The Heavy Desert Podcast

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome the man behind Vegas Rock Revolution’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend, John Gist. John gives his thoughts on how this year’s festival went and also gives the dates for next year’s event. PLUS he drops the first eight bands slated to appear at next year’s festival! So make sure to tune in and subscribe, you’re not gonna want to miss this episode!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast we have a special edition of Concerts With Chris, as I welcome back concert correspondent Chris McGowan, along with special guest, Mark Richard of the Jam Yeti Music Blog, as we recap our experience of the four day event that was Planet Desert Rock Weekend VI, in Las Vegas, Nevada. We dive into all the bands that played, the community and some of our experiences from the festival. We had a great time reliving our experience in Las Vegas, and hope you enjoy our chat about it! Make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Nordin, Stefan and Karsten of the German band Stargo to the show. They have a new album, Violet Skies, dropping February 13th and it is a straight up, heavy-stoner rock banger! We dig into that, their influences, what they’ve got coming up, and I’ve got an exclusive track from the new album that you’ll hear first on the show! So make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Tom Jordan, vocalist and guitarist of the band 20 Watt Tombstone. If you’re not familiar with 20 Watt Tombstone, they are a heavy rock two piece out of Wisconsin, that are absolutely awesome! Tom talks about his influences growing up, the backstory of the band from their extensive touring to the big differences in recording their two albums, and he also has a book coming out later this year about many of his stories from the road. In fact, he shares one of those stories that involves the remains of a human finger! I had a great conversation with Tom and you won’t wanna miss it! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Craig Harker, Stephen Rael, Jason Kleim and Marc Christoforidis of the Denver, Colorado band Vandhali to the show. They released a trio of EPs in 2025 that they call The Evil Trilogy, which included Born in Evil, After Evil and The Fall of Evil that were each well received on the Doomcharts when they came out. We dig into that, their influences, how they got started as a band, the Denver underground scene and much more! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend concludes as I welcome Matt Whitehead and Bo Leslie of the band Throttlerod who will be performing at this years festival. Matt and Bo dig deep into their influences, the backstory of the band, the intense touring they did in the early days, from sleeping in the van to staying at Jean-Paul Gaster’s house of Clutch. I had a great chat with Matt & Bo and they shared so many fun stories, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Adam Carl, Justin Potter and Will Hammond who each represent different chapters in the Midwest Doom Coalition. We had a roundtable talk about upcoming shows in each of the chapters they represent, some bands in the chapters that are looking to release some new music in the near future and some venues in their chapters that are easier for bands to interact with to make more of an easier process for booking gigs. It was a great and informative discussion for fans and bands alike. I hope to have more roundtables like this in the future to keep fans aware of all the stuff going on in the Midwest Doom Coalition. Tune in and subscribe!

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!