A local producer and musician responsible for some of the greatest rock albums ever made is celebrating his birthday at Pappy and Harriet’s.
David Catching, musician and owner of the famed Rancho de la Luna studio, is turning 64 this year, and his Pappy and Harriet’s birthday party will feature eight bands performing at the indoor and outdoor stages of the historic venue. Catching’s band (earthlings?), other local legends and up-and-coming rockers will all take the stage on Saturday, June 7.
During a recent phone interview, Catching expressed his appreciation for returning to Pappy’s, as it’s been a while since the Joshua Tree resident’s last birthday show.
“We’re all happy to have Pappy’s back,” Catching said. “It was kind of dark there for a couple of minutes. They weren’t as receptive to having cool, local stuff there, and the people who had been there didn’t have the best things to say. It looks like the Knitting Factory folks are really putting in the effort to make it cool again, and I know all the locals are very happy about being able to come back. I’m certainly happy to be coming back and have another birthday there. I’ve celebrated a few there and always had the best time, and this time is no exception.”
It’s only fitting that a larger-than-life lineup was put together to celebrate Catching’s birthday.
“I’ve got some of my favorite bands like Fatso Jetson and my buddy Alain Johannes, and we’ve got a lot of special guests coming up to have some fun with us,” Catching said. “I’ve got a great couple of local bands I’ve been working with. CocoVera is a really cool band; we recorded a bunch of stuff together, and they started playing around a lot. Our friend Moe Shahrooz has got a band called Concept1, and we’ve been doing his album here, and he’s going to be playing with a lot of friends. It’s also his birthday, so that’s extra-special for us, to have him playing along. My friends from New Orleans and I have had a band called Gnarltones for about 30 years, and this is the first time we’ll be playing in California, so that’s really exciting. We’re working on our album just before the show. (As for) earthlings?, we haven’t played in a couple of years; that’s a band I’ve had since 1993. It’s going to be a very exciting night. … It’s really shaping up to be an extremely special birthday celebration.”
Fans of desert rock will revel in the fact that they can enjoy intimate performances inside, and larger rock energy in the desert air, with a beautiful night sky view, outside.
“We’ve got Fatso Jetson, Alain Johannes and friends, and earthlings? with some friends and couple of surprises on the outside stage starting around 6 p.m., and then inside, we’ve got CocoVera, Concept1, Gnarltones and Futuristic Past Heroes Band, which will be a lot of friends playing some surprise stuff and just having a good time toward the later part of the evening,” he said.
Catching will be performing two full sets, doing some sit-ins, and rocking out to his friends’ bands during one busy evening.
“I’m going to be a little too busy,” Catching said with a laugh. “I went there to Pappy’s the other night to see The Hard Quartet, some good friends of mine. It was a great show, but it made me realize how much work I’m going to have to do that night.”
He highlighted two performances audiences shouldn’t miss.
“Concept1 is really cool, and no one’s seen them play yet,” he said. “It’s kind of trip-hop meets desert rock, so it’s a really cool vibe. CocoVera is a really great, fun, exciting band. I’m just thrilled that we’re going to have a good night with everybody there having fun.”
Beyond music, Catching has been busy with the success of Rancho De La Luna Mezcal, a brand of alcohol that has brought “a taste of the desert” to businesses both local and worldwide.
“My Mojave Lords partner Bingo Richey really thought of the idea,” Catching said. “It was all his concept, and he made it a reality, which is awesome. We’ve been having a lot of fun with that. We worked with a master distiller, and we have been having a great time going down to Oaxaca and visiting with him and his family. They make the best mezcal that I’ve ever tried, and we’ve been having a lot of success with it. … Pappy’s has had it since we first started selling it, and it has sold at all the places around here. We’ve been sponsoring a lot of music events, and we’re going to keep doing that and having fun with that.”
The last time I spoke with Catching, in the summer of 2023, he said he was working on a Rancho De La Luna anniversary album. The success of the studio and the mezcal, as well as personal matters, have delayed the album.
“It was supposed to be for the 30th anniversary, but we’re into the 32nd year,” Catching said. “We were supposed to get together and finish it last year, and a few things happened so we couldn’t, and then we were supposed to get together in February, and a few things happened so we couldn’t, and now we’re hoping to get together in July and finish it. I think we have almost 30 songs to choose from at this point, with lots of great guests on it as well. So many of my old friends were cool enough to jump in on it with us, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it’s turning out.”
Even though Rancho De La Luna has hosted legendary acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy Pop, Foo Fighters and others, Catching still welcomes up-and-coming local bands to the studio quite often. High desert rockers and event bookers Lisa Rae Black and Paul Forrester have recorded a lot of material at Rancho.
“Lisa and Paul, we’ve recorded a lot of times with them, and they’re always super-fun,” Catching said. “They’re such great musicians and such a fun hang. They’re doing so much for the local music scene here, which is really cool.”
Other bands coming through Rancho are heating up, such as Ecca Vandal, who are slated to perform at Pappy and Harriet’s on Sept. 26.
“Ecca Vandal, they’re making such cool music, and the fact that they would stop by and say hi and do a little recording was super cool,” he said. “It was great to meet those guys, and I can’t wait to have them back out here. They’re working with a lot of different friends of mine, and they’ve got a lot of choices on where they can go to record, but we had a great time, and we got a lot of really cool stuff done with them. I’m hoping they’ll be back at some point.”
Catching is nothing but thankful for the fact that people still love to visit his studio and record music.
“The music biz is such a weird thing now with Spotify and TIDAL, where people aren’t making a lot of money. A lot of people aren’t getting any budgets to record, so mostly, everyone is just doing it themselves, because they love music, which translates into great things and great records, because everybody’s doing it for the right reasons,” he said. “It’s not like people are doing it to get rich. … They’re doing it because that’s what they do, and that’s what they have to do. The music that people are making here is really interesting and very, very cool.”
“Another David Catching Birthday Extravaganza,” featuring performances by earthlings?, Fatso Jetson, Alain Johannes, Futuristic Past Heroes Band, Gnarltones, Queen for a Day, Concept1 and CocoVera, will take place at 6 p.m., Saturday, June 7, at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, at 53688 Pioneertown Road, in Pioneertown. Tickets are $42.74 for just the outdoor show, or $54.14 for both the indoor and outdoor shows. For tickets and more information, visit pappyandharriets.com.
