DICKE DOES HIS OWN PROMOTING: Europe is mentioned in last line.
www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/feb/21/power-on/Legendary '60s trio Blue Cheer will play monster riffs in S.B.
By Bill Locey
Thursday, February 21, 2008
"People call us the first heavy metal band, which is fine, but we refer to ourselves as a power trio," Peterson says.
Born in the Summer of Love plus one and named for a famous product of those silly '60s, there was never anything remotely groovy about the band Blue Cheer, even though the trio was a bunch of longhairs.
From the start, Blue Cheer was more about power chords than peace and love or the potent brand of LSD that gave the band its name. The group was so loud that its sonic assault could make hippie flowers wilt, then spontaneously combust. The power trio, said by many to have been the first heavy metal band, had a hit with a cover song, "Summertime Blues," that was exponentially more powerful than the Eddie Cochran original and on a par with The Who's version.
Although it's been 40 years since their 1968 debut, the guys in Blue Cheer never really went away. They've been releasing albums all along, including the most recent, "What Doesn't Kill You "
Blue Cheer plays tonight at Velvet Jones on State Street in Santa Barbara. Original bass player Dickie Peterson, who leads the current lineup, discussed the latest while driving around Northern California.
What's new in Blue Cheer world?
@ : We're in a redwood forest right now, on our way to McKinleyville — that's where we're playing tonight in Northern California.
So, 40 years of this — think you might stick with it?
@ : I imagine I'm in for the duration, my friend.
That's a long time for a band or anything else. How do you account for your longevity?
@ : I dunno, man, maybe rock 'n' roll is keeping me alive. That's all I can figure.
Who goes to see Blue Cheer?
@ : Everyone from 22-year-old kids all the way up to 65-year-old men.
So some of the 65-year-old men we're 22-year-olds back in the day?
@: Yeah, I'm sure they were — we have a lot of fans that have been with us all their lives. Even young ones come up to us and say, "Hey, my father turned me on to your music when I was 1." One kid told me they brought him home, put him in a bassinet and played Blue Cheer for him, so that was literally all of his life.
How did you get named for a brand of acid?
@ :Obviously, we took a bit of it, and also because our music is blues-based. It's based on jump blues as opposed to a sad blues. You know, blues got a bad rap when some stupid poet identified sadness and blue. Jump blues is about ladies and dancing and carrying on — good times.
How did you happen to choose "Summertime Blues"?
@ : Actually, the band picked "Summertime Blues" as filler on the album. Abe Cash is the one that picked it for a single — he's a producer; that's his job.
What have you learned on the road after all these years?
@ :The secret is believing and being honest with the music. I think believing in it will keep a man alive a very long time.
Where does the band fit into rock history, and was Blue Cheer the first heavy metal band?
@ I think we were one of the first power bands to surface. People call us the first heavy metal band, which is fine, but we refer to ourselves as a power trio. We're very low end.
How did you end up as the bass player?
@i wasn't one of those bass players that was a guitar player first. I started out a bass player and I am a bass player.
Back in San Francisco with all those hippie bands, you guys were definitely not groovy.
@you have to remember that most of the psychedelic bands were a little bit older than us, and at the time, they were surfacing out of folk music — the Woody Guthrie scene. We broke our teeth on Howlin' Wolf. That's the big difference.
When you guys go to Europe, do they see you as a blues band?
@people see us as a hardcore rock 'n' roll band; most people don't even know that it's blues-based.
Are the fans the same here as they are in Europe?
@they're not the same everywhere. When I was young and went to a concert, you would definitely get a rock band, and you might get a folk band, jazz band or bluegrass band. There was a night of various kinds of music, whereas today, it's pretty mono-dimensional, you know? I'm a heavy metal guy and if you don't like heavy metal, then we can't really be friends. All the music has something tremendous to offer, and it disappoints me to see the kids cut themselves off because they don't think this is hip enough.
What's the strangest Blue Cheer gig?
@the strangest gig we ever played would have to be in El Paso, Texas, when we played at a Mexican disco. It was in the '70s and I don't how we got booked there, but the minute we walked on stage, everything stopped. When we stopped playing, disco music would come on and the floor would fill up with these John Travolta-like people. Then we would come back on stage and the dance floor would empty. They waited for us to finish so they could do their disco.
Where does the new one fit into your vast body of work?
@:I'm really tremendously proud of the way the guys worked on the new album and I think it's sort of old meets new.
What's next?
@:This leg of the tour will end up in Texas in March, and that will be wrapped up with the High Times Doobie Awards, where we'll get a Lifetime Achievement Award. One of the songs off our new album is up for Pot Song of the Year. After that, we're heading for Europe in April.
On the Net:
www.bluecheer.us
