A: Charlie, The Blasters never had the opportunity to work with Dave Edmunds but I think that it would have been an ideal match; not only for his musical sensibilities but also for his stripped down production techniques that would have leant a leaner, gutsier sound to our recordings that I feel we never quite captured. You must realize that the sentiment within the Blasters back in those days was to forgo the use of any outside help / production in lieu of doing it ourselves. It was only at the insistence of Warner Brothers (the guys with the money) that we used Jeff Eirich to produce 'Hard Line' in 1984. We did, however, work with Dave Edmunds' colleague, Nick Lowe, sometime in 1985 when Warner Bros. had him produce a demo session for the songs, 'Brother' and 'Fourth of July.' This, unfortunately, was the last time the original band ever recorded together. chow, Johnny B
A:
Dear Gear head,
Busted!!! For most of my Blaster life, I've used a
'59 Precision with La Bella 'Deep Talkin' Bass' flatwounds. In 1984 I
was persuaded to switch to half round or brite flats, by our record
producer, Jeff Eirich, for the Hard Line LP. I
continued using this style of string for quite some time until switching
back to Flatwounds (GHS). Although I prefer the La Bella, I can't find
them as easily as the GHS's, which can be crucial whilst on the road.
The '59 P bass along with a '67 P bass were stolen almost 3 years ago
(a moment of silence, please) and I've gone on a bass buying rampage
since then, acquiring 2 '51 P bass reissues (Japanese), a '57 P bass
reissue (U.S.), a '64? P bass reissue (U.S) and a reissue Dan Electro
'Long Horn' in purple burst! The original 'Rolling Rock' recordings
were done using my first bass, a $75 pawn shop special, 49'??, 'Kay'
electric hollow body. I own one other bass, a vintage '57 Gibson EB 2,
which can be heard on County Fair 2000's (hey
that's commin' up) 'Mr. Satellite Man. My other gear consists of an SWR
Goliath jr. (6 x 10") cabinet and an Ampeg SVT II Pro head along with a couple
of other, smaller, cabinets. I also have an old Ampeg B15 that I intend
to fix because it really sounds great for that 'you're playin' me too loud sound,
so I'm gonna distort now' Chicago blues style. It also looks wicked.
So Long,
Johnny B
I'm still shakin!
Perttu Pnettinen
A:
Perttu,
I'd love a copy. Let me know what you want for it.
Thanks,
Johnny B
P.S. Look for the Blasters in Finland sometime in October.
A:
Gerry,
This is a difficult question for me to answer because I don't play
anything like my hero, Willie Dixon. Instead, I play a lot of the guitar
lines from Little Walter's 'Chess' recordings. Go figure. For some
reason, Little Walter didn't always use a bass player, but instead,
the second guitar would play the bass - and it's as near perfect as
you'll get; very sparse and repetitive, almost cliché. It's sometimes
hard to play in this style, the temptation being to add more than is
necessary...must resist the urge! But if you listen real close, you can
hear Willie Dixon in the background playing a simple, alternating I, V
sort of pattern. This simple style is prevalent in most of his recordings
of which there are many. If you listen to 'Maybellene' by Chuck Berry
you'll hear this simple style, then at the guitar solo, Willie starts
walkin' and it really moves. If you have a chance to see Larry Taylor,
don't hesitate. He has mastered Willie's (and others) style of playing. He
is currently on tour with Tom Waits (w/Smokey Hormel on guitar!). Usually
you can catch him in Canned Heat or with Kim Wilson and his West Coast
All stars?? Larry really commands whatever band he's in and has the best
note selection going. Gene Taylor says that Larry has the best note to
note volume consistency (no easy task) of anyone he's ever played with -
highly recommended.
A few other bass players that I really admire are Willie J. Campbell currently of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (killer right hand and unique, soulful bass lines), Keith Furgeson, also of the Fabulous Thunderbirds circa 1978 to 1982??? Tommy Shannon of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, Jeff Turmas ex James Harman Band, and Jack Meyers, a post-war Chicago blues session player. You have to hear 'Vietnam Blues' by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, on Vanguard records. Jack's playing is a bit over the top and very unorthodox, in fact, I'm surprised anyone in the band can play along with him, but they do and to great effect.
Thanks for the Question,
John Bazz
A:
Eddie,
Thanks a lot, it's really great to have a band that can play this music
with the necessary urgency. As far as getting out to Texas...it could
happen. If we had a new record, it would be a natural for us get out
of L.A. and to tour the U.S. in support of such a monumental thing. In
fact, we are currently in rehearsal so that we can make a new Blaster
record. So, with any luck, you just might see the Blasters in Dallas
sometime before the year 2000...it could happen. Otherwise, come back
to Los Angeles y'all.
So Long,
Johnny B
A:
Sigge,
I can only speak for myself, and I thought that the album was very cool.
Unfortunately, it was stolen from my car before I had a chance to
familiarize myself with the material, so I can't tell you which were my
favorite performances - not that I would have, but there were more than
a few times I had to go back to the liner notes to see the names of the
bands because the music was so good.
Adios,
Johnny B
Keith: Tell Rod Ling I do remember him; after all, it was only 15 years ago! There were a few Aussies at GIT in those days, and one of my best friends from when I went to school was Ron Leigh. Ask Rod to tell Ron hello for me if they're in touch.
For Keith Wyatt:
What guitars,amps, and effects do you use?
and when will your tape,"Blues Guitar Tone" be released? Thanks.
