The desert rock scene is legendary. Now a new generation wants its turn.

Palm Desert was named one of the top seven rock n’ roll cities in America by Blender magazine in 2003. But that was a bit of a misnomer.

That “Palm Desert” scene featured bands from throughout the Coachella Valley. Its “godfather,” Mario Lalli Jr., grew up in Palm Springs and La Quinta. Its major bands, including the Joshua Homme-led Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, emerged from nomadic generator-powered parties in the wilderness a decade earlier.

Its circle of rockers, also including Sean Wheeler, Gary Arce of Yawning Man, Arthur Seay of Unida, and John Garcia, Nick Oliveri, and Brant Bjork from Homme’s first band, Kyuss, remain the desert’s most celebrated native artists. They inspired four European Desert Fests and they’ll be celebrated at a 10th anniversary screening of the documentary, “Desert Age: A Rock and Roll Scene History,” Saturday at the Festival Theatres in Palm Springs.

But dozens of new bands have emerged from the shadow of Covid and the 2018 loss of the valley-wide Tachevah Music Showcase to create a sense of a rebirth of a local scene.

Brian Ray, a key Palm Springs-based member of the Paul McCartney band, and Matt King, a fellow bass player, live music producer, and music journalist for the Coachella Valley Independent, want to shine a spotlight on that scene at the Plaza Theatre.

Brian Ray Presents: Desert Scene will debut Nov. 20 at the 80-year-old Downtown Palm Springs theater in what they hope will be an annual local music showcase.

“We have this gorgeous theater here that was restored because of the donations of generous people all over the world, but mostly in the Coachella Valley,” Ray said in the theater’s chic, mid-century-themed green room. “It’s a city-owned building that is run by Oakview Group (owners of the Acrisure Arena).

“I thought, maybe an idea would be, now that we have nine months behind us, open the doors to local and emerging artists to get some new blood in and share this gorgeous theater with more people.”

The show will have what Ray calls “retro, silky, sexy soul” built on eclectic Latin grooves.

Opening act Giselle Woo & the Night Owls is a rock and Tejano hybrid that won the last Tachevah Music Showcase before playing the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Burgundy Blues is a Chicano retro, soul-infused band from the pre-Covid East Valley backyard scene now based in Los Angeles with a West Coast a following.

Café Canela is a Coachella-based Chicano funk and ‘50s-style soul band signed by the Oxford, Ohio-based Colemine Records to produce what the label calls a “desert soul” project.

Ray, a Plaza Theatre Foundation board member seeking to prove local music can fill a 680-seat theater, says, “There’s no reason why any of these bands doesn’t end up at Acrisure.”

“You want a band that does have a following because we do want to sell this place out,” he said. “That’s a tall order but we can do it.”

That means this showcase is just a select sampling of what a desert scene could offer.

“There’s not a ton of elements of discovery,” said King, “but there is a little bit when we’re talking about taking low desert bands — bands that kind of only exist in the studio, bands that many locals haven’t heard of. Bringing that to Palm Springs, where the music scene can be very insular, very focused on the past, and not really wanting to branch out – here are three new bands that are literally right down the street.”

The potential scene includes an eclectic mix of bands getting heard in new ways consistent with today’s fragmented media.

DannyLux of Desert Hot Springs was signed to play Coachella in 2023 on the basis of his TikTok following. King’s band, Empty Seat, and fellow next-gen desert rockers, Whitewater, got asked to open for Garcia at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace after the former Kyuss singer saw them while judging a showcase at The River in Rancho Mirage.

Local promoter Xavier of the metal band, Noisepile, featured the Coachella Valley-based Materia in a metal showcase last month at a Denny’s in Thousand Palms. Noisepile also performed in Thousand Palms last month for a $5 cover at the Coachella Valley Brewing Co.

It’s hard to have a music scene with a dearth of nightclubs offering original music, but that’s been the Palm Springs story since Kyuss was playing Adrian’s ballroom dance studio.

Indio has the Dune Room, regularly featuring diverse, stimulating acts. The City of Indio is considering including it in a Downtown Entertainment Zone that would let adults carry alcoholic drinks from one site to another, as Taphouse restaurant diners can do when music is playing next door at the Center Stage amphitheater on Miles Avenue.

