Brant Bjork

Brant Bjork (born March 19, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer.

He is best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss.

Bjork has also been a member of Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator and Vista Chino, the latter with former Kyuss members John Garcia and Nick Oliveri.

He is currently the frontman and co-founder of the stoner rock power trio, Stöner.

Bjork is one of the more notable figures in the stoner rock and Palm Desert scene and maintains a prolific solo career with over a dozen released albums.

While still in high school, Bjork got together with friends Chris Cockrell, Nick Oliveri, Josh Homme and John Garcia in 1987 to form a band called Katzenjammer.

At Bjork's prompting, the band would soon be renamed Sons of Kyuss for a single EP, named after "The Sons of Kyuss" monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and then later shortened to Kyuss.

The band relocated to Los Angeles in 1990 and signed to Chameleon Records, releasing their debut album, Wretch in September 1991.

They were then picked up by the major label Elektra Records, becoming the first desert rock band to achieve international success.

Bjork was a major creative force in Kyuss, contributing a substantial portion of the band's songwriting, including standout tracks like "Green Machine" and "50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)".

In 1994, Bjork left the band following the release of Welcome to Sky Valley, frustrated at guitarist Homme's growing reluctance to play the songs he was contributing to the band.

"Josh and I were the creative force of Kyuss. We had a very deep understanding of the need for each other in getting the band to exist musically. At the time of Sky Valley, I was young, probably about 19 or 20, and I certainly had a lot of artistic vision for Kyuss. I exercised that with Blues for the Red Sun, but when it came time for Sky Valley, there was a conflict in direction between Josh and I. That never really happened before, and I didn't know how to handle it."

After leaving Kyuss, Bjork would go on to play with several different bands, as well as founding the independent label El Camino Records (later Duna Records).

Having produced their debut album No One Rides for Free in 1994, Bjork would officially join Fu Manchu with the release of their critically acclaimed 1997 album The Action Is Go.

Through his label, Bjork would release albums that he was musically involved in, such as hardcore punk band De-Con's 1995 album Balls for Days, on which he played drums.

Bjork would also release and produce stoner rock band Solarfeast's 1995 debut Gossamer.

Bjork would later go on to join former Kyuss bandmate, Josh Homme, in his Palm Desert musical collective series, The Desert Sessions.

He would play a mixture of guitar, bass, drums, and percussion on various tracks on the 1997 releases Volume 1: Instrumental Driving Music For Felons and Volume 2: Status: Ships Commander Butchered, as well as 1999's Volume 5: Poetry for the Masses (SeaShedShitheadByTheSheSore) and Volume 6: Black Anvil Ego.

Bjork briefly moved to Santa Cruz to play guitar for hardcore punk band LAB in 1997 (made up of the remaining members of '80s punk band BL'AST!), playing on their 1997 release, the 7-inch EP "Burning Leaf/Chihuahua".

He would also play guitar for Fatso Jetson during 1997–1998, including on their 1998 "Jailbreak" 7-inch split EP with stoner rock band Fu Manchu.

Bjork was playing with another former member of Kyuss, Nick Oliveri, in Oliveri's metal band Mondo Generator.

Joining in 1997, Bjork's drumming would feature on the 2000 LP Cocaine Rodeo, and the 2003 LP A Drug Problem That Never Existed.

Bjork recorded his first solo album, 1999's Jalamanta, in February of that year and performed all of the album's instruments, including guitar and vocals.

He would also perform guitar and vocals in the short-lived stoner rock band Ché – a side-project collaboration with former Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age drummer Alfredo Hernández and former Unida bassist Dave Dinsmore.

Ché released their only album, Sounds of Liberation, in October 2000.

Bjork would continue to play on every Fu Manchu recording until his departure following the release of 2001's California Crossing, including the albums Eatin' Dust and King of the Road.

Bjork's next album, 2002's Brant Bjork & the Operators, named for Bjork's fictional backing band, 'the Operators', was recorded in November 2000 with Bjork again performing vocals and most instruments.

He would continue to be the sole performer, except for a few guest spots, on 2003's Keep Your Cool and 2004's Local Angel.

Bjork would form the band Brant Bjork and the Bros in 2003, featuring guitarist Mike Pygmie, bassist Dylan Roche, and drummer Michael Peffer, with Bjork performing vocals and additional guitar.

They toured Europe in October 2003, performing a mixture of Bjork's solo material and Ché's Sounds of Liberation.

He would tour with the band until leaving in 2004.

Bjork also appeared on the live video album Use Once and Destroy Me released in 2004, as well as later releases recorded during his stint lineup, including the 2006 7-inch single "I Never Sleep" and the 2008 Australian Tour EP.

Pygmie was replaced by Scott Cortez Silverman for further touring in Europe and North America in 2004.

This line-up went on to record the 2005 double album Saved by Magic.

The album featured a return to the sound of Bjork's earlier sound from his Jalamanta/Sounds of Liberation era.

2006 saw the release of Sabbia, a feature film "visual soundtrack" by filmmaker Kate McCabe, featuring Bjork's music.

Brant Bjork and the Bros would go on to record another album, 2007's Somera Sól, with Alfredo Hernández replacing Michael Peffer on drums.

In the same year, Bjork released his fifth solo album, Tres Dias, an acoustic album featuring reinterpretations of older songs, as well as some new material.

The title of the album (Three Days) comes from the purported amount of time that Bjork claimed it took to record it at producer Tony Mason's house in Joshua Tree, California.

Bjork reported in 2007 that he had ended his label, Duna Records, citing that it took too much time and energy to run.