When I want to hear rockabilly and pure rock and roll I play the Blasters. No studio embellishments, no gimmicks, no tricks…just rock and roll. So sit back and blast The Blasters on this Saturday.
The Blasters never had mainstream success…but popular radio back in the 80s would have been greatly improved by these guys. The Blasters are a rock and roll band formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman.
This song was on their 1985 album Hard Line. Dave Alvin, the main songwriter of the band left right after the release of this album. John Mellencamp wrote and produced one song called Colored Lights on the LP.
The band has a cult following and during the 80s they had critical acclaim and recorded for Warners, but no big hits. In February of 1985, the album was released and again the band toured extensively and gained more media attention than ever. The Blasters promoted the album heavily and did a bunch of radio concerts and TV appearances including their third appearance on American Bandstand, a taped concert for MTV, and Farm Aid. In the summer a full concert was taped while on their European tour for a show called Rockaplast. The concert was aired only in Europe and was an outstanding performance.
Still, no hits, and Warners was trying to make them into a pop band and The Blasters just didn’t fit that bill. The Blasters are still together without Dave Alvin. His brother Phil still sings and plays guitar with the band.
Dave Alvin: “The night that Gene Taylor (piano player) left the Blasters was this gig in Montreal (Nov. 1985) and it was maybe the worst gig that I ever played. It was obvious that this wasn’t working anymore. The Thunderbirds had opened up the show and Gene just walked off stage at the end of the night and went right out the back door and got on the Thunderbirds bus and left. That night I decided I’m quitting. Everybody was so pissed off at each other. I flew to New York the next morning to do a Knitters gig at Irving Plaza and when I got to the gig, John said, ‘Billy’s (Zoom of X) leaving the band, you want to join?’ I said ‘Yeah!!’ without hesitation. Once I became a member of X, the Knitters became X.”
Here is a complete show from Rockpaplast
Rock & Roll Will Stand
There was a little night spot
On the outskirts of town
Where the beer was cheap
And the lights turned down
There was a boy on stage
Who could sing a little bit
Doing his versions
Of everybody’s hits
He told himself someday he’d have a
Millions fans
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand
A Hollywood agent
Finally caught the boy’s act
Gave him a contract
And slapped him on the back
“On the dotted line
Please sign your name
You’re gonna get a star
On the Walk of Fame
Soon you’ll have the biggest record
In the land,
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand!
“We’ll clean up your act
Take some more photos
Everybody loves you
The night of the show.
Annie’s little baby has grown up
To be a man
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand!
At the Hollywood club
He gave his premier show
Some kids saw it from
The very last row.
The businessman said
“This is where it’s at!”
The kids said “Man,
We can do better than that”
They got some guitars
And went out to start a band
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand.
There was a little night spot
On the outskirts of town
Another short drop
On the long way down
There’s guy on stage
Who never knew when to quit
Tellin’ everybody
He almost had a hit
But now he’s got a day job
Working with his hands
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand.
“We’ll clean up your act
Take some more photos
Everybody loves you
The night of the show.
Annie’s little baby has grown up
To be a man
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand!
Annie’s little baby has grown up
To be a man
Everybody knows, Rock and Roll will stand!
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I liked these guys! Tough business , I guess compared to the Thunderbirds they just weren’t Tuff Enough 😜
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lol… these guys sounded authentic and real. Not a hint of commercial in them. They played what they played and meant it.
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I heard them occasionally in the 80s, but they lacked that one song that really got them noticed . Their sound might have worked 20 years earlier…or maybe 5 or 6 years later with Black Crowes & the like.
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I agree…they didn’t arrive at the time when guitars were in…heck…even the Georgia Satellites had that one big hit and some minor ones but they couldn’t substain with it….they were a little too early.
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Rockabilly is so exciting, I love this music.
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I added a few songs from them from your previous post about them. Great rockabilly band. Very talented crew..that’s 4 sure!
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They sure sound authentic.
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The Blasters were also home to Steve Berlin (baritone sax) for a few years before he moved on to join their buddies Los Lobos, where he has remained for almost 40 years now.
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That is really cool that he has remained with them that long. Los Lobos is a great band.
