Desert rock great Brant Bjork headlines Bender's 20th anniversary party
SAN FRANCISCO -- Desert rock hero Brant Bjork and his all-star trio featuring Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Desert Sessions) and Ryan Gut top the bill at this party celebrating the 20th anniversary of popular Mission dive Bender's Saturday night.
As the punishing drummer who helped propel seminal stoner-rock bands Kyuss and Fu Manchu to greatness during the '90s, Brant Bjork has earned a future spot in Valhalla's pantheon of rock percussionists alongside the likes of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, Sabbath's Bill Ward and the Who's madman drummer Keith Moon.
Bjork and and bassist Nick Oliveri were founding members of influential Palm Desert band Kyuss that helped inspire the stoner-rock movement that emerged during the '90s. The powerhouse rhythm section served as the engine that drove the songs heard on the group's debut Wretch and the groundbreaking sophomore album Blues for the Red Sun that helped the band land a recording contract with Elektra Records.
Oliveri would leave Kyuss before that second album was released, going on to be a key member of high-octane punk legends the Dwarves (under the pseudonym Rex Everything) and leading his own band Mondo Generator as well as later serving as co-frontman and songwriting foil in Queens of the Stone Age, the group started by Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme after that band split up in 1995.
Meanwhile, Bjork left the Kyuss after their major-label debut Welcome to Sky Valley in 1993, moving on to join popular Orange County punk/metal outfit Fu Manchu for a series of albums and tours. However, Bjork has also released a steady stream of albums as a leader, playing guitar and fronting a variety of groups under his own name as well as with the bands Che and Brant Bjork and the Bros.
Fans rejoiced back in 2010 when Bjork reunited with original Kyuss singer John Garcia and bassist Nick Oliveri to tour as Kyuss Lives! with Belgian guitarist Bruno Fevery filled the sizeable shoes of Kyuss founder and Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme. But when the group announced plans to record new material under the moniker, Homme and latter-era Kyuss bassist Scott Reader blindsided the band with a lawsuit that eventually forced the group to change their name to Vista Chino.
Despite the turmoil of the legal battle and not one, but two departures by Oliveri, Vista Chino would emerge triumphant with Peace in 2013, a stunning debut album on Napalm Records that lived up to the high standards set by Kyuss. The band would tour extensively with Corrosion of Conformity bass player Mike Dean filling in, playing the new material alongside Kyuss classics.
Bjork has since returned his focus on his own career. In 2016, he recorded the tasty salvo Tao of the Devil with longtime collaborator Dave Dinsmore on bass and second guitarist Bubba DuPree. Continuing his exploration of soulful, heavy desert rock sounds, the collection stands as another solid addition to Bjork's ever-expanding catalog.
Bjork would sign a deal with the Heavy Psych Sounds imprint and has been releasing new material as well as reissuing earlier efforts through the label, including a repressing of his 2005 double album with the Bros (now split into two separate single records under the title Saved By Magic Again) and his latest solo efforts, the 2020 eponymous record and last year's Bougainvillea Suite. He also reunited with Oliveri in 2020 for the new collaborative band, Stöner.
Rounded out by longtime Brant Bjork Band drummer Gut, Stöner isn't looking to reinvent the wheel when it comes to fuzzed-out, heavy desert rock grooves. But given that 2/3 of the band actually invented the wheel in this case, that is not a bad thing. Filled with propulsive, head-nodding rhythms and Bjork's laid-back vocal delivery, the band's debut Stoners Rule and follow-up pandemic in-concert document Live in the Mojave Desert showcase an iconic sound that the players helped define. The band issued it's sophomore Heavy Psych Sounds album Totally... last year and followed up with the EP Boogie to Baja in February.
For this show celebrating the 20th anniversary of beloved Van Ness dive Bender's Bar and Grill in San Francisco Saturday night, Bjork and his current trio featuring fellow desert legend Lalli and Gut will be joined by rising local outfit High Winds. The band features former member of the Fresh & Onlys Kyle Gibson on drums, bassist Gustavo Mendoza (Curl Up & Die) and singer/guitarist Jesse Robeck (ex-Hides) dealing out sounds that recall the classic noise-punk of early '90s Amphetamine Reptile bands like the Jesus Lizard, Cows and Unsane.
Bender's 20th Anniversary Party with the Brant Bjork Trio and Highwinds
Saturday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m. $15
Bender's Bar and Grill
