In 2016, the documentary Desert Age: A Rock and Roll Scene History dissected the Coachella Valley’s ’80s/’90s music scene—and in 2026, the film is back for a 10th anniversary re-release.
Desert rock is a homegrown genre that went on to global acclaim. Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and Fatso Jetson were pioneers of a genre that birthed global phenoms such as Mastodon, Royal Blood and others. The desolate, D.I.Y. nature of the generator shows where the genre began gave the desert rock scene a certain mystique, but the genre remains under the radar compared to, for example, grunge and its explosion of Seattle.
This ground is covered in Desert Age, director Jason Georgiades’ deep dive into our local music scene. Through interviews, archival footage, memorabilia and more, the film showcases the ins and outs of desert rock from the eyes of the people who were there, and those who know the scene best. A 10th anniversary re-release, which includes new footage from Black Flag’s 1981 Palm Springs show, will be screened on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Festival Theatres in Palm Springs. A Q&A following the film is slated to include Georgiades, Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), Brant Bjork (Kyuss, Brant Bjork Trio), Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age, Dwarves), Sean Wheeler (Throw Rag), Myke Bates (Target 13) and writer/photographer Sophia Possidon.
Georgiades said Desert Age is a passion project that took him and his crew across the desert and beyond.
“We really wanted to uncover every single nook and cranny of the desert scene through all the interviews that we were grateful to receive, so we spared no expense in terms of time or money,” Georgiades said during a recent phone interview. “It’s hard to express how hard we worked. … We interviewed everybody we could to get what we believed is the best, fullest picture seen.”
The documentary features in-depth conversations with musicians who helped the scene progress, as well as the bigger names who made the desert famous.
“It’s integrity and keeping your word with musicians who kindly ask you to take an objective perspective and to get the full picture,” he said. “We interviewed people who maybe nobody would ever interview from minor bands who could speak to that time, so I made a lot of promises to a lot of people that I would do the best job that I could, and that meant interviewing everybody who I could interview with the money that I had.”
One of the biggest names associated with desert rock is Brant Bjork, who played drums in one of the biggest local bands (Kyuss) and one of the biggest bands inspired by the desert scene (Fu Manchu); a number of his projects have honed in on the desert-rock sound, the most recent being the Brant Bjork Trio. During a recent interview, he said being part of Desert Age led to a “mixed bag” of emotions.
“I personally felt equal amounts of curiosity, skepticism and excitement,” Bjork said. “The desert scene was a very incestuous and a very insular scene, and anybody from the outside was suspect. When someone who you don’t know approaches you and is like, ‘Hey, I’m going to do a documentary on this scene that you were part of years ago,’ you’re just curious: ‘Who are you? What have you done? Why are you doing this? What’s the end game?’ Over time, I started to recognize the intention, and I recognized that Jason seemed genuine in his desire to make a film about our scene.”
Bjork said he was impressed by the resulting film.
“It’s not easy to make a documentary, especially one about something so elusive like this mysterious desert scene that happened, but I think Jason did a respectable job, and I think the film is fair,” he said.
Bjork has released nearly 20 albums since the ’90s. “But like Bob Marley says, ‘You can’t forget your past,’” Bjork said. “I’m also very aware of my root, and it’s important to me. There and certainly some nostalgic elements.”
Desert Age dives into both positive and negative aspects of the scene, showcasing everything from explosive creativity to crowds that, at times, could become violent.
“Growing up out here doing what we did, that was pretty exciting and fun, but there were equal amounts of frustration and defeat,” Bjork said. “It’s all important, because it was the foundation from which I built the rest of my life in music upon. I look back with—I don’t want to use the word pride, but I’m aware. I’m aware of what we did, and even back in the day, I was aware that what I was seeing and what I was doing was authentic.”
Bjork said film is an educational document for “the ones who care.”
“You want (people) to understand better what the scene really was and what it was really like, and why you were doing it, really, for historical purposes,” he said. “Information gets passed down through generations, and that’s how other youngsters are able to find new inspirations.”
Bjork said he appreciates that the film doesn’t view the generator scene with rose-tinted glasses.
“It wasn’t all good, but the bad was just as important as the good, so you’ve got to have it all in there,” he said.
Georgiades said he worked to showcase the realities of the scene, but in a respectful, humane way.
“There are some things that I wasn’t comfortable putting in the film, out of respect to certain people who maybe fell on hard times and couldn’t get out,” he said. “… Some came out on the sunny side, and some came out on the dark side, and you have to respect that. This film, by and large, is a celebration of the collective scene, so my mission was not to be so tough.”
In an interview with the CBC’s Tom Power, Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal) said: “We would take a generator into the desert and play in order to get away from the police busting up house parties. You don’t realize at first that, when you are away from the police and any adult authority as a teenager, what you’re doing is lawless and out of control. And some nights, that’s magical. Other nights, it’s terrifying.”
Said Georgiades: “There’s a lot of heartbreak, heartache, death, drugs, alcohol, parties, fun, light and dark, and that’s a hard balance to find in a story where you predominantly want to celebrate the core of what the film is about, which is the music.”
Georgiades highlighted one tense moment in Desert Age—an interview Mel Webb, who was the scene’s meth cook.
“You go into that dark side, and you’re like, ‘Whoa, it’s real,’” he said.
The film is being re-released, in large part, due to the inclusion of a significant archive: Many of the people included in the film gave Georgiades dozens of scans of original fliers for desert parties and shows.
“It dawned on me a few years back that I’m sitting on the largest archive of desert-rock fliers, photos and scans from the era,” he said. “They’re all digitally preserved, and they kind of are just sitting there, like Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, in some warehouse. … It dawned on me that, as the steward of this material, this should be available to the public to see.”
A few weeks after the screening, Desert Age will be posted on YouTube to view for free.
“There’s no money being made off of this; it’s just a public service so that people understand what happened there, and can hopefully learn something from that, and also be inspired,” Georgiades said. “Authenticity and self-expression and art and art practice is something that feels like it’s under threat right now, and I think this film is a terrific representation of individuals who are very real, authentic, and maintain their integrity with their self-expressive voices. … The message they are projecting in the film is more relevant now than it ever was 10 years ago.”
Desert Age: A Rock and Roll Scene History’s 10th anniversary special edition screening and Q&A will take place at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7, at Festival Theaters, at 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, in Palm Springs. Tickets are $28.52. For tickets and more information, visit the Eventbrite link.
