It may be a bit of a stretch to try to wax poetic about The Blasters in a forum concerned with all things 70’s and punk, but the band did start kicking around during that decade and on most nights, to experience them live was like crawling inside a jet engine and feeling its power rip the skin off your body and pulverize your bones to grist.
Ex-Beat Farmer Buddy Blue calls them “one of the greatest rock & roll bands to ever stalk the planet, a Ron Jeremy blue-steel boner come to musical life, squirting its demonic seed over the anointed masses” .
Criminally lumped in with rockabilly revivalists of the late 70's and early 80's, most of whom were more concerned with quiffs and tattoos than writing a great song, The Blasters were a bunch of guys from Downey, California who simply rolled up their shirt sleeves and got down to the dirty business of mixing rock, R&B, country, blues, jazz and swing and capturing lightning in a jar on three timeless albums (and one damn good live E.P.) for Slash in the early 80's.
The straws that stirred the drink were the brothers Alvin, Phil and Dave, and their creative genius, apparently fueled by a hate-hate relationship (see also The Kinks, Oasis, Black Crowes, Everly Brothers, etc.), would ultimately prove to be the original lineup's undoing when Dave left to tread the boards alone on what has ultimately proven to be a highly successful solo career, culminating in a Grammy.
Taking a back seat to this sibling rivalry, but no less important to the chemistry of the band were John Bazz, looking for all the world like Wally and Beaver Cleaver's brother, playing a Fender bass that looked almost as big as he was, nattily attired and suavely coiffured Bill Bateman, providing the thunder on drums, and the real Big Man (forget Clarence Clemmons), piano player Gene Taylor, resembling nothing if not a direct descendant of Bun E. Carlos, pounding the keys like his Ritalin hadn't kicked in yet.
In recent years, however, the skies have opened up and dumped a glut of Blasters product. “American Music" (Hightone) is essential for any fan of rockabilly, roots, Americana, however you want to label it. This album takes us back to a time when the brothers Alvin were honing their chops in and around their hometown. Rockin' Ronny Weiser believed in the band enough to take them into the studio and release the results on his tiny, but apparently influential label Rollin' Rock back in 1980, albeit in a run of less than 2,000 vinyl LP's (one of which this scribe managed to get his hands on).
Ex-Beat Farmer Buddy Blue calls them “one of the greatest rock & roll bands to ever stalk the planet, a Ron Jeremy blue-steel boner come to musical life, squirting its demonic seed over the anointed masses” .
Criminally lumped in with rockabilly revivalists of the late 70's and early 80's, most of whom were more concerned with quiffs and tattoos than writing a great song, The Blasters were a bunch of guys from Downey, California who simply rolled up their shirt sleeves and got down to the dirty business of mixing rock, R&B, country, blues, jazz and swing and capturing lightning in a jar on three timeless albums (and one damn good live E.P.) for Slash in the early 80's.
The straws that stirred the drink were the brothers Alvin, Phil and Dave, and their creative genius, apparently fueled by a hate-hate relationship (see also The Kinks, Oasis, Black Crowes, Everly Brothers, etc.), would ultimately prove to be the original lineup's undoing when Dave left to tread the boards alone on what has ultimately proven to be a highly successful solo career, culminating in a Grammy.
Taking a back seat to this sibling rivalry, but no less important to the chemistry of the band were John Bazz, looking for all the world like Wally and Beaver Cleaver's brother, playing a Fender bass that looked almost as big as he was, nattily attired and suavely coiffured Bill Bateman, providing the thunder on drums, and the real Big Man (forget Clarence Clemmons), piano player Gene Taylor, resembling nothing if not a direct descendant of Bun E. Carlos, pounding the keys like his Ritalin hadn't kicked in yet.
In recent years, however, the skies have opened up and dumped a glut of Blasters product. “American Music" (Hightone) is essential for any fan of rockabilly, roots, Americana, however you want to label it. This album takes us back to a time when the brothers Alvin were honing their chops in and around their hometown. Rockin' Ronny Weiser believed in the band enough to take them into the studio and release the results on his tiny, but apparently influential label Rollin' Rock back in 1980, albeit in a run of less than 2,000 vinyl LP's (one of which this scribe managed to get his hands on).
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