If you love the thrill of seeing rock bands that don’t often play in Southern California or actively seek out the rush of randomly discovering a new favorite band, Desert Daze might be the perfect festival for you.
For its seventh year, Desert Daze is moving westward from the desert to the Lake Perris State Recreation Area Friday, Oct. 12-Sunday, Oct. 14 and has a strong lineup of both up-and-comers and notable Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival veterans.
The list of bands is super deep, but we have some favorites worth catching. While Tame Impala headlines Friday, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Saturday and My Bloody Valentine on Sunday, we’re going to go ahead and figure that you’re planning to see them anyway (as well as the secondary acts on the poster such as Warpaint, Slowdive and Death Grips) and focus this list on deeper dives. Just don’t forget your earplugs for My Bloody Valentine. Trust us, that’s going to get loud.
Friday, Oct. 12
Jarvis Cocker: Best known as the frontman for ’90s Britpop gods Pulp, Cocker is bringing his new project, Jarv Is, to Desert Daze. While he debuted the secretive group at some European clubs and Sigur Ros’ festival in Iceland, Desert Daze (and a few California dates prior to the fest) marks the project’s North American debut. The set is expected to include lots of new music, some old stuff, and a band that features harpist Serafina Steer and violinist Emma Smith. Here’s hoping Pulp’s “Disco 2000” gets the string treatment.
Hinds: This Spanish indie rock band tore up the Sonora Tent at Coachella 2017, but released a new album, “I Don’t Run,” this spring. The sound is a little bit ’60s girl group with a whole lot of ’90s alt-rock power pop.
L.A. Witch: This garage rock trio out of L.A. is equally haunting and exhilarating — like if Mazzy Star was on an all-night bender in a classic convertible barreling through Joshua Tree.
Also of note: Washington D.C. punk and post-punk hero Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses and The Make-Up were essential listening in the D.C. area in the ’90s and early ’00s) is the master of ceremonies to get things started on Friday.
Saturday, Oct. 13
Mercury Rev: The New York experimental rock band is playing “Deserter’s Songs” in its entirety in honor of the record’s 20th anniversary. While the band didn’t explode stateside, “Deserter’s Songs” was named album of the year in 1998 by British taste-making mag NME.
Shannon and the Clams: If you like early rock ‘n’ roll grooves and harmonies, a little country twang and snappy dressers, put Shannon and the Clams on your list of must-sees now. The band released a new album, “Onion,” earlier this year.
Ex-Cult: If you need some punk rock and you need it right now, check out this group from Memphis and get ready to get in the pit. The band has recorded with Sunday performer Ty Segall, too.
Sunday, Oct. 14
King Khan and the Shrines: Remember what I mentioned about the thrill of stumbling onto your new favorite band? That happened when I saw King Khan and the Shrines, an eclectic garage soul group that had golden glitter shirts, a horn section and an organ and a charismatic front man, at Coachella 2010. And then the characters from “Yo Gabba Gabba” showed up for a dance party. I immediately bought everything I could find from the group. Get hydrated and get ready to dance.
Ty Segall and White Fence: In addition to his prolific solo catalog, Segall is also a constant collaborator. This project has him teaming up with Tim Presley (White Fence) and the pair melds multiple sounds from punk to power pop to mellow psych classic rock on new record “Joy.”
Death Valley Girls: Another great female-fronted band leading the Los Angeles rock charge, Death Valley Girls has the stamp of approval from Iggy Pop, who stars in the video for infectious and crunchy new single “Disaster (Is What We’re After),” eating a hamburger.