Palm Desert Scene

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The Palm Desert Scene is a name given to a group of closely related bands and musicians which originated in the early nineties in Palm Desert, Southern California. The scene is notorious for its influence on modern day stoner rock and its kins, and the creation of desert rock. There is a high rate of cross-collaboration, side projects and fluid membership of the bands involved, since it is not uncommon for musicians in this scene to play in multiple bands simultaneously.

Palm Desert has been named by Blender magazine as "one of the top seven rock n' roll cities in America".^[1]

1 History
2 The Desert Sessions
3 Notable scene artists
4 Notable scene bands
5 References

[edit] History

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The scene evolved from Yawning Man's marijuana-driven instrumental jams in the desert. It is largely known for its heavy, grinding riffs and association with the use of illicit substances, particularly marijuana and magic mushrooms.

[edit] The Desert Sessions

Main article: The Desert Sessions

One remarkable project within this scene are the Desert Sessions, in which Josh Homme invites a group of musicians, most of whom are from the Palm Desert scene, to Rancho De La Luna, a studio in the desert, where they write, rehearse and record some 10 songs in one week's time. The Desert Sessions series has now yielded 10 volumes, which have been released in pairs on CD but individually in 10" vinyl EP format. Though the series is commonly associated with the Palm Desert Scene, not all artists in the scene have participated, and there have been other artists to contribute to the project who are clearly not from the scene, such as John McBain of Red Bank, New Jersey's Monster Magnet and Dorset, England's PJ Harvey.