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| The Exclusive Interview with Eric Bloom! |
| If you are anywhere in world where you can pick up classic rock music on the radio frequencies, then you are most likely very familiar with Eric Bloom. Since 1969, Eric has been the cool, breezy voice behind Rock and Roll monsters Blue Oyster Cult. Songs such as Don't Fear the Reaper and Burning For You are certainly part of your diet if you feast on a steady buffet of Rock Music, and even with such staple classics in their back catalogue of sure crowd-pleasers, Eric and BOC are striving to continuously write new music, and spread their music to each new generation of rock music fans. They certainly have never given less than 110% to any of their loyal fans, and BOC is still touring religiously, whether they are the headlining act, or part of a glorious retro rock festival (summer's coming, so look out for BOC!). Eric was very gracious to sit down and spend a few minutes answering questions practically on the eve of hitting the road for a new string of dates with BOC. And for those of you who were wondering, yes, we do talk a bit about the now legendary Saturday Night Live parody of BOC on VH1's Behind the Music! |
| Q: Eric, thank you so much for taking the time to join me here for this interview! It is a pleasure to have you. You have been a very busy guy lately (as usual!) with a brand new website, tour dates being scheduled, and some of the latest releases for Blue Oyster Cult, including a new DVD, Live CD, and compilation CD! I’ve got to ask you what keeps you going 110 % after over 30 years in the music industry? A: My website was a joint venture last Fall with Miles Kevin Baron and myself and it was fun getting it off the ground, taking a few months to construct...one of the main problems being I'm a Mac guy and he's a Windows guy. Seeing the same thing on different browsers was a challenge. But we're happy with the results and it's continually being upgraded with new pictures, stories and updates. As far as tour dates, we play 70-90 shows every year in recent years so there's nothing unusual about that. Our busy season starts now in April. The live DVD was recorded last summer in one show at the Navy Pier in Chicago on June 21, the summer solstice, therefore the name "A Long Day's Night". The live CD is from the same night with a slightly different tune list. Compilations, they still keep comin', with CBS owning all the old records. The "Then and Now" compilation just was released by Sanctuary and includes tunes from all 3 of our albums on their label. We're glad to keep touring, making new music and keeping busy. Q: I mentioned the tour dates in the last question, and I noticed that BOC will be doing a few multi-band festivals, with some of your classic rock comrades such as Paul Rodgers, Kansas, Sammy Hagar, and Steppenwolf. Do you enjoy the festival billing? It is always a great way for fans to catch up with a few of their favorites! A: We certainly enjoy playing with all those bands and others like our great friends Foghat and Nazareth. After doing this for so long it's great seeing these guys again and making music together. If folks like this kind of music what could be better than seeing them all together? Q: With constant airplay of BOC classics, the constant touring, new releases that are well accepted by even the oldest fans of the band, it seems that it would be hard for anybody to forget that BOC is still doing their thing after all of this time. With the barrage of personnel changes that haunt so many bands and the changing tides of popular music, what do you think has been the real secret of keeping BOC together and fresh over 30 years on? A: We keep goin' because we enjoy playing so much. I think adding Bobby Rondinelli and Danny Miranda (6 years or so now) added alot to the formula. Also, we all get along very well, knowing each others' strengths and weaknesses. Q: I am sure you have probably gotten this question quite a bit over the last couple of years, but have you seen the Saturday Night Live parody of BOC on VH1’s “Behind the Music”. If so, what did you think about it? A: Of course we've seen that sketch on SNL. I saw it live, but we didn't know about it, so it floored me. I have the audio on my desktop. We thought it was hilarious, but had a few odd mistakes. Chris Walken ( superstar producer Bruce Dickenson) didn't produce the Reaper in real life. The cow bell guy Gene Frenkle (no such guy) calls the 'Buck-ish" character Eric. But we still enjoyed it. Q: Do a lot of people ask you if there was actually a “Gene Frenkle” in BOC? A: My own sister asked me if some guy really died in our band. There was never a "Gene Frenkle" -type character in BOC, although invariably, I meet someone after a show who says something like: "My cousin _________ <--add any name here, told me he was the original _____<--add any band position, in BOC before it was called BOC. " Or my brother-in-law was on your crew in the 70's." Or My friend ______etc. jammed with you at ______etc. " Q: As we mentioned earlier, You have a new website that is very well crafted and maintained called Ericbloom.net, and your fans have a chance to join an exclusive membership package to get a little closer to their favorite BOC’er! Can you tell us a bit about membership benefits on your site? A: I answered part of this one above in #1 I think, but joining my site gets you some exclusive merchandise with free shipping, ability to get in the chat board area where I answer questions like these, tell stories about my past and first shot at hearing BOC news including the first place online to see new dates posted. Free on the site you can see some of my memorabilia, guitar collection and old photos. Q: Have you been using the internet very long? How do you feel that the internet can help or hurt a well established musician or band such as yourself and BOC? A: I've been on AOL since 1994 but I was on Genie before that with older computers. BlueOysterCult.com also is a very comprehensive site for BOC news. I am an avid online gamer so I'm online all the time. The net is great for disseminating news and for newer upcoming bands it's great for putting your tunes out there for folks to hear. Q: As I mentioned the personnel shifts within BOC earlier, the most populated area of the band has been for the drumming chair, and one of my very favorite drummers in the world, Chuck Burgi held the chair on occasion. Can you tell us a bit about some of the past drummers for BOC and who you felt really captured the groove best? A: The Drummers: Well, we've had more drummers than any other position..why I don't know. Our original drummer Albert was very creative, an innovator and great song arranger. Capturing the ultimate BOC groove? That's a tough one. Chuck Burgi is a great drummer and is now on Broadway in the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel musical. Bobby Rondinelli does a great job on our stuff and was very helpful arranging the tunes on 'Curse of the Hidden Mirror'. Once in a while drummer Jon Micelli is a terrific player who's been in Meatloaf for the last few years. Rick Downey is working in car racing (CART). Jimmy Wilcox is playing in bands in upstate NY. John O'Reilly is also still drumming on Long Island, perhaps with Ritchie Blackmore? Not sure. Q: What kind of equipment are you going to be using on the road this summer? A: Equipment...we use Crate and Ampeg for amps. Bobby uses Fibes drums. However we often fly out to dates using rental gear, usually Marshalls. Buck uses Steinberger guitars, I use Harper custom-made guitars, Allen plays Fenders, Danny has a variety of basses but uses a Fender J and P bass most of the time. You can see a nice section on our gear at blueoystercult.com, click on equipment. Q: Eric, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join me here. It has been a real treat having you. What other projects are you hoping to get involved in later this year once touring subsides? A: Outside projects....I am working on a few things that are not music related TBA. Stay tuned. |
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