- 10:04I do have to say. Like it's impossible to.
- 10:06I noticed this immediately after the full lineup was revealed.
- 10:10I was like, oh man, this is like 6° of Kayas here.
- 10:13Like John does some Kaya stuff. I'm sure Nick has his whole
- 10:16repertoire and and you know, like I was like, oh man, this is
- 10:20like a the Mount Rushmore of desert rock, except for, you
- 10:24know, one band that some of these guys have been.
- 10:27Right, right. If, if I could make that happen,
- 10:30that would happen. But that's never going to
- 10:32happen. But.
- 10:34Well, you never know, Joshua said.
- 10:36Will send you a message. I'm hoping to see Queens when
- 10:38they come up here on their new tour and send a message to Josh,
- 10:42but you never know. I think.
- 10:44I think everybody else would do it.
- 10:46It's got to be like Josh and Brant probably have to.
- 10:48Yeah. Fix their shit.
- 10:50I've interviewed Brant when he went off.
- 10:52So like, I already know. I know the whole, I know a lot.
- 10:55So at least what the public knows.
- 10:57So he's he's never shy about that shit.
- 10:59But yeah, what it looks like. It's going to be a fun time.
- 11:02And I have never been to Joshua Tree.
- 11:04So like, tell me what to expect from the surroundings.
- 11:07I know it's a bit of a, you know, a whole whole thing, Like,
- 11:12you know, it lives in the minds of people as a destination
- 11:15place, let alone to see a concert there.
- 11:18Oh. If you're, I don't know when
- 11:19you're coming out or how long you're staying after, but this
- 11:22is what I tell everybody what I want.
- 11:23That's why I named it the experiences.
- 11:25Like I really encourage people to take a day or two to come
- 11:30early or stay afterwards to really take it all in.
- 11:33I mean, there's so many cool like places up in the National
- 11:37Park, which is only like 15 minutes away.
- 11:41You know, you got a jumbo rock, you got skull rock where the the
- 11:44rocks look like skulls. It's really cool.
- 11:46So for all the metal heads, you that's a place to get some
- 11:49pictures, right, right. And so, but they there's like
- 11:53just down the street from the festival, there's the famous
- 11:56transmission art insulation. It's, it's got these, it's,
- 12:01it's, it's basically looking to the, I wish I had a picture of
- 12:05it, but it's got a hand and it's, it's got a face and it's,
- 12:10it's, it's like sending transmissions to outer space to
- 12:14different life forms and stuff like that.
- 12:16And it's, I think those things are like 30 feet tall.
- 12:19You know, those sculptures are sculptures.
- 12:22And then right before it, you have these sculptures on the
- 12:25side of the road that are all sorts of geometric designs.
- 12:29And there's all sorts of stuff. There's cool, there's cool bars.
- 12:33There's, you know, you got Pappy and Harry.
- 12:35It's just great places. The best place to ever I've been
- 12:38all over the United States and the best place I've ever had a
- 12:44rib eye steak, you know, is the Rib Co and 29 lbs.
- 12:48They, they, they have a fire like a fire smoker right out in
- 12:53front of the place and they're cooking that stuff fresh every
- 12:55day. It's just so good.
- 12:57The Rib Co. I can't say enough good things.
- 12:59I spent thousands of dollars there.
- 13:02Right on. A good steak is worth thousands
- 13:05of dollars to me. Yeah, for two years straight, I
- 13:08ate there every Friday night and it's amazing.
- 13:10Yeah, it's. You treat yourself, you deserve
- 13:13it. You do a lot.
- 13:14And I'm really thrilled to be, you know, partnered up with you.
- 13:16Ghost Cult is thrilled to be, you know, lend a hand any way we
- 13:20can. I'm definitely, yeah.
- 13:23Yeah, I'm coming in Thursday. I already arranged with my buddy
- 13:27Wayne Edwards of Ghost Cult and the Flying Fiddlesticks blog and
- 13:31he's going to pick me up. We're going to ride around my
- 13:34Airbnb's and Joshua trees so I have.
