The Heavy Desert Podcast

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend concludes as I welcome Matt Whitehead and Bo Leslie of the band Throttlerod who will be performing at this years festival. Matt and Bo dig deep into their influences, the backstory of the band, the intense touring they did in the early days, from sleeping in the van to staying at Jean-Paul Gaster’s house of Clutch. I had a great chat with Matt & Bo and they shared so many fun stories, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Adam Carl, Justin Potter and Will Hammond who each represent different chapters in the Midwest Doom Coalition. We had a roundtable talk about upcoming shows in each of the chapters they represent, some bands in the chapters that are looking to release some new music in the near future and some venues in their chapters that are easier for bands to interact with to make more of an easier process for booking gigs. It was a great and informative discussion for fans and bands alike. I hope to have more roundtables like this in the future to keep fans aware of all the stuff going on in the Midwest Doom Coalition. Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path to Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Rob Traynor, guitarist and vocalist for the band Black Water Rising, who will be performing at this years fest in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 29-February 1. Black Water Rising released their latest album, The Edge, in August of 2025 that landed at number nine on that months Doomcharts, and we talk all about that, Rob’s influences, the backstory of the band, Rob’s massive fuzz pedal collection and much more! You won’t wanna miss it! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Joe Narducci of Verona Florrist and Kaleb Riser of Black Moon Cult back to the show to discuss the underground scene through the lens in Gen Z. It’s no secret that a big demographic in the heavy underground are Gen X and younger Boomers. Both Joe and Kaleb are 28 years old and I wanted to get a take on what the younger generation does to help promote their music and shows and what they feel needs to be done for this scene to thrive in the future. I had a great conversation with them both and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Mark Richard of The Jam Yeti Music Blog as we finally wrap up 2025 with our countdown of our Top 25 favorite albums of the year! Along with a couple lists contributed from listeners, 2025 was not lacking in great music from the heavy underground! Make sure to tune in to see if any of your favorites made the list, or if we missed any!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome John Flynn the man behind the solo project called Sod The Earth. John recently released his debut album Enter The Den in November of 2025 and a brand new EP titled Hardly Working Man on January 16. Both are heavy-sludgy/doom releases that everyone needs to check out. He talks about his influences, where some of the ideas for his songs came from, his journey of searching for some bandmates to play some of these songs live and much more! I had a lot of fun talking with John, make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Dusty Donley, guitarist for Mississippi Bones and the musician and vocalist of his solo project Quintana. Quintana has released three albums in the last year and a half, including the latest album, Hums & Coils, that came out in October in 2025. We talk about his influences growing up in rural Ohio including hanging out with buddies watching Headbangers Ball to checking out Columbia House in the TV Guide. He talks about his journey of learning how to play guitar and singing, from playing guitar with Mississippi Bones to his solo project Quintana. I had a great chat with Dusty and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast The Path To Planet Desert Rock Weekend continues as I welcome Justin Toland, vocalist, guitarist and founder of Dirty Streets, who will be performing at this years event. Justin talks about how he snuck in to a studio with his first band at 14 years old with the janitor of the studio to record his first material, how he and their bassist Thomas Storz found their drummer Andrew Denham, who was 17 years old at the time, what Dirty Streets has coming up on the horizon and much more! It was a great conversation make sure to tune in and subscribe!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Douwe de Wilde and Eric Hazebroek of the band Ditch to the show. They released their second full length album, The Traveler, in February of 2025. And it is one of my favorite releases from the year! We talk about their influences, how they came together, their plans for the future and much more! If you haven’t heard The Traveler yet, get it in your ears, then check my interview with the fellas!

Today on The Heavy Desert Podcast I welcome Cliff Stevens and Martin Aneyba of the Bolivian band Remaining Daze. They recently released their debut, self titled release on November 7 of 2025 and it is a great debut! We talk about Cliff’s move from Pennsylvania all the way to Bolivia, how the band formed, their big plans for the coming year and much more! If you haven’t heard their album check it out, then check out my interview with the guys!