When I was a young boy I asked my Dad about a band called Tumbleweed.
He took a deep breath, crouching down as he pulled me aside. I stared into his eyes, eager to learn. My cluelessness about the world was obvious – a crime easily forgivable given my age. The old man could see that I knew nothing about the world, and I sensed that he felt an obligation lay squarely on his shoulders to show me society's ways. At the time I didn't really understand what he said. But as I grew up, I came to understand that Tumbleweed wasn't just the best band he'd ever heard. It was the greatest band that had ever existed.
"This is the first time we've gone back to that formula because the band broke up for ten or so years and we all went and did other projects. Now Tumbleweed is back together we know what works for us, we're not gonna try and rework the book."
That's Lenny Curley talking about his band's latest LP. He's a crucial component of the aforementioned Tumbleweed formula, like some sort of guitar-playing mythical beast. But let's not mess around. Let's throw away the niceties. This is a man whose band has opened for Nirvana, toured with Kyuss. What I'm saying is, the man has rocked.
"I struggle with descriptions, but basically it's just high energy, loud fast rock and roll with maybe a little touch of psychedelic metal. Tumbleweed fans will understand what I'm saying."
Descriptions? Who needs descriptions when you practically invented desert rock? I don't care if that's an overstatement, either. Last time I checked, anyone can edit Wikipedia.
"That whole desert rock thing came about after Tumbleweed happened. I remember the first time a Kyuss record came out and I was like 'Wow, this is great!' They seemed to be on a similar trip to us. I remember talking to Nick Oliveri about it when Kyuss first came out here. We were the same age, and we were both inspired by Sabbath and punk rock, and this is what we'd come up with. But then punk went mainstream and we rebelled against it."
Tumbleweed Play The Zoo Friday November 2.
