Joining Brant Bjork Trio and Big Scenic Nowhere, Heavy Temple and Yawning Balch — the latter of which makes it double-duty for at least most of Big Scenic Nowhere — are the next adds to next year’s Mojave Experience 2027, and both killer. Yawning Balch‘s new one, Volume Four (review here), is likewise joyous and unsurprising for that, and Heavy Temple‘s 2024 LP, Garden of Heathens (review here) certainly has lost none of its lustre for the time since it came out, even if the band’s lineup has shifted in the interim.

I got invited to Mojave Experience 2027 and golly would I ever like to go. If I can make it happen — my only concerns are minor issues like time, money, and logistics — I will, and seeing these two bands for sure only adds to the urgency with which I’m saying that.

These announcements I grabbed off social media:

Mojave Experience – March 19–21, 2027

Heavy Temple

There are bands that sound heavy. Then there are bands that feel heavy.

Heavy Temple belongs in the second category.

Rising out of Philadelphia’s underground, Heavy Temple has carved out a sound built on massive riffs, deep grooves, and an undeniable sense of atmosphere. At the center is High Priestess Nighthawk, whose voice can shift from haunting to commanding in the span of a single song.

Their debut album, Lupi Amoris, earned praise throughout the heavy rock and doom world, but records only tell part of the story. Heavy Temple is a band best experienced in the moment, when the amps are loud, the air is moving, and the crowd is locked in.

There’s a certain feeling when the day is getting underway and the desert is beginning to come alive. The sun is high, the dust is moving, and the first wave of heavy music starts rolling across the grounds.

Heavy Temple will be bringing that energy to Mojave Experience.

Yawning Balch

Some projects remain elusive, known more through their recordings than their appearances on stage

Yawning Balch is one of them.

Formed when Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, Big Scenic Nowhere) joined forces with Gary Arce, Bill Stinson, and members of the legendary desert rock institution Yawning Man, the project began as an improvised jam session in Joshua Tree. What was supposed to be a single day of playing turned into hours of music and multiple full-length albums.

Since then, they’ve released Volume One (2023), Volume Two (2023), Volume Three (2025), and Volume Four (2026), building a catalog that feels less like a traditional band and more like a captured moment. No formulas. No road-tested setlists. Just musicians following the sound wherever it leads.

What makes Yawning Balch truly special is how rarely these musicians share a stage under this name. The records were born from spontaneous sessions in the desert, and live appearances remain exceptionally uncommon.

For many fans, this may be the only chance to experience Yawning Balch in person.

A rare gathering of musicians whose roots run deep through the desert scene, bringing music to the place that inspired it in the first place.

Early Bird Tickets on Sale Now!
Mojaveexperience.net

Artist Playing:
Brant Bjork Trio
Big Scenic Nowhere
Heavy Temple
Yawning Balch

https://www.mojaveexperience.net
https://instagram.com/mojave_experience_festival
https://www.facebook.com/mojave.experience.festival/

Yawning Balch, Volume Four (2026)

Heavy Temple, Garden of Heathens (2024)

I mean, if we’re checking credentials — and mind you, we’re definitely not doing that — I’m not sure you get more ‘desert’ musically speaking than having the likes of Brant Bjork, Mario Lalli and Gary Arce as the first two lineup reveals for Mojave Experience 2027 next March in Joshua Tree, California. That’s desert rock’s foremost ambassador (Bjork), and two parties essential to the formation of the genre in the first place in Arce and Lalli (the latter being in Bjork‘s trio, but also a bandmate of Arce‘s in Yawning Man, and he’s played in Big Scenic Nowhere as well, let alone Fatso Jetson or any of the rest of his staggering career), so yeah, if it’s boxes you’re ticking, tick away.

To me, it reads like a hell of a beginning from a festival that probably learned some crucial lessons with its successful first edition earlier in 2026. I don’t know who else is getting added here, or when, but as they’ve started rollouts, I wanted to at least get this post up so if you’re not following along, you can. I’ll do my best to do the same between now and whenever the full lineup is out. Obviously there’s time.

But, with tickets on sale as of today, well, you get the idea. Here’s what the social media had to say about it:

Desert music & culture festival revives the free spirited vibe of Desolation Center, High Desert generator parties and early days of Coachella.

The Mojave isn’t just a backdrop — it’s the raw, unfiltered stage where music, art, and chaos collide. Out here, under endless stars and brutal sun, the desert strips away the fake and leaves only what’s real. The Mojave Experience was born from that spirit. It’s not another sanitized festival in a city park, it’s a gathering for the wild ones, the wanderers, the true believers who know the desert doesn’t hand out comfort, only freedom.

The Mojave Desert is the reason this exists. Out here, under open sky and unforgiving sun, there’s nowhere to hide. The desert cuts through the noise and leaves you with what’s real.

The Mojave Experience came out of that. It wasn’t built and it wasn’t manufactured. It was pulled straight from the dirt.

Year one proved something — people will come from anywhere for this. Not for comfort or for convenience. They come for something they can’t get anywhere else. Its for the ones who feel more at home under the desert sky than anywhere else.

Desert legends. Road-worn bands. New blood. All colliding in the same place, for a couple nights, under the same sky.

Tickets go on sale June 1. mojaveexperience.net

Artist Playing:
Brant Bjork Trio
Big Scenic Nowhere

Over 20 More TBA

https://www.mojaveexperience.net
https://instagram.com/mojave_experience_festival
https://www.facebook.com/mojave.experience.festival/

Brant Bjork Trio, Once Upon a Time in the Desert (2024)

Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown (2024)