- 13:36Actually, technically. Once I fly in I do have some
- 13:39depending on when I get to my spot for check and I do have
- 13:41some downtime for Thursday so maybe I'll I'll check out the
- 13:44park a little bit myself and and get high.
- 13:47Oh, you definitely have to, because yeah, you'd regret it if
- 13:50you didn't check out the park. It's pretty nice.
- 13:53Right on. I'm not.
- 13:53Yeah. Like it's much more than just
- 13:55coming for the for the event, although the event is going to
- 13:57be off the chain and I am definitely going to check the
- 14:00park out. I'm I got my walking shoes
- 14:02ready. I'm going to stretch my old guy
- 14:04bones and muscles. I'm at the age where I like I
- 14:08hurt myself laying in bed. I hurt my shoulders.
- 14:10Oh yeah, why? Why is this happening?
- 14:14Right. I didn't take care of this
- 14:16temple, man, but I'm going to do better in the future.
- 14:19But yeah, man, obviously you said you can't talk about a
- 14:23couple of bands you couldn't get hopefully for next year.
- 14:25I like that you, when you were kind of pitching me one of the
- 14:28best pitches ever. I get a lot of stuff pitched to
- 14:31me. That's far what?
- 14:32You like about it? I just thought you had it all
- 14:35worked out like when you pitched me, you were like, this is what
- 14:37it is. Year one, year 2, year three,
- 14:40you know, possibilities, you know, didn't seem like for a
- 14:43person that has an experienced booking company, it didn't seem
- 14:46like far-flung to me, like you could land these.
- 14:48You landed these bands and you had it all organized.
- 14:51And a lot of people, whatever level it is, whatever we're
- 14:53talking about in the music business, the number one thing
- 14:55is don't bite off more than you can chew and plan your work and
- 15:00work your plan. I know that sounds very cliche,
- 15:02but it's really true. I say that all the time.
- 15:05That's the only way to do it. You got to make a plan.
- 15:07You can't just kind of go wing it and stuff.
- 15:09You got to make a plan and then work it.
- 15:11Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a line on deliverance by corrosion
- 15:14to conformity. There's like you'd never be in
- 15:16trouble if you stick to your plan, right?
- 15:17Like, right. I've been, I've been rocking
- 15:19that since 94, that same philosophy so and probably
- 15:23before that. So like it just seemed like you
- 15:24had it all put together beautifully.
- 15:26And that inspired me to want to connect with you and work on
- 15:29this with you and be part of this.
- 15:31So, you know, I'm, I'm really pumped.
- 15:32And yeah, if there's anything else, like I said, I appreciate
- 15:36you. If there's anything else
- 15:38visitors to the area need to know about the festival or you
- 15:41know what else is, you know, maybe around the area, food,
- 15:46record stores, dispensaries, whatever they need, I'm pretty
- 15:48sure is right there, right? Oh yeah, there's, there's some
- 15:50cool record stores in Yucca Valley and in 29 Palms, White
- 15:55white label vinyl. That's a really cool spot.
- 15:57People come there all the time and get them, you know, really
- 16:00cool things. They they curate what they bring
- 16:03in, you know, very carefully. So they have a lot of, lot of
- 16:06cool stuff from old Blues, jazz, you know, local, local bands to,
- 16:13you know, to the classics, you know, that we all want to hear
- 16:16Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Stooges, you know, they have
- 16:20everything, but they they picked the good stuff.
- 16:23It's good quality. So they're cool and same with
- 16:26the Hoodoo guru in Yucca Valley. So there's a lot if people want
- 16:31more info about the local places to go and to see the shop and so
- 16:37forth. If they go to the my website,
- 16:40there's a link and it goes to this, this one guy, he makes a
- 16:44festival, basically all the info and they can, I have a link to
- 16:50it and it breaks down restaurants, bars, places of
- 16:54interest and they can go hotels, all of that and they can go to
- 16:58that. If they just go to
- 16:59mojaveexperience.net, there'll be a link to that stuff.
