Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, The Who; Beatles, Beach Boys, Blondie and Buzzcocks; Residents, Ramones, Richard Hell, and the Rascals; Al Green, Delfonics, and the Chi-Lites; 'Trane, Monk, and Ornette Coleman; Sun Ra, Splungent, and Sex Pistols; Swans, Syd Barrett and Sam the Sham; Lou Reed, Lubricated Goat, Live Skull, and Lydia Lunch; Wiseblood, and Wire; No Trend, and Negativland; Birdsongs, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers; Devo, Dickies, Dead Kennedys and Donovan; Circle Jerks, Soft Boys, Sonic Youth, Sly Stone, and the Stranglers; Shuggie Otis, Otis Redding, Brian Wilson, Wilson Pickett, the MG's; Can, Chemical Brothers; Fred Frith, The Future Sound of London; Grand Funk, Gong, and Garbage; Pretenders, Pere Ubu, Pitchfork Militia, and Professor Longhair; The Jam, Joan Jett, Joe Jackson, Jackson 5; Jimmy Webb, Laura Nyro; Love, Music Machine, Madonna; Seeds, Raiders, Hollies; Eno, Bowie, Iggy Pop; Alice Cooper, T. Rex, Mott (the Hoople); Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley; Cousin Brucie, Eugene Chadbourne's uncle; Debbie Harry, John Barry, Bernard Herrman, Richard and Robert Sherman (maybe even Ethel Merman); Tchaikovsky, Tibetan monks and TV themes; The Disposable Culture Preservation Society (!); a deathly silence, a deafening din; beer, beer, beer; THC, PCP, transcendence; Jesus H. Christ with a Devil's Haircut; you name it.
Sounds Like
All of the above simultaneously, with pink noise and trash can lids tastefully embellishing the cacophony.
Founded by the enigmatic reluctant recluse, musician and sound engineer Chris Walton, Blissland has been the studio from which countless monstrosities have emerged over the past 30 years or so. In that time it has gone from 4-track cassette tape to 16-track 24-bit digital, and has taken on incarnations at numerous locations:
East 82nd St., New York City
Bergen Street, Brooklyn
Wyckoff Street, Brooklyn
Bath Ave., Brooklyn
West 27th St., New York City
Hoboken, New Jersey
and for the past 14 years, Kingston, New York.
In 1985, Bliss Products was launched as an independent distributor to handle the output of Blissland, including Walton's eclectic solo efforts, as well as collaborations with various individuals of dubious character throughout the 1980's and '90's.
More recently, Walton's work in the digital domain led to MIDI-based karaoke backing tracks and graphics, which saw exposure as "Faithful Karaoke". This led in turn to a vocal project, The Faithful Karaoke Singers, on which Walton worked with former Peach Jam vocalist Sarah Miller.
Another excursion is in the works ... while I had a dream two nights ago it was one whereby a number of us Doomers, namely myself, Johnny and Ray as well as some second generation ones were there as well (led by a younger days version of Corey Feldman) I am not sure besides myself who will be there this time. Hopefully we can have a blissful time no matter what ...
i just went to the store to look for some tofu-turkey to send you, but the whole idea of that is gross! so, i guess i won't be sending any...have a vegetarian Thanksgiving! = }
Just wanted to let you know that I've been listening to When Spirits Flow quite a bit in the last few weeks and I've gotta tell ya, what an absolutely amazing freaking album! You made into back-to-back shows on the Brooklyn Broadcasting Service with (I'll Be A) Jack the Ripper for the Halloween show and (My Heart Is) Still On Fire for the one that is rolling currently.
Are you working on any new music these days?
And is it your birthday (Nov.11)? Happy Birthday you old codger. My daughter's is the 12th (yep, she shares a birthday with Neil Young) and my brothers is the 10th. You got pretty good company.
The upcoming excursion is in less than two weeks. I have been trying to motivate Steve to make the trip as well but so far (as usual) he's floundering. For me, the walls continue to close in and a weekend of Blissland is the cure.
oh btw .... I'm glad if I influenced anyone musically. It means someone was paying attention. A lot of what I did was homage anyway ... I tried to avoid direct lifts but rather capture the essence of a lot of stuff I liked ... for instance the one you mention Gotta Have You Tonight is pretty much pure Raspberries influence. Or might be more accurate to say ... could have been an Eric Carmen song except for the fact that he didn't write it.
Chris (yes, you Blissman) has always been ahead of his time musically. That's what makes tunes like "Corporal Cresky's (sp?) Afternoon Dream" and "I Gotta Have You Tonight" timeless. It makes me wonder how many power pop groups *have* ripped him off.
You know...your shit was so ahead of it's time it sounds like a lot of bands ripped YOU off. Pin-up, Brain Vacation, et cetera. I need a copy of 13th Floor. Laters. Eric. .vN.
Hey Chris ... no news from DJ yet ... if he falls through due to any unforeseen or expected circumstances I would still like to make it up there myself, perhaps the weekend of October 25 or November 8. Let me know which sounds best.
I was always a fan of your stuff big guy. I was planning on playing "Jack the Ripper" on the next radio show for the Brooklyn Broadcasting Service (the rinky-dink internet radio station a buddy and I put together). Should be putting it together in the next week or two.
I was always a fan of your stuff big guy. I was planning on playing "Jack the Ripper" on the next radio show for the Brooklyn Broadcasting Service (the rinky-dink radio internet radio station a buddy and I put together). Should be putting together in the next week or two.
Online Now!
