Post by gypsyball on Nov 22, 2007 23:18:45 GMT -5
Taken from the Blue Cheer My Space Page.
ROCK: Blue Cheer
By Frank De Blase on Nov. 2nd, 2007
Without legendary heavy rockers Blue Cheer, rock 'n' roll would be a world with no color. Without Blue Cheer there might not be any Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, or metal or grunge of any hue. This San Francisco power trio took the blues much in the same way Motor City counterparts The MC-5 and The Stooges took r&b and soul and floored it with muscle, volume, political outrage, and psychedelic drugs. With the release of "Vincibus Eruptum" in 1968, Blue Cheer was considered the loudest band in the world. The band was initially managed by the Hell's Angels and had folks like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison as outspoken fans. Its 1984 record "The Beast Is Back" was recorded here in Rochester. The trio's new album, "What Doesn't Kill You," is thunderously heavy with a salaciously sonic assault of fat blues riffs, and ragged vocals. Blue Cheer sounds twice as good as bands half its age. Prepare to have you head handed to you. An interview with bassist/singer Dickie Peterson follows
CITY: So you've been to Rochester before.
Dickie Peterson: Yes, that was to record "The Beast Is Back" at Music America, which was an enormous studio. What I remember and enjoyed most about Rochester was the House Of Guitars. Oh man, it was the first place we went to. I walked up on the second floor and it was nothing but basses. I definitely have to make a stop there.
Would you say that when you started Blue Cheer, it disrupted the Haight-Asbury scene?
When we were younger and starting out in 66-67, we were really rejected by a lot of people because we were doing things that nobody else was doing. We were told "You can't do that."
Like what?
Oh, like turning our amps up to 10. They said "You can't do that" and we said "Well, sure you can, you just turn this knob."
What were the other bands doing, and besides volume, how were you different?
A lot of the bands that were around us came out of the beat/folk music scene. That's where a lot of the psychedelic music came from. We were a bit younger. We were coming from things like Howlin' Wolf; you know, Big City Blues, and Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, and earlier rock 'n' roll, which was nothing really more than blues changes. So in a lot of ways we clashed with a lot of the bands at the time.
On the last tour we were out with a band called Albatross. They play what I believe is called noise rock. You know, it's where they've got this cookie monster voice and stuff going on. One show, people did not like them at all and they were throwing things at them and stuff. And they came off stage very, very dejected. And I just grabbed 'em and pulled them in the dressing room and I said, "Hey listen, you guys, this is the same thing they did to us. This is how people felt about what we were doing." I said, "You're young, so don't give up, stick to your guns.'"
At what point did you realize Blue Cheer was legendary?
I would say it was sometime in the '80s when we sorta stepped over into "classic." I don't really know what made that happen. I know when you're doing that stuff as a young man you don't think about these things. You're really not in control of it. At some time it went classic. I think it had a lot to do with the elements that are in our music. Sometimes we get credited with creating heavy metal - we didn't do that, man. There were lots of people.
I always saw you as a heavy blues band.
We still basically are. All of our stuff is blues-rooted. I think in blues terms. I don't necessarily play 12-bar blues. I'm also influenced by Miles Davis, but you won't find me with a trumpet. Having an influence doesn't mean you sound like somebody."
Blue Cheer was the name of one of Owlsley Stanley's LSD batches, right?
That's true. He also wrote the liner notes on our first album
So you were part of the psychedelic drug scene in its formative years?
Oh boy, were we ever. We were very influenced by this and we were also very abusive. And it's not something I would say to any young musician that this is the way to go.
But didn't it help shape the sound?
Yes it did. But you could have created that sound without going to the extremes we went to. It also got in the way of a lot of things.
What are some of the early day highlights?
We were on bills with people like Hendrix, The Yardbirds, not to mention all the San Francisco bands. My fondest memories of another band out there with us are from Traffic. We did a tour at one point, it was about two weeks. I got to know Jim Capaldi, Chris Woods, Stevie Winwood. They were the nicest guys in the world. They were among the first people to treat us like human beings.
To what degree to you think Blue Cheer rubbed off on other bands that ultimately wound up going the same direction?
