The Blasters
Encyclopedia
The Blasters are a rock and roll
music group formed in 1979 in Downey, California
, by brothers Phil Alvin
(vocals and guitar
) and Dave Alvin
(guitar), with bass guitar
ist John Bazz and drum
mer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had these 78s – I thought they were the Blues Blasters. That ends up it was Jimmy McCracklin. I just took the 'Blues' off and Joe finally told me, that’s Jimmy McCracklin’s name, but you tell ‘im I gave you permission to steal it."
Their self-described "American Music
" was a blend of blues music, rockabilly
, early rock and roll, punk rock
, mountain music
, and rhythm and blues
. They have a devoted fan base and have received largely positive critical reviews, but have earned only limited mainstream success. Critic Mark Deming wrote of them, "the Blasters displayed a wide-ranging musical diversity [and] were a supremely tight and tasteful band with enough fire, smarts, and passion for two or three groups."
, Big Joe Turner
and others, sometimes jamming and reminiscing with the musicians. Phil Alvin remembers that his mother would take him backstage to get harmonica lessons from Sonny Terry
when Phil was still a boy. Rhythm and blues saxophone legend Lee Allen
joined The Blasters for two albums and toured with the original line-up until his death in 1994. Steve Berlin
(later of Los Lobos
) joined, playing baritone sax, and Gene Taylor
joined as well, performing boogie woogie-style piano
.
The Blasters' energetic live performances gained a local following, and they became fixtures of the early 1980s Los Angeles
punk rock
scene, performing alongside X, Black Flag
, The Gun Club, The Screamers
and others. In 1986, members of the Blasters appeared with Screamers front-man Tomata du Plenty
in the punk rock musical Population: 1
. Former Black Flag singer and current Rollins Band
leader Henry Rollins
wrote of the Blasters, "In my mind, they were a great band that not enough people found out about. Bill Bateman is one of the best drummers there is, and then of course, there are the Alvin brothers. A lot of talent for one band." (Rollins, 36)
The Blasters toured almost continuously for much of their existence. The notes for The Blasters Collection report that in one particular month, they toured with psychobilly
pioneers The Cramps
, with western swing
revivalists Asleep at the Wheel
and on a leg of Queen's
west coast tour. The Blasters gave boosts to both Los Lobos and Dwight Yoakam
by inviting them on tour; Yoakam would later score a modest hit with his version of Dave Alvin's "Long White Cadillac".
Their song "Dark Night" was featured in a 1985 episode of Miami Vice, and they gained more exposure in the Walter Hill film Streets of Fire
,(1984) performing two songs for the soundtrack as well as appearing as themselves in the film. In 1987 "Marie, Marie" was fatured in Ridley Scott's "Someone To Watch Over Me" starring Tom Berenger. In 1988 "So Long Baby, Goodbye" was featured in the film Bull Durham starting Kevin Costner and in 1996 they also appeared in the Quentin Tarantino
-Robert Rodriguez
collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn
. In 2001, the song "So Long Baby, Goodbye" was featured on the second episode of the HBO series Six Feet Under as the song chosen by the widow of the founder of a pyramid scheme for her late husband's viewing. "So Long Baby, Goodbye" is also featured in the 2004 Playstation 2
video game Gran Turismo 4
.
Dave Alvin, the group's primary songwriter, left the band in 1986 for a critically acclaimed solo career. He was initially replaced on guitar by Hollywood Fats
(birth name: Michael L. Mann) who appeared with them at Farm Aid
. Phil Alvin has led various incarnations of The Blasters intermittently since then, including a few reunion tours and live albums of the original lineup. Personnel as of 2008 is Phil Alvin together with John Bazz, Keith Wyatt
, and Bill Bateman.
Albums by current line-up:
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music group formed in 1979 in Downey, California
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...
, by brothers Phil Alvin
Phil Alvin
Phil Alvin is an American singer and guitarist. He is known primarily as the frontman of the roots-rock band The Blasters.Alvin grew up in Downey, California in a music-loving family where he and his younger brother...
(vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin , is a guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been one of the leading proponents of 'roots' or 'American' music, bringing together elements of rock-and-roll, blues, rural and tejano music....
(guitar), with bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist John Bazz and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had these 78s – I thought they were the Blues Blasters. That ends up it was Jimmy McCracklin. I just took the 'Blues' off and Joe finally told me, that’s Jimmy McCracklin’s name, but you tell ‘im I gave you permission to steal it."
Their self-described "American Music
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
" was a blend of blues music, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, early rock and roll, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, mountain music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
, and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. They have a devoted fan base and have received largely positive critical reviews, but have earned only limited mainstream success. Critic Mark Deming wrote of them, "the Blasters displayed a wide-ranging musical diversity [and] were a supremely tight and tasteful band with enough fire, smarts, and passion for two or three groups."
Band history
The Alvin brothers had an early interest in blues music, and attended concerts by T-Bone WalkerT-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...
, Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
and others, sometimes jamming and reminiscing with the musicians. Phil Alvin remembers that his mother would take him backstage to get harmonica lessons from Sonny Terry
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...
when Phil was still a boy. Rhythm and blues saxophone legend Lee Allen
Lee Allen (musician)
Lee Allen was an American tenor saxophone player born in Pittsburg, Kansas.A key figure in the New Orleans rock and roll scene of the 1950s, Allen recorded with many leading performers of the early rock and roll era...
joined The Blasters for two albums and toured with the original line-up until his death in 1994. Steve Berlin
Steve Berlin
Steve Berlin is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs, The Blasters, and The Flesh Eaters...
(later of Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
) joined, playing baritone sax, and Gene Taylor
Gene Taylor (musician)
Gene Taylor is an American blues rock and boogie-woogie pianist.-Biography:Taylor began his musical training as a drummer at age eight but two years later he had picked up both the guitar and his initial piano skills from boogie-woogie pianist-neighbours...
joined as well, performing boogie woogie-style piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
The Blasters' energetic live performances gained a local following, and they became fixtures of the early 1980s Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene, performing alongside X, Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
, The Gun Club, The Screamers
The Screamers
The Screamers were a punk rock group active in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1970s. The Screamers were pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk," and can also be classified as art punk....
and others. In 1986, members of the Blasters appeared with Screamers front-man Tomata du Plenty
Tomata du Plenty
David Xavier Harrigan, aka Tomata du Plenty the singer of the late 1970s Los Angeles synthpunk band The Screamers. He was also founder of Seattle's counterculture troupe Ze Whiz Kidz...
in the punk rock musical Population: 1
Population: 1
Population: 1 is a 1986 punk rock musical film written and directed by Rene Daalder.The film stars Tomata du Plenty of the Screamers as a defense contractor who somehow becomes the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust. In his solitude, he traces the history of U.S...
. Former Black Flag singer and current Rollins Band
Rollins Band
Rollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
leader Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
wrote of the Blasters, "In my mind, they were a great band that not enough people found out about. Bill Bateman is one of the best drummers there is, and then of course, there are the Alvin brothers. A lot of talent for one band." (Rollins, 36)
The Blasters toured almost continuously for much of their existence. The notes for The Blasters Collection report that in one particular month, they toured with psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
pioneers The Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
, with western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
revivalists Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
and on a leg of Queen's
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
west coast tour. The Blasters gave boosts to both Los Lobos and Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
by inviting them on tour; Yoakam would later score a modest hit with his version of Dave Alvin's "Long White Cadillac".
Their song "Dark Night" was featured in a 1985 episode of Miami Vice, and they gained more exposure in the Walter Hill film Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
,(1984) performing two songs for the soundtrack as well as appearing as themselves in the film. In 1987 "Marie, Marie" was fatured in Ridley Scott's "Someone To Watch Over Me" starring Tom Berenger. In 1988 "So Long Baby, Goodbye" was featured in the film Bull Durham starting Kevin Costner and in 1996 they also appeared in the Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
-Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn
From Dusk Till Dawn
From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino. The movie stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino and Juliette Lewis.-Plot:...
. In 2001, the song "So Long Baby, Goodbye" was featured on the second episode of the HBO series Six Feet Under as the song chosen by the widow of the founder of a pyramid scheme for her late husband's viewing. "So Long Baby, Goodbye" is also featured in the 2004 Playstation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
video game Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4
is a racing simulator for the Sony PlayStation 2 which was developed by Polyphony Digital. It was released on December 28, 2004 in Japan and Hong Kong , February 22, 2005 in North America , and March 9, 2005 in Europe , and has since been re-issued under Sony's 'Greatest Hits' line...
.
Dave Alvin, the group's primary songwriter, left the band in 1986 for a critically acclaimed solo career. He was initially replaced on guitar by Hollywood Fats
Hollywood Fats
Hollywood Fats was an American blues guitarist, active in Los Angeles, California.-Biography:Hollywood Fats was born Michael Leonard Mann in Los Angeles, and started playing guitar at the age of 10...
(birth name: Michael L. Mann) who appeared with them at Farm Aid
Farm Aid
Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States...
. Phil Alvin has led various incarnations of The Blasters intermittently since then, including a few reunion tours and live albums of the original lineup. Personnel as of 2008 is Phil Alvin together with John Bazz, Keith Wyatt
Keith Wyatt
Keith Wyatt is a Los Angeles-based guitarist, educator performer, teacher, writer, and developer of music curriculum and educational media. Since 1996, Wyatt has toured and recorded with renowned LA-based “American Music” group The Blasters and is featured on 4-11-44...
, and Bill Bateman.
Albums
Albums by the "original" Blasters:- American Music (1980)
- The BlastersThe Blasters (album)The Blasters is a 1981 album by American rock and roll band The Blasters. Although the album was released in the US by the independent label Slash Records, its strong sales performance required a deal for wider distribution with Warner Bros. Records...
(1981) - Over There: Live At The Venue, London (live EP) (1982)
- Non-Fiction (1983)
- Hard Line (1985)
- The Blasters Collection (1xCD Best Of) (1991)
- Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings (2xCD Anthology) (2002)
- Trouble Bound (live) (2002)
- Going Home (live) (2004)
Albums by current line-up:
- 4-11-44 (2005)