Kyuss World members to bring Canadian burned in April apartment fire to Coachella Valley

(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy)

Five months ago, Zakk Grant of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada survived an apartment fire that burned over 40% of his body.

Since then, he's been through pneumonia, a blood infection and several surgeries to repair the damage caused by his third-degree burns, but he's made a miraculous recovery. Such a great recovery, in fact, that he's celebrating it this week with a trip to the desert for a pilgrimage to the Sky Valley sign made famous from Kyuss' 1994 album "Welcome to Sky Valley."

The Facebook fan group Kyuss World , which celebrates the former local desert rock band featuring Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, vocalist John Garcia, drummer Brant Bjork and bassist Nick Oliveri, makes an annual pilgrimage to the area each September that includes a concert and visit to the sign on Dillon Road. Since 2017, the group's founder, Nathan Lawver of Madison, Wisconsin, has selected one member to receive an all-expenses paid trip to the site through donations.

The opportunity of a lifetime

Lawver said he and the group's administrators choose a recipient from a different continent each year for the honor. Previous recipients have come from Australia, Peru and the Netherlands. This year, the original plan was to select someone from an African or Asian country, but they decided on Canadian Grant, who has been a group member for over a decade.

Kyuss World also started a GoFundMe for Grant in April to help his mother with medical and other incident-related expenses that raised over $22,000 CAD. Unfortunately, Lawver doesn't think the group's separate fundraising efforts to bring Grant to the Coachella Valley will reach its goal, but the plan is to award him any money raised from the efforts, while Grant's mother will cover the airfare and Lawver will pay for the lodging.

"It's definitely going to feel special this year. Zakk is a huge music fan, and he always has interesting posts and something to say," Lawver said.

Grant said he cried a bunch of "happy tears" in August when he discovered he'd been chosen, and added that he has wanted to visit the area for several years to see both the sign and the Nude Bowl . The latter is an empty pool at the former Desert Gardens Ranch nudist colony along the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in Desert Hot Springs that became a skateboarding destination in the '80s and '90s.

"I thanked (Lawver) several times because I couldn't believe it. I told my folks and they were so happy for me. They've known I've always wanted to go down that way. I'm excited and honored that people like me enough to want to do something like that for me. It feels like I'm the man of the hour," Grant said.

While speaking of Kyuss World, Lawver and bringing Grant to the area, Garcia expressed his admiration and emphasized it's an "amazing group of people." He's consistently awestruck by the annual pilgrimage of Kyuss fans to the desert to celebrate the band he sang in during the late '80s and early '90s before officially disbanding in 1995.

"It's incredible to have these guys come out and visit, and not only that, pay for this guy who was burned and almost killed in a fire. They're flying him out for this event and that's a testament in regards to what Nathan does, his crew, and the whole organization. I'm so thankful to have been a part of this," Garcia said.

'I'm just thankful I made it out'

Grant's memories of that life-changing night are hazy, but he said he'd just returned home from his brother's birthday party the evening of April 7 when he heard an explosion. Suddenly the apartment was on fire around him, and he remembers trying to pull himself up from the floor. The incident left him with third-degree burns all over, and he was airlifted to Edmonton to stay in the local hospital's burn unit.

CBC reported the cause of the fire was still undetermined as of April 13 (there has been no subsequent reporting on the incident). The other 26 apartments in the building were evacuated, and the fire caused damage to pipes in the basement.

"I'm just thankful I made it out," he said. "When I first caught on fire, I thought 'I'm a goner. Well, I'm 30, I guess I had a decent run.' I woke up in the hospital and couldn't believe I was still alive."

During his recovery, Grant said the medically induced coma produced vivid dreams. He described feeling like he was a character in the Pixar-animated film "Toy Story" and being in a Japanese hospital undergoing experimental treatment to become a "human lobster."

"When I woke up, I was like 'Wait, I'm not a lobster?' It was the funniest thing ever, and as scary as it was in the moment, I look back and think (wonder) how I even came to think of that," Grant said.

After waking up, Grant was surprised to see the kindness he and his family received from strangers after losing all of his possessions, which included his collectibles such as skateboards, memorabilia related to the TV show "Jackass" and his music collection.

K.J. Jansen, the lead singer of the Canadian punk band Chixdiggit, drove three hours from Calgary to visit Grant in the hospital and gave him a package of the band's music and merchandise, and other friends stopped and left gifts to replace what he lost.

After five weeks in the hospital, Grant was sent home. He now lives in a new apartment. Even though he's undergone a recent corrective surgery and painful bandage changes, he cries "happy tears" over his recovery and being well enough to travel to the Coachella Valley this weekend.

"I really want to take in the experience, because I never thought I'd be able to make it, and here I am," Grant said.

The Sky Valley sign attracts visitors from around the globe

Kyuss formed in 1987 and was known for creating a new sound that combined ’70s rock 'n' roll with punk rock. In 1993, the group toured Australia as the opening band for the metal group Metallica . Oliveri left in 1992 and Bjork departed in 1994. While Kyuss attracted fan bases in Europe and Australia that are still growing today, the band was not as successful in the U.S. at the time.

Since disbanding in 1995, Homme started the band Queens of the Stone Age the following year, which featured Oliveri from 1998 to 2004. Bjork, Garcia and Oliveri have been active in solo projects.

Neil Ludlum, secretary of the Sky Valley Homeowners Association, told The Desert Sun in 2022 there have been different versions of the sign going back several years, and the first one was installed by the Sky Valley Chamber of Commerce. During the '90s, a new sign went up with the chamber's name and that model went on the "Welcome to Sky Valley" album cover.

The homeowners association installed the current version in 2013. Before the Kyuss World group photo in 2019, the sign was vandalized . Ludlum said it was an "an amorous fan" who wanted the sign for his collection.

In Sky Valley, most residents support keeping the sign as a symbol of community spirit that dates back several years. Ludlum encourages residents to socialize and greet visitors.

Lawver mentioned that the sign has attracted members from around the globe who have visited the Coachella Valley on their own trips and saw a photo posted in the group from a member in Tibet posing in front of the sign. He said it's "crazy" to meet people he's been friends with on social media for several years in celebration of Kyuss.

"Kyuss was a special thing, and stuff like that doesn't get forgotten, I wanted to make sure of that because I never saw them live and the goal of Kyuss World from the start was just to show the band that people still love their music and wish they would get back together," Lawver said.

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Kyuss World members to bring Canadian burned in April apartment fire to Coachella Valley