Some people say without Blue Cheer there wouldn't have been a Deep Purple, there wouldn't have been a Black Sabbath, that a lot of these things wouldn't have taken place. But that's up for speculation. I mean, there were people around. The MC-5, Iggy and the Stooges are the ones that first come to my mind that came pretty close to being on the same page of the book that we were. In Detroit in about 1968, I think the first power rock concert took place with the MC-5, Iggy and the Stooges, and us. And that lasted for two days. I had never experienced a scene or seen a concert where everybody was on the same page.
So this heavy psychedelic rock wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction to the hippies, the folkies, and the beats in San Francisco?
They had their own scene, man. That's what I'm saying. This scene that emerged was heavy, hard rock 'n' roll and there were a lot of people going in this direction, not just us.
What are some of the highlights now?
There're a few things that make me really excited. No. 1, at our shows we often times get two, three generations of a family showing up. The grandfather was influenced, the father was influenced, and so was the son. We've been a part of these families for 40 years. No. 2, a lot of the bands that open for us are these young stoner bands and they're really great to us.
Blue Cheer is royalty to them.
But we're not a bunch of rock stars. It's not what we do. We travel pretty much like they do. We travel in a van, we're not pretentious, our dressing room isn't locked.
Regardless, the music speaks for it self.
There's no smoke and mirrors with us. What you see is what you get. There're no tricks.
Starting out in 1966, did you ever imagine having a conversation like this in 2007?
I didn't think I'd live past 30. I'm 61 and I've had the privilege - although I can't say it's necessarily been a pleasure all the time - to do something I love all my life. It's been good to me for the most part. It hasn't been financially good for me. But it wasn't financially good for a lot of guys in the '60s. A lot of us got taken off. So I can't say I got rich doing this, but I can say I've done what I wanted my whole life. And I know a lot of people can't say that.
Sometimes it's so hard. It's like having a woman that you don't sometimes understand and you know that you love her and you know you're not going to leave her, but damn, you don't know why she's acting like she is. And rock 'n' roll for me has been the same way. It's been my mistress all of my adult life.
And we can't wait for you to bring her to Rochester.
I hope to see a bunch of people there, man 'cause we got a lotta rock 'n' roll to give ya.
ROCK: Blue Cheer
By Frank De Blase on Nov. 2nd, 2007
Without legendary heavy rockers Blue Cheer, rock 'n' roll would be a world with no color. Without Blue Cheer there might not be any Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, or metal or grunge of any hue. This San Francisco power trio took the blues much in the same way Motor City counterparts The MC-5 and The Stooges took r&b and soul and floored it with muscle, volume, political outrage, and psychedelic drugs. With the release of "Vincibus Eruptum" in 1968, Blue Cheer was considered the loudest band in the world. The band was initially managed by the Hell's Angels and had folks like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison as outspoken fans. Its 1984 record "The Beast Is Back" was recorded here in Rochester. The trio's new album, "What Doesn't Kill You," is thunderously heavy with a salaciously sonic assault of fat blues riffs, and ragged vocals. Blue Cheer sounds twice as good as bands half its age. Prepare to have you head handed to you. An interview with bassist/singer Dickie Peterson follows
CITY: So you've been to Rochester before.
Dickie Peterson: Yes, that was to record "The Beast Is Back" at Music America, which was an enormous studio. What I remember and enjoyed most about Rochester was the House Of Guitars. Oh man, it was the first place we went to. I walked up on the second floor and it was nothing but basses. I definitely have to make a stop there.
Would you say that when you started Blue Cheer, it disrupted the Haight-Asbury scene?
When we were younger and starting out in 66-67, we were really rejected by a lot of people because we were doing things that nobody else was doing. We were told "You can't do that."
Like what?
Oh, like turning our amps up to 10. They said "You can't do that" and we said "Well, sure you can, you just turn this knob."
What were the other bands doing, and besides volume, how were you different?
A lot of the bands that were around us came out of the beat/folk music scene. That's where a lot of the psychedelic music came from. We were a bit younger. We were coming from things like Howlin' Wolf; you know, Big City Blues, and Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, and earlier rock 'n' roll, which was nothing really more than blues changes. So in a lot of ways we clashed with a lot of the bands at the time.
