Chris Elkjar

There was no way we we going to do a series of videos exploring the litany of sounds available within each Valhalla Amplifier without including David Catching (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal, Earthings?). We sat down at the legendary Rancho De La Luna with David for an afternoon of sound.

In the debut episode of the series – Christopher Thorn (Blind Melon, Afghan Whigs, AWOL Nation) takes his trusty Jotunn 20 for a rip at his Joshua Tree, CA recording studio Fireside Sound.

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that Dave Catching is one of the gems of the music world. We were honored to attend and provide backline for his 65th birthday bash!

The same three return to Rancho De La Luna — David Catching, Joey Castillo and Jonathan Hischke — but this time the room pulls in a stranger direction. Where Broadcast One locked into a heavy groove, Broadcast Two drifts: a slow-building, kaleidoscopic jam that bends time and dissolves into space.

We left the NAMM convention floor, and its associated inevitable sickness behind and ventured out to spend a few evenings at Desert Dome Studio in Yucca Valley.

That Thing In The Desert is our yearly gathering of musicians, builders, engineers, and friends at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree. We left the NAMM convention floor, and its associated inevitable sickness behind.

Pulled together in a single day at the studio, this track is a snapshot of what can happen when the right players, the right room, and the right amps collide.

For David Catching, inspiration almost never starts with a specific chord or note. It starts with a feeling. The room, the light, the way an amp sits in a space. Aesthetics are not just decoration, they are a constant invitation to enter a creative flow state.