Local band Desert Child has a new record ready for the new year. “Hesperus,” has been in the making for the last year, a highly anticipated release from a Durango band that has been playing to packed venues, whether on a local stage or at a private event.
The band – Dan Hayden on lead vocals, Brian Ross and Ari Newman on guitar and vocals, bass player Zac Carr, drummer and vocalist Alec Mayes, and keyboardist Clarke Reid – formed back in 2019 at Open Sky Wilderness Therapy, where the bulk of the band worked as counselors. As things got rolling for the group, the pandemic hit, but what would have derailed most bands helped Desert Child.
“Wilderness therapy is what brought us to this area. One day in 2019 we got together, and we had one practice, and we were like, ‘oh, this sounds pretty good. Let’s practice again.’ Then the days and weeks kept going, we kept practicing, and we had a show booked,” Ross said. “Then COVID hit in March of 2020, and we went underground. And I think it helped us a lot in terms of practicing, practicing, practicing, and then when we hit the scene we really had something to offer.”
Those offerings include the best of both musical worlds. One world is that of a cover band, where they’re a hired act banging out party sets of the familiar, stretching through the decades as they cover The Beatles or Stealers Wheel, Tom Petty or Sugar Ray, or Kings of Leon, Alabama Shakes and Harvey Danger. The other world is that of an original band writing and performing original music, which is what will be heard on “Hesperus.”
They’ve released three singles of varying styles from the forthcoming release. “Enough” has a late ’90s roots-rock vibe where the band drops subtle guitar jangle with sounds reminiscent of The Jayhawks. The title track nods to the psych-roots of My Morning Jacket, while “Furthest Kind of Near” has dreamy harmonies and sharp guitar stabs. Despite the audio descriptors, the sound remains unpredictable, a wonderful offering for fans always on the hunt for something new.
While the band remains stoked with the product, they’ll admit that making the record, which happened at Cowboy Cowabunga Ranch in Evergreen, was a ride of emotions.
“We can’t understate that it was a bit of an ordeal. But it’s so cool when you get this final product and you’re happy with the way it sounds, and you love it,” Carr said. “But for the listener, they say, ‘oh, this is great,’ and there’s three weeks on the other side of that. It was Evergreen, it was cold, it was January. And heartbreak, and tension, and hard work, that all goes into the recording process. That in a certain sense disappears or evaporates once the record actually comes out.”
Desert Child doesn’t seem to be a band that rests. With this record ready to drop, the band is already looking ahead to record number two, which they’ll begin recording in early 2024. It’s really all about getting the music to people’s ears.
“We were in the studio a year ago, so a lot of those songs were written maybe two years ago and practiced and performed over the last two years. When we play out probably half of our set are songs that will be recorded this coming January, and they’ll come out on the next record,” Carr said. “The fans, the people coming to see us don’t know any of that. For a lot of people this is the first time they’ll hear it, so it’s new to them. So, we are kind of holding two things at once, because we have new music that hasn’t even been recorded yet that we are excited about.”
Desert Child will play on New Year’s Eve at Animas City Theatre, and “Hesperus” will drop on Jan. 24.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
