Ep336: Mario Lalli & The California Desert Rock Scene
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2022
⏱️ 89 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mario Lalli has been a pioneering voice in the California Desert Rock scene, from throwing generator parties to founding bands like Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson & Across The River and inspiring hundreds of others. Today Mario shares stories and perspective of the high times in the low desert.
Topics include:
- Interview start
- Is Mario a record collector?
- His early years, family tastes and music
- Mario working on album art and projects
- His parents going from Opera Singers to restaurant owners
- Mario and his 1st band moving to LA & lessons learned
- The genesis of the Desert Generator Parties
- What were early lessons that were learnt the hard way
- Dealing is a-holes at the generator parties
- The music at the Generator Parties
- The ugliest generator party (police, injuries, arrests, etc)
- When did the desert music scene start attracting record labels and entertainment companies?
- "Do well but don't do too well"
- The challenges of succeeding but not meeting other people's expectations
- Example: The way Nirvana reacted to success
- Enabling the music scene through facilitating parties
- Does Mario have control of all his music?
- What are they reissuing from the CD-only releases for Fatso Jetson
- Does he know where all the multitrack and master tapes are?
- What happened with Across the River and SST Records?
- Interview wrap up
Extended interview available here: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
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If you like records, just starting a collection or are an uber-nerd with a house-full of vinyl, this is the podcast for you. Nate Goyer is The Vinyl Guide and discusses all things music and record-related
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Howdy-ho there, people. Episode 336 of the Vinyl Guide is brought to you by our friends at the Groove washer, record cleaners, record sleeves, and a whole lot more. |
| 0:10.0 | The best protection for your vinyl collection, that's groove washer.com, discount code vinyl guide 10. |
| 0:16.6 | And we're also brought to you today by audiophileUSA.com. With over 42,000 used records in stock, visit the biggest online used record shop that ships worldwide. |
| 0:29.1 | All excellent and near-ment records, search, dig, and load up the carts with delicious used vinyl at audiophileusa.com. And with that, on with the show. |
| 0:41.6 | Well, hey everyone, it's Nate. Welcome to episode 336 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for |
| 0:48.3 | record collectors and music nerds, and this week we speak extensively to an incredibly important |
| 0:54.1 | figure of modern music, |
| 0:56.0 | certainly a huge influence on the California desert rock scene, Mr. Mario Lolly. |
| 1:01.6 | Now, Mario, as you may know, is a founding member of Yawning Man, of Fatso Jetson, a member of the |
| 1:07.4 | legendary band Across the River, a key organizer of the desert generator parties that |
| 1:12.8 | brought to our attention bands like Caius, Foumanchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Stoner, and more. |
| 1:18.4 | And Mario is also a pioneer and an innovator, not just of music, but of facilitating an environment |
| 1:24.5 | that enabled so many bands to develop, to find their footing, and ultimately |
| 1:29.2 | to deliver the goods. And man, does Mario have stories? Well, started out as an hour-long |
| 1:34.9 | conversation quickly doubled, and rather than cast aside some great stories, I decided to |
| 1:39.8 | keep it going, so enjoy this conversation with an absolute California and music legend. |
| 1:46.6 | Now, by the way, this isn't all. There is an extended and commercial free version of this |
| 1:51.4 | interview up at patreon.com slash vinyl guide. That's where you can support the show. Five bucks or |
| 1:58.4 | ten bucks a month or even more. It buys me burritos and beer without |
| 2:03.1 | the issue of sticking around after I eat them. Plus, you get early access to episodes, extended |
| 2:09.5 | interviews, commercial free versions, and the warm, fuzzy feelings that you're helping support |
| 2:15.4 | this show. That's patreon.com slash final guide, where you get to hear the helping support this show. That's patrion.com slash final guide where you get |
... |
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