Fancy a bit of groove / desert rock? This could be the Band of the Day for you…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Australia/France/USA
How did you meet?
Well there’s a bunch of us. There’s are the musicians on the album and there’s the live band. Let’s just say we’re a bunch of friends.
How long have you been playing as a band?
The band is quite recent. We started playing together about a year ago. But the album was recorded a few years back. Only Aurélien and I are on the album as well as part of the live band. On the album we played with Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season), Joey Castillo (Danzig, The Bronx), Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Mondo Generator) and of course Alain Johannes (Chris Cornell band, Eleven, Them Crooked Vultures…) who plays bass, guitar, does vocals and keys but also produced and mixed the album.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Long story. There are several reasons. It’s the nickname I gave Alain Johannes while he was producing my other band Loading Data’s last album. I’m also a big fan of tequila and mescal. And finally, it’s a nickname some French musicians from the stoner scene gave me, because my other band has been around since the beginning of the movement in France. So, as a joke they call Patrón (the boss), as a joke. And it just sounded good.
What are your influences?
I’ll speak for myself. It’s pretty vast. It goes from jazz to desert rock and everything in between. I love 80s fluorescent synth music, the Seattle era of the 90s, good old rock n roll, 50s and 60s crooners, Motown, and obviously the desert rock scene.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
It’s all of the above but turned into a rock project.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Love, sex, relationships, drugs, suicide… Life
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We haven’t a chance to play that many shows yet. We were supposed to tour with Alain Johannes in April but for obvious reasons that was cancelled. We were supposed to tour with him again in October but it seems pretty unlikely. All we have left for the moment are a couple of show in the Netherlands in December. Hoping that that will happen.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Getting way too wasted on tour in the USA with my band Loading Data and ending up on stage incapable of playing. My bandmates weren’t very happy with me.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I play a Gronlund Reverent copper top DC. It’s a very special guitar. Half wood, half copper. It’s a prototype. I love it. Gronlund is a small independent luthier from Maine. Aurélien plays a Framus Mayfield Custom maple. Rob has an Epiphone Jack Casady. And Simon plays an old 70s Rogers kit.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our first album, self-titled, that came out on May 29th.
What are your plans for 2020?
Our plans were to tour to promote the album, but so far our plans have been a bit disrupted. So we’ll have to find another way to promote it. Haven’t yet found the miracle solution for that though.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I’d love to play with a French band called Dust Lovers. Either before or after them, I don’t really care. And why not open for Them Crooked Vultures if they ever get back together for a second album.
