Kyuss Lives! – ‘It Took Its Toll Psychologically, Spiritually & Financially’

February 24, 2013

Kyuss Lives! have come to Australia to play their final shows as part of Soundwave 2013. Once the festival has finished, the band will begin anew under the name of Vista Chino. Comprised of former Kyuss bandmates John Garcia, Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, along with Bruno Fevery, Kyuss Lives! decided to change their band name after a lawsuit launched by former Kyuss members Josh Homme and Scott Reeder prevented Kyuss Lives! from recording and releasing any new material.

As Bjork told Music Feeds backstage at Sydney Soundwave, he is relieved that the switch to Vista Chino has allowed the band to move forward, but the drummer is unsure if change would have occurred without the lawsuit.

“There’s always relief when conflicts resolve,” Bjork affirmed. “I don’t know [if we’d have renamed if not for the lawsuit] – possibly. We didn’t really think about it. We were really just looking at what was in front of us and making our decision based on what our present situation was.”

“We came to a point where we felt that changing the name was appropriate and the fastest way for us to get back to playing music,” Bjork added.

Speaking on the personal impact of Homme and Reeder’s lawsuit, Bjork admitted there was a price to pay on more then one level. “It did take its toll psychologically and spiritually and certainly financially,” revealed Bjork, “but we are are musicians and I’m not interested ultimately in names or business … and it didn’t break my musical spirit.”

As Vista Chino, the band will release their debut album towards the end of 2013. Bjork also offered up a progress report and the name of a new Vista Chino track that Kyuss Lives! is currently performing on the Soundwave.

“We are mixing it right now, it’s great. We’re really, really excited. We can’t wait to drop the bomb … We’ll drop that this summer then well go to work, man. We haven’t formally chosen any particular song to be a single but we are playing one Vista Chino track here at Soundwave … it’s called Gakona.”

Watch a portion of the interview and check out photos from today’s Soundwave Festival below. Full interview coming soon!

WATCH: Kyuss Lives! – ‘It Took Its Toll Psychologically, Spiritually & Financially’

http://youtu.be/tN2nVgGKH80