Introduction
Emerging from the Texas rock scene, High Desert Queen are one of a kind. They draw on influences like Alice In Chains, Queens Of The Stone Age. The bands aim was always to write music that they themselves would want to hear.
Interview
You state that you write the type of music you would want to hear. Do you think you have achieved that or are there still things about your sound you would change?
High Desert Queen – I think we’ve done a great job writing music that we would want to listen to. I think all of us actually listen to our own music and that’s a great thing. However, we are always looking to evolve and push ourselves forward. We are excited for the writing process for the next album.
What is the best thing about the crowds that come and see you in Austin Texas?
High Desert Queen – The Austin scene is a big family. We’ve been lucky to play some great shows in Austin. We’ve mainly done festivals recently like RippleFest Texas and Stoner Jam. Plus we’ve supported bands like The Obsessed when they’ve come to town. Due to that we’ve played some great crowds and in front of a lot of the same great people who keep coming to support us.
Speaking of Austin, is there any bands locally that you’re friends with and would like to promote?
High Desert Queen – There are so many amazing bands in Austin. Way too many to mention here. However, some of our favorites are GoodEye, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and Buzz Electro. Amazing bands and also amazing people.
What is the greatest rock album ever produced?
High Desert Queen – This question is a trap! We could have a very long debate about this question. Some of us would say Led Zeppelin “IV”, Soundgarden “Superunknown”, Alice in Chains “Dirt”, Lowrider “Refractions”, and I could go on and on. All of these for different reasons.
On your debut album “Secrets of The Black Moon” The Mountain Vs The Quake is a cracking song! Could you break down a little what inspired it?
High Desert Queen – Thanks! Rusty sent that riff to me and it immediately grabbed me. I told him it needs to be a big epic song and about some kind of bog battle.
I tried to come up with two things that would be an epic battle and had just read an article about a massive earthquake that had happened in Japan. The lyrics just kind of came out and when we got into the jam room the whole song just came together pretty quickly.
Which song of yours do you think is criminally under rated, and what do you think is so good about it?
High Desert Queen – Personally I think “Skyscraper” or “Bury the Queen” are very underrated. I love how heavy those songs are and how much the tempo changes through each song.
There’s a lot of “organized chaos” in both songs and they are so fun to play live. Unfortunately we don’t play them live very much due to all the other songs that most people who come to our shows want to hear. I’m hoping to bring those two songs back to the set list!
If you had to describe Desert Rock in a sentence, what would it be?
High Desert Queen – Creative rock that grooves and takes you on a journey. Plus it should pay homage to all the great ones that have come before us.
Who comes up with the ideas for the insanely good artwork on your albums?
High Desert Queen – I think we all come up with the ideas and then pass them on to different artists to just let them run with it. We love to give the artists a lot of freedom to do what they think they need. Limits should not be put on art and an artist should be able to create what comes naturally. So far we have been very lucky on all our records.
If you could change one thing about your journey as a band up to this point, what would it be, and why?
High Desert Queen – This is a tough one because all that’s happened to us is what makes us who we are. I guess knowing what we know now we would have been more careful in planning out touring. There have been some BRUTAL drives in order to make it to a show on time! Most know that’s completely unavoidable on tour. It’s going to happen at least once.
I also think we would have gone back and re-record our first record live and without a clicktrack like we did our second record. We did that for a few songs on “Secrets of the Black Moon” but I’d have done that for all of them if we could do it again.
Ancient Aliens is the first track on your 2nd album “Palm Reader”, so how old are these aliens? In all seriousness, that’s a brilliant song. Do you come up with a track name and fit lyrics to it, or do you do it the other way around?
High Desert Queen – Most of the time I come up with a song title to help build lyrics. Sometimes the song title sticks and other times it doesn’t. This title was really just a place holder so we could remember which song it was. I had been watching a lot of the show “Ancient Aliens” so it made sense. Luckily I wrote lyrics that fit and that one stuck
Can you tell us the story behind the track Time Waster? Who inspired that?!
High Desert Queen – That was a fun one to write. It’s the first song where Phil had the drums for about 90% of the song done and sent it to Rusty. He said, “Here’s a cool groove beat. Let’s see what you can do.” Then the riff came out and it was perfect.
We weren’t sure if the song would be a waste of time trying to write that way, hence the name that was a placeholder as well, but we’ve all decided we need to write more songs in this fashion.
What are all of your dream models/brands of instruments if someone walked up to you and said you could have anything?
High Desert Queen – Honestly, I think we all have the gear we want. Rusty and Morgan both have the gear they love. I know Phil has talked about a custom drum kit that hopefully one day we can build.
Can you tell us something cool that’s happened to you on tour?
High Desert Queen – Everything that happens on tour is cool! We absolutely love being on the road. The best things for us are all the people we meet. We’ve met some amazing people on the road who are now lifelong friends and we look forward to seeing them again every year.
We’ve also been very lucky to see some incredible cities and see some amazing bands. For me the best thing is I’ve been able to play with and meet some bands that I’ve long idolized like Sasquatch, Fatso Jetson, Lowrider, Dozer and many others.
Also, a pinch myself moment I had was getting up and singing harmonies with Sasquatch when we were on tour together. That was something I never thought would happen. I’ve been listening to that band for 20 years.
Speaking of tours, when are you coming to the UK?
High Desert Queen – We actually get asked this question a lot! We’ve unfortunately had to skip the UK on our last few tours. The UK unfortunately doesn’t make it very easy or lucrative for bands like us to tour there. We have plans for getting back at some point as we love the UK and met lots of great people there. Hopefully in 2025 we can get back to the UK/
What would win in a fight, Voldemort, or The Night King?
High Desert Queen – The Night King in a total beat down. He is already dead and can’t die again. I don’t think Voldemort has an immortal blade just hanging around. Arya still has it and I don’t think she’s going to be giving it up any time soon.
Is there anything you want to promote?
High Desert Queen – For those who don’t know, I organize the coolest music festival in the world called RippleFest Texas. I’m so happy with how it’s evolved. It’s the best family reunion of the year. The family gets together every year to support the music we love.
The festival is always stacked with great bands and there is so much love, hugs and good vibes going around. It’s the greatest festival in the world because of the people that come every year. The festival will be September 18-21, 2025 in Austin, TX. Tickets are sold at www.lickofmyspoonproductions.com
Come see the family!
All rights to all songs used in this interview are retained by High Desert Queen. All photos were provided by High Desert Queen and taken by Stacey Lovett.
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