On the last tour we were out with a band called Albatross. They play what I believe is called noise rock. You know, it's where they've got this cookie monster voice and stuff going on. One show, people did not like them at all and they were throwing things at them and stuff. And they came off stage very, very dejected. And I just grabbed 'em and pulled them in the dressing room and I said, "Hey listen, you guys, this is the same thing they did to us. This is how people felt about what we were doing." I said, "You're young, so don't give up, stick to your guns.'"
At what point did you realize Blue Cheer was legendary?
I would say it was sometime in the '80s when we sorta stepped over into "classic." I don't really know what made that happen. I know when you're doing that stuff as a young man you don't think about these things. You're really not in control of it. At some time it went classic. I think it had a lot to do with the elements that are in our music. Sometimes we get credited with creating heavy metal - we didn't do that, man. There were lots of people.
I always saw you as a heavy blues band.
We still basically are. All of our stuff is blues-rooted. I think in blues terms. I don't necessarily play 12-bar blues. I'm also influenced by Miles Davis, but you won't find me with a trumpet. Having an influence doesn't mean you sound like somebody."
Blue Cheer was the name of one of Owlsley Stanley's LSD batches, right?
That's true. He also wrote the liner notes on our first album
So you were part of the psychedelic drug scene in its formative years?
Oh boy, were we ever. We were very influenced by this and we were also very abusive. And it's not something I would say to any young musician that this is the way to go.
But didn't it help shape the sound?
Yes it did. But you could have created that sound without going to the extremes we went to. It also got in the way of a lot of things.
What are some of the early day highlights?
We were on bills with people like Hendrix, The Yardbirds, not to mention all the San Francisco bands. My fondest memories of another band out there with us are from Traffic. We did a tour at one point, it was about two weeks. I got to know Jim Capaldi, Chris Woods, Stevie Winwood. They were the nicest guys in the world. They were among the first people to treat us like human beings.
To what degree to you think Blue Cheer rubbed off on other bands that ultimately wound up going the same direction?
Some people say without Blue Cheer there wouldn't have been a Deep Purple, there wouldn't have been a Black Sabbath, that a lot of these things wouldn't have taken place. But that's up for speculation. I mean, there were people around. The MC-5, Iggy and the Stooges are the ones that first come to my mind that came pretty close to being on the same page of the book that we were. In Detroit in about 1968, I think the first power rock concert took place with the MC-5, Iggy and the Stooges, and us. And that lasted for two days. I had never experienced a scene or seen a concert where everybody was on the same page.
So this heavy psychedelic rock wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction to the hippies, the folkies, and the beats in San Francisco?
They had their own scene, man. That's what I'm saying. This scene that emerged was heavy, hard rock 'n' roll and there were a lot of people going in this direction, not just us.
What are some of the highlights now?
There're a few things that make me really excited. No. 1, at our shows we often times get two, three generations of a family showing up. The grandfather was influenced, the father was influenced, and so was the son. We've been a part of these families for 40 years. No. 2, a lot of the bands that open for us are these young stoner bands and they're really great to us.
Blue Cheer is royalty to them.
But we're not a bunch of rock stars. It's not what we do. We travel pretty much like they do. We travel in a van, we're not pretentious, our dressing room isn't locked.
Regardless, the music speaks for it self.
There's no smoke and mirrors with us. What you see is what you get. There're no tricks.
Starting out in 1966, did you ever imagine having a conversation like this in 2007?
I didn't think I'd live past 30. I'm 61 and I've had the privilege - although I can't say it's necessarily been a pleasure all the time - to do something I love all my life. It's been good to me for the most part. It hasn't been financially good for me. But it wasn't financially good for a lot of guys in the '60s. A lot of us got taken off. So I can't say I got rich doing this, but I can say I've done what I wanted my whole life. And I know a lot of people can't say that.
Sometimes it's so hard. It's like having a woman that you don't sometimes understand and you know that you love her and you know you're not going to leave her, but damn, you don't know why she's acting like she is. And rock 'n' roll for me has been the same way. It's been my mistress all of my adult life.
And we can't wait for you to bring her to Rochester.
I hope to see a bunch of people there, man 'cause we got a lotta rock 'n' roll to give ya.