But, when it comes to youthful sounds such as punk, metal, hip hop, and Latinx hybrids, desert venues often present a large smorgasbord of acts over one or two days. Josh Heinz’s recent Acoustic for Autism benefit featured almost two dozen local bands at the Coachella Valley Brewing Co. and the Big Rock Pub in Indio.

King promoted a benefit June 6 for the SJCH Transgender Health Program and ICE Out of California called Skyfest, in memory of transgender artist Skylar Berry, with a dozen DIY underground acts at the former Oasis On Miles and the Music House store on Miles.

King also presented a showcase Oct. 26 at the Center Stage with five local artists who had contributed recordings to his “It Came From the Desert” anthologies.

If there’s a music scene west of Indio, it’s a background music scene. Dozens of specialty festivals from Indio to Desert Hot Springs, like the La Quinta Arts Festival, the Taste of Jalisco in Cathedral City, the Indio Tamale Festival, and the Rancho Mirage Festival of Arts, employ bands. But their music is secondary to the festival themes and usually passive.

But there is a middle ground between challenging and tranquilizing local music.

Steve Johns, who booked the Palm Springs Roadhouse and is preparing to sign country acts at his old employers’ new Platinum Cowboy Dancehall & Saloon in Palm Desert, collaborates with radio station magnate Todd Marker to present local talent at Agua Caliente casinos. His Live and Local Mondays series features local musicians playing up to hundreds of people in the Agua Caliente Cathedral City, and acts such as the local Grateful Dead tribute band, Ghost Notes, playing to larger outdoor crowds.

“For the Live and Local Mondays, I’ve been pretty lucky picking bands I think really work here,” he said over canned music inside the bustling casino. “They go back in my files a little bit, but, Jetta King, Empty Seat, Lisa Lynn and the Broken Hallelujahs, Crucial Culture, Avant Garden — all genres.”

Some are cover bands; some are original artists he’s helping to break.

“Lorna Adams is new artist,” he said. “I saw her at the Dune Room. I went because David Williams (owner of Melrose Music Studios in Palm Springs and Hollywood) is the guitar player. She did three or four songs, first time ever on stage. She’s doing wonderful.”

Johns booked Eevaan Tré & the Show on Mondays in Cathedral City and then signed him to the Cascade Lounge in the Palm Springs casino.

“If I see something I like and they have potential, they get the bigger pay scale,” he said. “I book them Friday and Saturday over there.”

Stepping stones are one key to developing a scene. Cooperation among artists and promoters is another. Johns says he compares notes with Noe Gutierrez, general manager and talent buyer at the Dune Room. He can see the Dune Room and casino venues feeding acts to the Plaza and/or the McCallum Theatre.

King is all for giving local bands “ways to kind of roadmap yourself to a music career.” But he says Café Canal and Burgundy Blue are already playing bigger shows beyond the desert.

“These are people on the way to being stars in the music scene, right here in our desert,” he said. “We’re gonna showcase the best of what we got right now, and as we move forward, do more and showcase other bands that maybe are close to that level or right below.”

Derek Jordan Gregg, who has played for both Johns and King with his Avant Garden band, thinks the desert scene can reclaim its ‘90s energy. But he said it must be made enticing.

“If we are going to reinvigorate the scene, we need to integrate more with each other,” he said. “Because monoculture is dead it makes it harder to build a scene. But it doesn’t mean it’s not possible to give people what they’re desperate for — another movement.”

Johns says the bands must support each other more. At the generator parties, musicians were part of the audience. They were invited to the parties even if they weren’t playing.

“They need to support each other as a community,” he said. “I have a few that come and support the other bands. But the bands themselves need to support the scene.”

“Camaraderie is one of the things severely lacking,” said Gregg, “which may be due to the lack of rooms to play. Everything feels like a fight just to get a moment.”

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More information: Brian Ray is presenting his Desert Scene moment at the Plaza. Tickets are $29 or $38.95. Information and tickets are available at Ticketmaster here.

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