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You inspired me. My post on Los Lobos and the death of their founder will go up on Tuesday.
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Cool man…I’ll check it out.
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So much goodness. Dave writes great songs but man does he play a mean guitar. You know how I feel about these guys. Some of the best rock n roll shows I caught were these guys. “Knitters”? Now there’s a trip off the beaten path. Lots of different musical paths that these guys travelled. Lots of stuff to talk about here Max. This is my idea of rock n roll music.
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I checked some of the Knitters out the other night I wrote this. Interesting with some different styles blended….the song was Poor Little Critter On the Road. Right then I knew it would be different.
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Blasters get tagged as rockabilly (not a bad thing) but they are so much more than that. I have so much music by these guys, solo, collaborations etc. You want to go down a gopher hole? Do some John Doe digging. He’s the real deal.
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I ran into that name while researching them… I’m listening now to Get On Board…really cool…I’ll look some more.
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You’re in for some treats. He did an album (maybe two) with the Sadies (good Canadian dudes)’ Im pretty sure you’d eat it up. So much good music out there Max. Im going to listen to some right now!
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Yea I forgot he was a member of X…that is where I heard him. Cool dude thanks as always man…I’m gonig to listen to some more.
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Listening to them talk on the concert clip. They metioned the movie ‘Streets Of Fire’. ‘One Bad Stud’ from the soundtrack is fantastic. Later fella.
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Love The Blasters and was blessed to have seen several great shows in the 80s. Dave is one of America’s best songwriters and Phil is one of its best singers!
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I agree to both things you said. Great band.
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Blasting straight outta the Fifties in feel, but I love the sraighforward hard learned lesson lyrics- ‘Theres a little nightspot on the outskirts of town, Another short drop on the long way down.’ True, but- ouch!
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They did have a great bother team…it didn’t last a long time but that’s brothers. Not everyone can be the peaceful Davies brothers lol.
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Ray and Dave, best of buddy brothers!
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This is fun. Love that honk tonk piano!
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It is…some rootsy music.
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The Blasters are pretty cool. I think it was our fellow blogger CB who brought them on my radar screen. When I was still living in Germany, I watched various “Rockpalast” broadcasts.
The TV series was most famous for “Rockpalast-Nacht”, annual live music festivals starting in the late evening and lasting into the early morning hours. They had some great artists. In addition to “Rockpalast-Nacht”, they also did a series of Open Air, Loreley Shows. There’s actually a cool archive of all their programs (https://www.rockpalastarchiv.de/welcomee.html).
So I looked up the open-air festival that included The Blasters. It happened in 1985 and also featured Killing Joke, The Untouchables, Chris Rea, Red Hot Chili Peppers, George Clinton & Funkadelic and Deep Purple! I don’t think I watched that particular event.
I did catch the 1982 Loreley event, which featured Frankie Miller, Eric Burdon, BAP (my favorite German rock band), David Lindley and Rory Gallagher. I also saw the 1983 installment with Dave Edmunds, U2, Stray Cats, Joe Cocker and Steve Miller Band.
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Didn’t Germany also have one called Beat Club or something like that? It could have been the UK but I’m thinking German…yea I’m pretty sure judging by this
It’s a shame they didn’t hit it big….they were so authentic in a decade that was the polar opposite. Wow I forget that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are that old!
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Yep, they did. However, Beat-Club was on way earlier, from 1965-1972 – before the time I started watching TV.
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Ok…I didn’t know how long they lasted…the one I know best is when they had The Grateful Dead on there…cool version of Trucking that Bob Weir messes up.
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That sounds like the San Francisco shows of the 60s, with combinations of bands that you would not expect to see on the same bill. Everybody gets their eyes and ears opened a little.
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I like that … shades of Dave Edmunds on that track, I think. 🙂
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Rockpile comes to mind
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Everytime I hear “Blasters”, I think Streets of Fire. They are Rockabilly but, they are also a bit Cow-Punk like Lone Justice.
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Yea… a lot of talent and you would think they would have hit after the Stray Cats hit.
I gotta get that movie.
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I think you got it for me.
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Well hell…then I need to find where I put it. I still have to make you a dir of what I have….I’ll try to do that today
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No hurry…
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