Released in November 2019, Desolation Center tells the story of a series of guerrilla music and art performances that ran between 1983–85 in the Mojave Desert, California. Directed by the creator and organiser of the original events, Stuart Swezey, the 94 minute documentary features interviews and rare archival footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Swans, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic and others.

The first of these events, dubbed Desolation Center, was called Mojave Exodus. Punks and industrial fans travelled on rented school buses into the far reaches of the Mojave Desert for a programme of gigs documented by LA Weekly as being “like some bizarre ritual at the end of the world.” Following that, Joy at Sea had punters take a boat to a floating space in the San Pedro harbour, while for Mojave Auszug and the Gila Monster Jamboree they returned to a secret location in desert's expanse. Kim Gordon, in recent autobiography Girl In A Band: A Memoir, described the Gila Monster Jamboree as “a magical night, one of my favourite shows ever.”

Although the film makes links between Desolation Center shows and the formation of larger commercial festivals like Burning Man, Lollapalooza and Coachella, in his review in The Wire 429 (available to subscribers), Byron Coley disagrees: “I had occasionally thought this myself,” but, he continues, “after watching Desolation Center, I am less convinced. It reminded me that there were more than a few of us back in the day who would regularly drive out to Joshua Tree, rent a cabin at the 29 Palms Motel and spend the weekend running around the desert while tripping our brains out. Swezey’s desert events were closer to those weekends than anything offered by their big time supposed-spawn.”

Whether a precursor to bigger things or not, the film documents the power of DIY culture at a time when more traditional punk was moving aside for hardcore. It's available to stream from today on iTunes, Apple, Amazon, FandangoNOW, Google Play and Vimeo On Demand.

Watch rare footage of Einstürzende Neubauten performing in the desert.