Artists | Issues | CD Reviews | Interviews | Concert Reviews | DVD/Video Reviews | Book Reviews | Who We Are | Staff | Home
 

Blue Öyster Cult

Interviewed by Greg Olma
Interview with Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult - October 2007


MSJ: This interview is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2007 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Columbia just released remastered versions of Spectres and Some Enchanted Evening. Is the plan to remaster the whole catalog?
You know, I really don’t know what they have in mind but I know there is some talk of [doing] On Your Feet. [It] hasn’t been done yet so that might be next. But after that, I don’t know.
MSJ: The remastered version of Some Enchanted Evening has a great DVD with it. Are there any more video treasures in the vaults?
There probably are but, you know, I know there is an MTV concert from ’81. There’s odds and ends here and there. You never know what they find. Very often, it’s just live video feed from a Jumbotron and that’s sitting in the vault somewhere. Who knows what they have?
MSJ: What was the last CD you purchased?
Probably Sgt Pepper’s. I’m making a joke. Hahaha. Let me think. I purchased? I can’t think of the last CD I purchased. It might have been Wilson Pickett’s Greatest Hits.
MSJ: Do you download off of I-tunes?
Yeah, once in a while. Funny anecdote. You probably know who Wilson Pickett is but I walked into a local music store, well a big chain music store and I walked in and there are 2 young people working there. I said “instead of looking through this enormous store, can you tell me where I can get Wilson Pickett’s Greatest Hits?” and they didn’t know who he was.
MSJ: Rudy Sarzo is touring with you. How did that come about?
Rudy Sarzo is an old friend. I’m trying to think of the chain of events here. When Allen Lanier dropped out because he just doesn’t want to tour right now, he may change his mind but for the time being, he’s out. So we had to solve that by either getting a new keyboard/guitarist guy so I got a light bulb over my head. We got a temporary solution. Danny Miranda rejoined us for a while because he’s out in Vegas playing in Mama Mia. He was in Queen last year. He’s in a pit band so he can’t play every show we have. So we were kind of like “Danny can fit in once in a while but we really need a full time guy.” When Danny came in, we moved Richie over to guitar and keyboards; who was playing bass, Richie Castellano. Richie is a shredding guitar player which worked out great. I ran into Rudy at NAMM. I said “what are you doing?” He says “just home because Dio is on tour with Heaven and Hell.” I said “would you like a job?” Obviously a lot of details had to be worked out, you know; how much did he have to get, how soon does he have to go back to Dio, and things like that. You know Dio is out all year. I don’t know if he is going to feel like touring the second he gets back from Heaven and Hell either. So, Rudy is with us until he gets that call.
MSJ: Your last 2 studio releases were very solid efforts. Are you working on any new material for future release?
That’s a common question. Chances are something new may come out but right now [there’s] no deal. But, it’s certainly possible.
MSJ: If you were given the chance to redo any album from your back catalog, which one would it be and why?
You know, because the album making process is long and laborious, I don’t think I would want to go back and do anything. People ask me “do you listen to your own records?” and the answer is “unlikely” because when you got to go in and sing the same song over and over, then you have to listen to the mix of that song, inch by inch, phrase by phrase, and mix everything like over 2 or 3 twenty-four hour periods, you really don’t want to go back and revisit it too much. I do have a BOC single CD that Legacy put out sometime in the past and when we’re working up new songs, I have to listen to it and say “how did that go?” You know, working up a new old song. That’s in my car and occasionally; I’ll put it on random. Like the other day, I heard “White Flags” for the first time in 10 years. I’m open minded to changing the set and adding something. I heard “Mirrors” for the first time in 10 or 15 years and I thought, that might be cool but it’s got background harmonies and with girls in it and I said “ah, never mind.” There’s a reason why we settled down to the 40 odd songs that we always play. We have shows that only hardcore fans show up to like the BB King shows we do in Manhattan; which is every January, we do 2 shows in one night, sell out to the max. People fly in from Europe for those shows because they know we’re going to whip out something arcane, shall we say. Last year we did “Quickline Girl” and “Beautiful As A Foot;” stuff we never usually play. That’s kind of fun but there’s always a reason why these songs aren’t in the regular set because they fell by the wayside along the way and there was a reason for it. It’s just not good live performance stuff. Obviously, the real hardcore fans, they want you to play the most obscure stuff, and I understand that, but if I go to see The Who, I want to see “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” I don’t want to hear some tertiary track on some middle year album. I want to hear the obvious.
MSJ: What was the last concert you attended as a fan?
I saw Heaven and Hell, Alice Cooper, and Queensryche about 2 weeks ago.
MSJ: What is your favorite Spinal Tap moment from your career?
That movie was so inside that there’s many, many, many of them. I would guess it’s when, something that is Spinal Tap that happens to a lot of bands is when the headliner sandbags your sound so you get on stage and your sound sucks and they go on and it’s great. That’s happened to us more than once.
You'll find concert pics of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.
You'll find an audio interview of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.
 
Return to the
Blue Öyster Cult Artist Page
Artists Directory
 
Google

   Creative Commons License
   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

    © 2024 Music Street Journal                                                                           Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com