- 17:02So they can, you know, kind of check it out before they come
- 17:06out and make a plan and work it right.
- 17:08Right on. And so there's still tickets
- 17:11available for Saturday. Did you what we talked offline.
- 17:13I think there's also new tickets are going to get released for
- 17:15Friday night, right? We just dropped 50 new tickets
- 17:20for the Friday night. We made some room in the club to
- 17:24accommodate more people and so because more people were hitting
- 17:28us up, I was getting a lot of DM saying is there any way I could
- 17:30get in Friday and this and that. So I talked to the owner and
- 17:35they moved some things around, took some things out and we'll
- 17:38have more more space available. So we released 50.
- 17:43They're going pretty quick, so if they don't jump on it soon,
- 17:48they might not get another chance.
- 17:49And Saturday we still have some tickets, but they're moving
- 17:52pretty good too. So I'm expecting it to sell out,
- 17:55so I'll let everybody know. So, but if I were you, I'd buy
- 17:58the tickets now and don't hope that you'll just drive there the
- 18:01day of to get in. That's great.
- 18:03I'm really happy for you. It's important to hit those
- 18:05goals that first year. And again, like I said, I I love
- 18:09that you had a plan the whole way about how to do this first
- 18:12year so it has a chance to regenerate and have new life and
- 18:16demand for next year. And you know, what a tremendous
- 18:19opportunity this is for the bands to be part of this, you
- 18:23know? So I'm pretty stoked.
- 18:25And again, like, you know, you can't really do better than Dead
- 18:28Meadow and Earthless for headliners.
- 18:31They're going to put on such amazing shows.
- 18:33I'm so pumped. I mean such a huge Earthless fan
- 18:35I've seen so many times. They're such great musicians
- 18:39that, I mean, they're just great.
- 18:41So yeah, I was stoked when they said yes.
- 18:43I wasn't, you know, when I hit up the agent, the agent thought
- 18:47the idea was pretty good, but we had to work out of a few things
- 18:50and stuff, so. But it worked out so.
- 18:53Right on. Amazing, amazing stuff.
- 18:55Yeah, man. Patrick, if there's anything
- 18:57else you want to plug or you know, if you got anything coming
- 18:59up also with volume you want to talk about, let me know.
- 19:02But again, we're just so happy to support this and I can't wait
- 19:05to get out there. Yeah, I can't.
- 19:07I can't wait to see you hang out and see everybody at the at the
- 19:12festival. But seriously, if you're even
- 19:15thinking about going, I would get your tickets now.
- 19:19And, and, and another thing is I've heard from a few people,
- 19:24you, you, you go to the website and find those different places
- 19:28to say, we have a, a deal with one of the hotels in 29 Palms,
- 19:33but it's getting scarce, the Airbnb, the campsites and so
- 19:38forth like that. So check that out.
- 19:40And if they have any questions they can DM me through the
- 19:44website andthatsmojaveexperience.net.
- 19:47Right on. We're going to link everything
- 19:48in the description, all the things, OK, I got my Airbnb
- 19:52literally before Christmas because I was like, I'm going,
- 19:55this is that. What happened?
- 19:56That was smart for sure. Yeah, I don't always do that,
- 19:59but. In this case, I did.
- 20:01I planned that correctly. So good for me.
- 20:04I'm so stoked to meet you. I can't wait to meet you in
- 20:06person and just shake your hand and thank you for this.
- 20:08Thanks for putting this together.
- 20:10I can't wait for the best. And we're going to have a blast,
- 20:12Wayne and I and you know, stop by the ghost cult.
- 20:15I'm sure there's going to be a lot of merch and vendors and
- 20:17stuff. We we didn't talk about the stop
- 20:19by ghost cult. We'll have a table.
- 20:20Get yourself some free ghost cult swag.
- 20:23And, you know, if you don't love it, give it away to someone who
- 20:26might. Patrick, thanks so much, man.
- 20:30We're looking forward to Mojave Experience.
- 20:31I'll see you next week, OK? Thanks for having me.