The Heavy Desert Podcast

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Rob Traynor, guitarist and vocalist for the band Black Water Rising, who will be performing at this years fest in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 29-February 1. Black Water Rising released their latest album, The Edge, in August of 2025 that landed at number nine on that months Doomcharts, and we talk all about that, Rob’s influences, the backstory of the band, Rob’s massive fuzz pedal collection and much more! You won’t wanna miss it! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Joe Narducci of Verona Florrist and Kaleb Riser of Black Moon Cult back to the show to discuss the underground scene through the lens in Gen Z. It’s no secret that a big demographic in the heavy underground are Gen X and younger Boomers. Both Joe and Kaleb are 28 years old and I wanted to get a take on what the younger generation does to help promote their music and shows and what they feel needs to be done for this scene to thrive in the future. I had a great conversation with them both and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Mark Richard of The Jam Yeti Music Blog as we finally wrap up 2025 with our countdown of our Top 25 favorite albums of the year! Along with a couple lists contributed from listeners, 2025 was not lacking in great music from the heavy underground! Make sure to tune in to see if any of your favorites made the list, or if we missed any!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome John Flynn the man behind the solo project called Sod The Earth. John recently released his debut album Enter The Den in November of 2025 and a brand new EP titled Hardly Working Man on January 16. Both are heavy-sludgy/doom releases that everyone needs to check out. He talks about his influences, where some of the ideas for his songs came from, his journey of searching for some bandmates to play some of these songs live and much more! I had a lot of fun talking with John, make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Dusty Donley, guitarist for Mississippi Bones and the musician and vocalist of his solo project Quintana. Quintana has released three albums in the last year and a half, including the latest album, Hums & Coils, that came out in October in 2025. We talk about his influences growing up in rural Ohio including hanging out with buddies watching Headbangers Ball to checking out Columbia House in the TV Guide. He talks about his journey of learning how to play guitar and singing, from playing guitar with Mississippi Bones to his solo project Quintana. I had a great chat with Dusty and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path To Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Justin Toland, vocalist, guitarist and founder of Dirty Streets, who will be performing at this years event. Justin talks about how he snuck in to a studio with his first band at 14 years old with the janitor of the studio to record his first material, how he and their bassist Thomas Storz found their drummer Andrew Denham, who was 17 years old at the time, what Dirty Streets has coming up on the horizon and much more! It was a great conversation make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Douwe de Wilde and Eric Hazebroek of the band Ditch to the show. They released their second full length album, The Traveler, in February of 2025. And it is one of my favorite releases from the year! We talk about their influences, how they came together, their plans for the future and much more! If you haven’t heard The Traveler yet, get it in your ears, then check my interview with the fellas!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Cliff Stevens and Martin Aneyba of the Bolivian band Remaining Daze. They recently released their debut, self titled release on November 7 of 2025 and it is a great debut! We talk about Cliff’s move from Pennsylvania all the way to Bolivia, how the band formed, their big plans for the coming year and much more! If you haven’t heard their album check it out, then check out my interview with the guys!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome back to the show Mark Richard of The Jam Yeti Music Blog as we countdown our Top 10 releases of the fourth quarter of 2025. We always have a great time sharing some of our favorite albums of the previous three month along with some honorable mentions. We even have a handful of listener lists to share as well. If you’re looking for some great new music to listen to, look no further and check it out!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I recap some of the releases from the month of December.  I rundown releases in order of the date released with a little preview from each release from bands that include Palm Desert, Sun Empress, Slowbot, Bygone, Sydona and many more! It’s the final episode of the year, so enjoy some of these releases that dropped during the last month! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast the Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Jake Navarra, founding member, guitarist and vocalist of the band Phantom Hound, who will be performing at the upcoming event. We talk about his influences, the backstory of the band, what it was like releasing their debut album at the beginning of the pandemic, what the plans are for the band leading up to Planet Desert Rock Weekend and beyond, and much more. I had a great chat with Jake, so make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast the Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Florian Thiele, drummer for the German band Paralyzed, who will be performing at the upcoming event. We talk about his influences, how he met lead singer and guitarist Michael Binder to eventually form the band, the excitement about coming out to the U.S. for the first time and much more. I had a great conversation, make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I have a special Christmas episode. I asked previous guests if they had a special Christmas memory that was music related. Whether they got that album they always wanted, that record player, an instrument, concert tickets or if they have a special music related tradition. Some of the contributors include Wayne Ruddell of Fuzz Evil, Trip Shumake and Eric Garcia of The Heavy Eyes, Ryan Garney of High Desert Queen, Colin Peterson & John Piotrowski of Shadow of Jupiter, and many more! It’s a festive episode, so make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome brothers Ricardo and Christian Rodriguez of the rock duo Gran Moreno. Playing music since they were little, Ricardo and Christian have now played festivals such as Levitation Austin and Ripplefest Texas and are set to release their debut album, El Sol, on January 17th of 2026. These guys are only moving up and I had the pleasure of chatting with them and hope you enjoy it as well! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome guitarist Colin Peterson and vocalist John Piotrowski of the band Shadow of Jupiter to the show. Shadow of Jupiter has been very active since their debut album Porta Coeli came out in 2023, including playing Ripplefest Texas, Rhüne Mountain Fest, Grand Rapids Doomfest and many other gigs. They’re slated to play next year’s inaugural HUFR-Fest in Denver, Colorado and are eager to release their follow up album early summer of 2026. What started out as fun project for something for their kids to remember them by, has blossomed into something that’s become big in the heavy underground! I had a great chat with the guys and hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Tune in & subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome back to the show, lead singer and guitarist of the band Volume and the creator of next year’s inaugural Mojave Experience Festival, Patrick Brink. Patrick talks all about the unique festival he is putting on next year on March 20th & 21st. Some of the bands scheduled to perform include Earthless, Dead Meadow, John Garcia, Yawning Man, Nick Oliveri’s Death Acoustic, Howling Giant, Borracho and many more! Make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Sean Malkasian, lead singer, guitarist and founder of the band Malkasian to the show. They recently released their new album, Heavy Blues on October 22nd and it’s amazing! We chat about that, some of his influences, his path to the band that he has now and much more! Make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I recap some of the new releases from November that I listened to. Not a countdown, but more of a rundown from the release date at the beginning of the month to the end, with a little taste from each album. I cover new releases from Burning Sister, Beastwars, Bogwife, Astralplane, Acidsitter, Stone Nomads, Winds of Neptune and many more! Make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Josh Neuwford and Brett Halsey of the band The Lunar Effect, who recently released their latest album, Fortune’s Always Hiding, on October 24 that is amazing! We talk all about it, their influences, the backstory of the band and much more! Make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Drew Dupuis, host of The Call of the Beast Radio Hour on The Rage Online. Drew’s hour long program plays music straight from the heavy underground and we talk all about it! We talk about some of the bands that got him into the genre, some of his favorite albums from this year and much more! For a show only in its infancy (about 5 months) Drew has big plans to help spread the word of this amazing scene! Tune in & subscribe!