Keith: When I play with the Blasters currently I'm using
pretty much the same setup all the time, which is: Fender Strat
(1973)- I bought it new.
Gibson '54 Reissue Gold Top Les Paul- just got
it last year, and it's a great guitar with a good sound for the band.
It has P-90 pickups, which are just about my favorites. I use the Les
Paul to replace my ES-295, which is too old and fragile to travel
with.
Matchless amp: it's a 30 watt head and 2-12 cabinet. Very
smooth, even tone and doesn't require much fiddling with the knobs to
get a sound.
Matchless "Hot Box" pedal: it contains a preamp tube and
provides a warm distortion that comes in very handy when we travel and
use rented gear, which is sometimes horrendous.
Fender Reverb- I got
this a few years ago when it wasn't hip and it didn't cost much. I use
just enough reverb to fatten up the tone.
That's about it- I pretty much believe in getting tone with your hands and using guitars and amps that don't get in your way. The "Guitar Tone" video should already be out, as far as I know, although I haven't seen a copy myself. I just finished a Jump Blues rhythm guitar video and will be shooting a Jump Blues soloing video in a couple of weeks.
Phil: That has to do with Lester Butler. He couldn't make the session, and my manager called me up. Earlier on I wasn't familiar with Steve Earle and he called me up and offered to fly me out to New York and paid me $1500 to open for him. I'm scratching my head and wondering what's going on. At the session, I could see Steve was being sucked up by the music business. He had lost his record deal, and his wife left him. This was his last kiss. I was moved by him, and saw the most explicit vision of the confusion that happens in the music business in the last half century. Joe Walsh was so drunk he could not do anything. But, I was glad he was there because I needed a drink myself. (laughs) The session became very important to me because I had a thank-you- for-this-gig relationship. When I heard a tape of the track, which was HONEY DON'T, it was terrible. I knew I had to get a phrasing. I pulled from the bottom of my heart a vamp-- a Lee Allen saver that would give this jumble of confusion some character: A Harmonica solo. I haven't heard the final mix.
For Phil Alvin: You speak great Spanish in your shows like Buenos Noches, Musica Americana, Una Rosa Roja, Muchas Gracias. Will you ever try to sing a classic Blasters song in Spanish?
Phil: That's very interesting that you say that. I'm doing my best to improve my Spanish. I've been singing a lot of songs in Spanish and have always played Norteno. I can speak Spanish pretty good until I went to Italy and that screwed me up. Since I got good in Italian, I started going half and half. Yes I would love to sing a Blasters song in Spanish and I would love to make a totally Spanish record. I will do a song called SIN TU AMOR.
For Phil Alvin: What's the story with The Blasters being credited for the cover of the Hooker and Heat album?
Phil: That's our Randall Amplifier on there. I took it over to Bob Hite's house to take a picture of it. Bob was a very good friend of mine. He taught me what the state of music was before 1927. He was another guy who died on that heroin deal. I don't know if he intended it originally as an album cover.
I am going to make an acoustic record but first I have to get out this Blasters record out. I would do anything with my brother but you'll have to ask David that. We like to play together. I can still kick his ass. (laughs) In the last 4 years, I've found some exquisite sounds and tones. I have a 4-string baritone ukulele. It's an incredible instrument. I'm very interested in making an acoustic record, in fact in this HighTone agreement I made, the first thing was to put a Blasters record out but I had to agree to put a Phil Alvin solo record out as well as two other projects which my intentions are to do White Boy James and Jerome Bowman.
I named it because I sing the song in the key of F. We start the song with a sustained F chord. So I say to the band, "Give me a big F chord, make a big deal out of it and don't put no rhythm in it." I've been singing that since I was in Downey High, and incidentally the place in Downey called the Dixie Belle where recently I sang that with James (Intveld) last month. Back then we had a band named The Strangers.This is before we had what everybody knew as the Blasters with David. We had Dave Carroll on bass, Johnny Bazz on drums, Gary Masi on guitar, and me singing an on harmonica so we played that song at the Dixie Belle even back then. The version that I heard and loved was on a Vee Jay record by Harold Burrage from Chicago.
JOHN: The Rolling Rock album. It was really crude. It captures the Blasters in a way I remember the Blasters. We were all pretty accomplished musicians and it was just so exciting.The problem with some of the later albums was the stupid producers. Like with the John Cougar song (Colored Lights) the guy came in and played bass for me so we could get the track fast.
JOHN: Even though we are not on Slash or Slash/Warners anymore, the catalog is still controlled by Warners and were a small fish in a big pond. There is a demand for Blasters material but not enough to get them up off their ass. We used to have an ally at the label who has long since past away. Its just a bunch of people who don't know us.
JOHN: Everything is open right now. First we're going to get the live album out. But you never know when a promoter is going to call.
JOHN: No. For a studio record? Yes, of course we would do that. The same way that Gene Taylor and Lee Allen ended up on the road with us, they were first used in the studio. If we were to use anybody we would use one of Lee's contemporaries and as far as piano goes, Gene Taylor is way too involved with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Were just kind of stripped down like the early days and until we start making the big bucks we won't.
DAVE: 1985. It was a pretty good show but my guitar wasn't very loud. Whatever sound man mixed it, he mixed my guitar down. It looks pretty good and it was around the time we were at our peak. I watched it a couple of times but its hard to look at stuff because it reminds me of Lee (Allen).
Return to Blasters page.
Last modified 19Jul99.
Blasters Q&A/Comments/Questions
