What's a Pioche? ⛏️

So... what's a "Pioche"?

It's a living ghost town in eastern Nevada that instantly captured my heart and imagination when I first visited there way back in the late 1980s. I was on one of many Southwest road trips with (my brother from another) Frank Hargrove. (R.I.P. dude) 👇

The first thing that jumped out at me on that late afternoon as we pulled into town was the cracked, faded marquee of the crumbling (but currently under restoration in 2025) GEM Theater. The marquee read, simply and yet profoundly:

"All Dogs Go To Heaven"

The town of Pioche has since inspired a series of mixtapes & CDRs, a massive music folder, one more highly enjoyable visit during a *2019 road trip with my daughter Kenzie, and the hopes & dreams of me ultimately owning a home in that town.  And now, as you can see, Pioche has inspired a most unusual band.

*The cover photo on the front page was taken by me during our 2019 visit:
As you can see, the GEM was not showing any movies on that particular day

Learn all about the utterly fascinating & brutal "Real Wild West" history of Pioche here:
https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/pioche/