Desert Daze 2018

By Cara Anderson | @carajojo

Photos by Peyton Flynn | @peytoe | peytonflynn.com

This past weekend, Desert Daze was held at Moreno Beach in Lake Perris, California from October 12th to 14th. It was quite a different experience from last year’s Desert Daze in Joshua Tree. The festival grounds were flanked by mountains, peppered with lush shady trees, and attendees were free to swim in the warm waters of Lake Perris until sunset.

Desert Daze is a psych-rock festival, with staple performers like JUUJUU, fronted by the festival’s founder Phil Pirrone who calls Desert Daze the “anti-festival.” This year, the likes of Death Grips and My Bloody Valentine were illustrious wildcards in the lineup.

On Friday, we meandered to the Mystic Bazaar for a Mushroom Medicine talk where participants learned about the healing benefits of various fungi. The moderator passed around mushroom specimens, like a softball sized Reishi, and added that she doesn’t take psilocybin as it’s a “bad time” for her. Everyone’s got their own bowl of porridge.

Following the mushroom chat, we saw badass performances from the all-women bands L.A. Witch and Warpaint.

As Friday night unfolded, flashes of pale purple lightning flickered in the sky. Temperatures dropped and a storm rolled in during Tame Impala’s set. The headliners played three songs before festival goers were evacuated from the area and urged to seek cover in a hotel, car, or one of the campground buildings. Rain poured down and Desert Daze sent out instructions that no one should be camping in a tent. Twitter erupted with disgruntled festival goers and Tame Impala fans demanding their money back. Unfortunately, the rain carried on through the night; Tame Impala never went back on and couldn’t be rescheduled for the following days due to prior obligations.

On Saturday, Desert Daze announced that they were refunding everyone’s parking fees and granting all Friday pass holders reentry to the festival for an extra day. The morning started slow and grey, which was arguably more beautiful than a bright sunny day. Looking out on the foggy lake and mountains shrouded in low-hanging clouds felt like we had waltzed through a portal into a Nordic oasis.

We headed to the Hakuna Hemp Cafe in the VIP area to warm up with a CBD infused coffee. Hakuna’s CBD coffee is crafted by blending coffee beans with water-soluble CBD. Their hemp-derived CBD is extracted from a strain they’ve been cultivating for six years, said Creative Director Torrey Thomas. The CBD coffee was a welcome friend after sleeping in my Durango the night before, it pepped us up and soothed whatever aches hadn’t already been alleviated by a breakfast-time joint. Hakuna Supply, the parent company of Hakuna Supply CBD, specializes in high-quality stash boxes which were showcased with their 10 mg CBD sour watermelons, gummy bears, and candied ginger offerings. For non-coffee drinkers, Hakuna Hemp Cafe also had an array of CBD Buddha Teas.

We had the pleasure of meeting with Melissa Scaduto and Brady Keehn of Sextile, an LA-based high energy post-punk band. Read about our time with Sextile here.

The absolute highlight of Saturday evening was King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s frenetic hour and a half long set. The Australian crew played favorites like Robot Stop and Rattlesnake. The ultra-animated lead Stu Mackenzie (vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist) gave off the energy of fighting monsters with his tongue out, fluffy hair blowing, wide stance dance, and sporadic high-kicks. Their set was like being immersed in a Beowulf-esque arcade game. (As in, Beowulf the Old English epic, not the 2007 animated action film.)

On Sunday, the sun came out and people splashed in the lake. The Desert Daze Marketplace housed a nice curation of vendors including pskaufman…, VidaKush, and a handful of vintage clothing booths.

The lineup on Sunday was all over the place, in a great way. Sextile livened up The Theatre stage with their dance-inducing punchy post-punk set. Next, we saw EARTH’s plodding stoner jams, followed by Death Grips with MC Ride’s piercing intensity. Honestly, after Death Grips, I needed my bed.

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