Hear Ex-Kyuss Singer John Garcia’s Duet With the Doors’ Robby Krieger
“If someone told me at 19 years old, when I wrote ‘Her Bullets Energy,’ that Robby Krieger would be playing on it, I would have told them, ‘You’re out of your mind and go jump in a lake,'” says John Garcia, the voice behind bands like Kyuss, Vista Chino and Unida, referring to the closing song on his self-titled solo debut.
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Although Garcia recorded his vocals on last year’s Vista Chino record through microphone that the Doors guitarist owned and Jim Morrison used, he tells Rolling Stone that his union with Krieger on John Garcia was more fortuitous than anything else. His producer, Harper Hug, listened to the song and said, “I’m hearing a Spanish, flamenco guitar on this track.” When Garcia asked him who would be a good fit on the track, Hug suggested his acquaintance, Krieger. “I pretty much fell over from my chair and said, ‘Do you think he would do it?'” Garcia says.
“For the last couple years, I’ve been building a new studio with Harper Hug and sound man Michael Dumas,” Krieger tells Rolling Stone. “We’re calling it ‘Horse Lattitudes.’ Harper played me a song that I really liked, and we decided to try recording some of my flamenco guitar on it. This was the first time we actually recorded at the studio. We did it in the big room, and it sounded awesome.”
Garcia reports that while he was recoding the song, which he describes as a “love-tragedy story,” he barely discussed it with Krieger. “We spent more time, I think, talking about golfing than we did about the track,” he says. “I’m from Palm Springs, and there’s a shit-ton of golf courses here. He was asking me about a couple courses out here. I’m not a golfer myself, but he’s Robby Krieger so I was trying to do my best to accommodate.” The singer laughs. “But to end the record with an acoustic track with Robby, it was very, very fitting.”
Garcia is releasing the album, which also features guest appearances by Danko Jones and his former Kyuss bandmate Nick Oliveri, on August 5th. It can be pre-ordered here.