Planet Desert Rock Weekend V Adds Iota to Lineup
If you were expecting the ‘Last Call’ fourth day being added to the Jan. 2025 edition of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V to be an afterthought to the first three days, the first two announcements for the lineup — Michigan’s Bonehawk last time around and Salt Lake City’s Iota today — should do much to dissuade. Iota in particular are a choice that could only be made with purpose.
Earlier this year, the trio released Pentasomnia (review here) through Small Stone. It was the band’s first album in 16 years, and it’s not like they’ve been out for the last six months touring to deliver it to listeners door to door, so it’s less about the draw apart from some if-you-know-you-know diehards than the festival using its built-in outreach to put Iota in front of a crowd that might or might not be familiar with their work but who will unquestionably benefit from engaging with it.
This is the fest ideal; to be able to take something someone is passionate about and give it a platform to reach more ears. Iota aren’t the only reason I’m looking at flights to Vegas for this one — there’s also the rest of the bill — but they’re definitely part of it.
Festival curator John Gist sent the following down the PR wire:
At Vegas Rock Revolution we love to champion really good music that deserves more attention and ears upon them. Earlier this year Salt Lake City’s Iota released a comeback album “Pentasomnia” after an 18 year hiatus and it caputured me immediately. The crispness in it’s sound and production truly captured the vibrancy of the album led by former frontman of Dwellers, Joey Toscano.
As I was contemplating the “Last Call’ show (Night 4) of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V, I made a short list of bands to exam and re-exam over and over. Iota was on the list. As a curator but also the promoter I had to think through the balance between art and marketing. Iota is a VERY under the radar band that very likely most that are considering coming to PDRW would not know.
As I was whittling down bands on the list almost right on cue I got a message from Joey Toscano introducing himself and inquiring about potentially playing. After some time and floating their music out to a few ears, I decided to make this happen. The visualization of their music being done live in the right setting with an amazing sound engineer gave me clarity.
This power trio also features Andy Patterson who is the former drummer of Subrosa and current one for The Otolith who recently played Ripplefest Texas and Oz Yosri from Bird Eater. We know our well versed PDRW crowd will embrace this cool band and become new fans.
Next band to be announced with be in the next week as well and features another band from west of the Mississippi…..
Tickets for PDRW Last Call: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1022254108557
Tickets for PDRW V: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/873750791137
FB event: https://facebook.com/events/s/planet-desert-rock-weekend-v-j/1399556780734695/
https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/
