Ghost Mesa
- Genre
- Rock
- Awards and Nominations
- SAMMIES 2020 Nominee★ Rock ★
- Musicians
- James Garner — bass
- Nate Garcia — drums
- Nelson Miranda — guitar, lead vocals
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Q & A
All-time favorite song?
02.06.20
All questions answered by Nate Garcia:
This is a tough one, I have a hard time even narrowing it down to a Top 10, but given the current climate in our country, Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality,” which has always been among my favorites, is especially resonant.
As a child growing up, music surrounds us. What type of music did you hear the most back then? How does it differ from what you listen to now?
02.06.20
My dad played music in bars, and would have living room jams and such when I was little, so, music was always around. He was into ’70s and ’80s honky tonk, outlaw country and bluegrass. My mom wasn’t WAY into music but she was more of a disco, soft rock, singer/songwriter type person. In about 1982, I discovered heavy metal. These days, I find that all of these influences remain. One day, you’ll find me listening to Converge and High on Fire, the next day I’ll be bumping Willie and Waylon or Steely Dan.
Do you have regular gigs around town?
02.06.20
Ghost Mesa probably plays roughly once a month, but we don’t have a residency anywhere. My only regular gig around here is doing sound at Holy Diver.
Favorite guitar player?
02.06.20
Probably the most influential to my own music would be Page Hamilton from Helmet. The rhythmic possibilities of open tuning worked very well for me as a drummer trying to play guitar.
How do you describe your music to people?
02.06.20
Ghost Mesa is a rock band. We just want to play music that we like to hear and is fun to play, and hopefully other people like it.
How do you feel about musical award competitions?
02.06.20
I am all for recognizing the top talent in our city. Do these award competitions do that? I am sure that is the intention, but I’m not sure we’ve landed on a formula that will always reward the best and brightest. As far as Ghost Mesa is concerned, to be nominated is quite an honor. Given that we have almost no music online, that means our nomination came from someone(s) who has seen us play live, and thought enough of it to nominate us. That is a good feeling. I could give or take the “competition” part of it. This music scene is already dealing with enough divisiveness. I’d rather we strive for a bit of unity and celebrate our best, no matter the genre.
Is there a central theme to your band's music?
02.06.20
This is probably a question for Nelson (lead vocals/guitar), but much of the lyrical content seems to revolve around relationships.
Tell us about how the band formed.
02.06.20
Nelson (lead vocals/guitar) came and recorded some of his original demos with me at The Dock studio, and I played drums on those demos. When it became apparent that it was working pretty well, he contacted James (bass), who had played alongside him in Kurt Travis’ touring band, and this started rolling from there.
Tell us about how you first started gigging.
02.06.20
I personally started playing music at age 11, and was in my first band by the time I was 12 or 13. I was playing with a couple older guys and I believe our first gig was a backyard party or something.
Tell us about yourself.
02.06.20
My name is Nate Garcia: Dad, audio engineer at Holy Diver, The Dock Studio and beyond. I play drums for the band Ghost Mesa.
What are your musical goals?
02.06.20
Short term, Ghost Mesa has our first EP coming out on Feb. 22, we are doing a co-release show at Holy Diver that night with Horseneck.
What artist or band are you a little embarrassed to love, and why?
02.06.20
I mean, I just admitted I listen to Steely Dan regularly. I clearly have no shame.
What did you want to be when you were 7?
02.06.20
I wanted to be a breakdancer/stuntman. Dead serious.
What drives you to keep playing even though the music industry can be so harsh?
02.06.20
I am thankful for any opportunity to play good music with good people. I’ve been playing music for 32 years (holy heck!) so I’ve been through many ups and downs, musically. I am fortunate to work in music. I get to work with some of my favorite people in the world, musicians I look up to and I'm in a position to guide younger musicians from time to time. I am very grateful and do not take it for granted.
What was the first song you learned to play?
02.06.20
What was the first song you learned to play?
What's a big musical inspiration that would most surprise your fans?
02.06.20
I was probably the biggest Stryper fan in Oklahoma in the early ’80s. Those early records taught me how to play drums, for better or worse.
What's next for the band?
02.06.20
As I mentioned, Feb. 22 Ghost Mesa is releasing an EP and playing a co-release show with Horseneck at Holy Diver. Kill the Precedent and Dustin Burke and his band are also playing, so it’s a night full of doing hoodrat stuff with my friends. Beyond that, Ghost Mesa is looking to travel this year and we will very likely go back into The Dock studio with Lance Jackman and record more music and hopefully release that by the end of the year.
What's next for you?
02.06.20
Me, personally? Well, you’ll find me behind the console at Holy Diver and other places around town, probably on the road with various Sacramento bands like Horseneck and Merchants, and recording bands/artists at The Dock.
What's your favorite local artist/group?
02.06.20
Sacramento has very rich music history. I come from Dallas, Texas, and Dallas became aware of Sacramento’s music scene in the ’90s when Deftones, Will Haven and Far started to gain their notoriety. So, if those bands count as local artists, they’d be among my favorites. Other than that, Horseneck (a glaring omission from this year’s nominees), Chrome Ghost just dropped an amazing album, Bastards of Young and our buddies in Shotgun Sawyer are unf***withable.
Who are your biggest influences?
02.06.20
Ghost Mesa is sort of recommended if you like Queens of the Stone Age, Mars Volta, Fu Manchu, desert rock and the like. If you like rock ’n’ roll, you’ll probably vibe with us. My personal influences as a drummer would be the “funk in the context of rock” that Jean Paul Gaster from Clutch manages to accomplish, John Stanier from the classic Helmet albums, their use of syncopation was big for me and can be found in Ghost Mesa’s music, and probably Bill Ward from Black Sabbath, who gave me the BEST advice I’ve ever received from one of my heroes. He said “mind the gaps, what you don’t play is just as important as what you do play.”
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