The Blasters, live at Mabuhay in San Francisco on April 26, 1980.
First off – special HUGE thanks to Terry Hammer, whose love and commitment to recording live music goes above and way beyond and the results are stellar. His efforts at recording live music in some of the most horrendous situations puts him in a category of his own and his archives are fairly bursting at the seams with history.
Second – this is the first time The Blasters played San Francisco – it’s significant because they were a little less than a year old and just starting to get a reputation and following.
The Blasters came to epitomize Cowpunk; a sub-genre of the Punk scene thriving in L.A. in the late 70s and early 80’s – along with The Blasters came a flood of bands following in their footsteps (or gaining recognition from association) – Rockabilly most likely did for the West Coast Punk scene what Ska did for the London Punk scene around the same time. The Blasters became linked with L.A. Punk and often toured with X, The Screamers, Black Fag and The Gun Club.
Wikipedia has a few words:
The Blasters have a devoted fan base and have received largely positive critical reviews, but have earned only limited mainstream success. Critic Mark Deming wrote of them, “the Blasters displayed a wide-ranging musical style and were a supremely tight and tactful band with enough fire, smarts, and passion for two or three groups.”[
Trouser Press cited their strengths: “tight ensemble work, swingin’ original tunes in the classic mold and Phil Alvin’s ageless, confident vocals.” The Rough Guide to Rock noted the ever-increasing numbers of originals written by Dave Alvin—songs about cars, girls, the working man and road dreams—and how he matured into a great songwriter.
In his memoir Get in the Van (1995), Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Rollins Band detailed his admiration the Blasters, after seeing them perform live many occasions as Black Flag and the Blasters crossed paths in southern California venues: “In my mind, they were a great band that not enough people found out about. Bill Bateman is one of the best drummers there is, and then of course, there are the Alvin brothers. A lot of talent for one band.”
Okay – end of the week – hit play and crank it up.
