Former Kyuss singer John Garcia on his day job, reunion talk and the desert

As far as John Garcia is concerned, living a “normal” life is just fine with him, with the biggest angst getting his 14-year-old son to make his bed.

“You know, I hate to really admit it, but my life is boring, which is exactly the way I want it to be,” Garcia said in a recent phone call. “What I mean by that is I have no drama in my life. I’m healthy. My wife is healthy, my two kids are healthy.”

Although best known as the former lead singer and a founding member of stoner rock legends Kyuss, Garcia also performed in other bands like Slo Burn, Unida and Hermano. But in recent years he’s also started a solo career, in addition to his day job helping to run a family-owned veterinary hospital in Palm Springs, Calif.

Garcia’s taking a few weeks off from work for the Tour of the Valedores, where he’ll be revisiting songs from the majority of his career. That tour visits Jergel’s Rhythm Grille on Tuesday, with support from Jared James Nichols, Telekinetic Yeti and Left Lane Cruiser.

Joined by guitarist John Bennet, bassist Billy Cordell and drummer Greg Saenz, Garcia will be embarking on his first North American tour since 2013.

“So the moon’s got to align just right and we’ve got to plan it accordingly because we’re gonna be gone from our kids, we’re going be gone from our wives — and the wives are kind of the real unseen heroes here,” Garcia said. “It’s not like we are all whipped and can’t make this happen, but it takes a lot of support from the wives, and they’re really the reason that we are allowed to be doing this because, without their support, it could not happen.”

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At 53 years old, Garcia joked about “touring with these old bones.” But he said he stays pretty physical, whether it’s hitting the trampoline with his son or wrangling the patients at Palm Springs Animal Hospital.

“I do a lot of bending and shifting and body contortions where animals are not always the most cooperative,” he said, “especially if you’re trying to take an X-ray of a 97-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback and he’s not giving you the time of day, so we do our best.”

The classic songs of Kyuss will probably be the biggest draw of this tour, despite the band breaking up almost 30 years ago in 1995. Through the years, Kyuss included singer/guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), bassists Nick Oliveri and Scott Reeder and drummers Brant Bjork and Alfredo Hernandez.

“I credit Josh and Brant, Scott and Nick and Alfredo and us getting in the room and not caring and just playing the music that we missed and that was missing in our lives,” Garcia said. “That music still, if it continues to make people feel the way it made them feel 25, 30 years ago, I think that’s a good thing. And I’m very lucky to be a part of their lives if only for a short period of time. … So it’s just a testament of all the good music that Josh and Brant wrote and I was a part of.”

Over the course of five years, the band knocked out four albums: “Wretch” in 1991, “Blues for the Red Sun” in 1992, “Welcome to Sky Valley” in 1994 and “… And the Circus Leaves Town” in 1995. The band’s relatively short career has created a bit of an aura around Kyuss, but that’s not something Garcia worries too much about.

“If you’ve never seen Kyuss, this is as close as you’re going to get to seeing Kyuss,” he said. “… We show these songs an incredible amount of respect, but as far as mystique and throwing words like that around, I don’t think about it that much because I’m just a normal dude with a job. To celebrate something like this and go on the road with my guys and have a good time and have fun, that’s special for me.”

Garcia reunited with Bjork and Oliveri in 2010 as Kyuss Lives!, with the name changed to Vista Chino after a lawsuit from Homme and Reeder. As for whether a full-fledged reunion could ever happen, Garcia remains doubtful.

“I stopped thinking about that a long time ago. Honestly, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen,” Garcia said. “But also, I’m just saying, never say never, but I am 99.99% positive it’s not going to happen.”

Kyuss is sometimes labeled as desert rock, with sludgy riffs dripped in psychedelia and heavy metal. The barren landscape of the desert still inspires Garcia to this day.

“I can’t imagine myself living anyplace else, I can’t. This is just home for me. As you can see where I’m driving through right now, I am literally in the middle of the desert,” Garcia said. “I was in downtown Palm Springs when I started talking to you; now I am in the middle of nowhere, on my way home to my house, sandwiched between Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, so there’s a big stretch of road, Highway 62, where there is nothing. This is home.

“I love Texas. I loved visiting Texas. I often thought about moving to Texas. I love the deserts of Texas. I love San Antonio. I love Austin. And I’ve often thought about moving there, but I can’t. I most likely never will. I’m just too deeply rooted here. So it’s just part of life, and is it inspiring to me? Yes it is, and when I look outside my bedroom window and I see the desert, this is home and a part of me.”