Blind Idiot God is an American
instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instru ...
trio formed in 1982 in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, United States, by guitarist
Andy Hawkins
Melton Andrew Hawkins (born January 21, 1960) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and coach. Hawkins spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Diego Padres, and also played for the New York Yankees and brie ...
, bassist
Gabriel Katz
Gabriel Paul Katz is an American bassist and founding member of the noise rock band Blind Idiot God. He performed with the band since its formation, recording three studio albums with them between 1987 and 1992. He also assisted bandmate Andy Haw ...
and drummer
Ted Epstein. The phrase "blind idiot god" comes from horror writer
H. P. Lovecraft's description of the god
Azathoth
Azathoth is a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos and Dream Cycle stories of writer H. P. Lovecraft and other authors. He is the ruler of the Outer Gods, and may be seen as a symbol for primordial chaos.
H. P. Lovecraft
Inspiration
The first reco ...
. Their often
improvisational
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
musical style combines influences from
punk rock,
noise music
Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...
,
20th-century classical music
20th-century classical music describes art music that was written nominally from 1901 to 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously. So this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, impressio ...
,
heavy metal,
dub,
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
, and
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
. They are currently based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and have often collaborated with musicians
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...
and
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
.
Their self-titled debut album, ''
Blind Idiot God
Blind Idiot God is an American instrumental rock trio formed in 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, by guitarist Andy Hawkins, bassist Gabriel Katz and drummer Ted Epstein. The phrase "blind idiot god" comes from horror writer H. P. Lo ...
'', was issued by
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...
in 1987 and was well received critically. Brian Olewnick described it as "an extraordinary debut
..the three musicians exhibited startling originality and impressive technique both on their instruments and in the depth and style of their compositions".
With bassist
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...
handling production duties, ''
Undertow'' was released in 1988 and was followed by ''
Cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...
'' in 1992. Ted Epstein left the band in 1996 and the remaining members put Blind Idiot God on hiatus as they searched for his replacement.
In 2001, Blind Idiot God reunited after roughly a decade of inactivity, with
Tim Wyskida
Tim Wyskida (born November 13, 1971) is an American drummer, most recognized for his work in the bands Khanate and Blind Idiot God.
Biography
Tim Wyskida began playing drums at the age of twelve, learning jazz technique and composition. In 2000, ...
(of
Khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
) replacing Epstein. Between 2008 and 2010, Blind Idiot God recorded the material at studios in New Jersey; Barber Shop; and Orange Sound that would comprise their fourth album, ''
Before Ever After
''Before Ever After'' is the fourth studio album by Blind Idiot God, released by Indivisible Records on February 24, 2015. It marks the first album of new studio material by the band since ''Cyclotron'', released twenty-two years prior. Produced b ...
''. Gabriel Katz departed in 2012 and was replaced by New York veteran bassist
Will Dahl, making Andy Hawkins the only original member still performing in the band. ''Before Ever After'' was released on February 24, 2015, with the new lineup performing three live shows in New York to coincide with the release.
In 2017, The band announced that they would be re-issuing their back catalog on multiple formats and that they had started work on a new album.
History
Early years (1982–1986)
Blind Idiot God was formed in 1982 in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
when its members were teenagers. Before adopting
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
and
dub influences, they essentially played
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
, with their songs being roughly one minute in length. During this time, they socialized within the St. Louis hardcore scene, including members of Drunks with Guns and
Ultraman
''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with ''Ultra Q'' and then ''Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is one ...
. After failing to find a vocalist that shared their musical aspirations, the band opted to continue as an instrumental outfit.
Their first live performance came in September 1983 at a basement party. After playing the first song of their set, a reggae version of "
Hava Nagila
Hava Nagila ( he, הָבָה נָגִילָה, ''Hāvā Nāgīlā'', "Let us rejoice") is a Jewish folk song. It is traditionally sung at celebrations, such as weddings. Written in 1918, it quickly spread through the Jewish diaspora.
History ...
", they were interrupted by the police who shut the party down after receiving complaints from the neighbors. After hearing their self-produced cassette demo,
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...
of
Black Flag signed them to
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...
, and the band moved to
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in 1986.
Debut album and critical acclaim (1987–1988)
The band began searching for a producer who would be willing to work with their mixture of
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
,
dub and
heavy metal. Originally, Hawkins wanted to enlist the aid of British producer
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958, London, England) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing technique ...
, known for his work with numerous
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
groups as well as his contributions to the
industrial hip hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop.
History
1980s
The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood. In 1985, former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart releas ...
ensemble
Tackhead
Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, indus ...
. In January 1987, Blind Idiot God entered B.C. Studios to record with producer
Martin Bisi
Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter.
He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Ang ...
, who they had met through composer
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...
. Their debut album, the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ously titled ''
Blind Idiot God
Blind Idiot God is an American instrumental rock trio formed in 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, by guitarist Andy Hawkins, bassist Gabriel Katz and drummer Ted Epstein. The phrase "blind idiot god" comes from horror writer H. P. Lo ...
'', was released on
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...
in 1987 and received critical acclaim. While categorized as
heavy metal and
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
, the music made use of distortion techniques while hinting at
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
and
European classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
influences, with its final three tracks ostensibly belonging to the
dub genre.
The virtuosity of the band's players was praised in an article for ''
Electronic Musician
''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians.
History and profile
''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...
'', which said "Andy Hawkins' guitar dips and swirls, chases its tail, and ultimately screams its existence, while Ted Epstein and Gabriel Katz lend form and substance on bass and drums respectively. At 19, 20, and 21, the trio is young enough to dazzle with potential. Jazz, heavy metal, reggae, art music - B.I.G. has elements of all of these, yet establishes their very own recipe."
Underground success and second album (1988–1992)
The success of Blind Idiot God's first album coupled with powerful live performances earned them recognition in underground music circles. The band soon began collaborating with
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
composer and saxophonist
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
. Zorn contacted the band after attending one of their performances at
CBGB's
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...
and professed his enthusiasm for their work along with his desire to collaborate with the group. The band joined him onstage on numerous occasions to perform improvised music, Zorn compositions and even in his John Coltrane cover band "Ascension" which featured infamous 2 minute versions of Coltrane compositions like
A Love Supreme
''A Love Supreme'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Ga ...
and
Ascension.
The Blind Idiot God's second album ''
Undertow'' was issued the following year by Enemy Records and produced by
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...
. The style remained similar to what had been represented on the band's debut, with excursions into dub territory interposing bludgeoning noise rock. Noted musical departures included the heavy metal/
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
hybrid "Alice in My Fantasies", a
George Clinton cover, and "Purged Specimen", a short piece composed for them by
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
that also featured him on alto saxophone.
Praising the Blind Idiot God's knack for memorable melodies and rapid tempo-changes combined with Laswell's production,
EAR Magazine declared ''Undertow'' superior to their debut and "as addictive as a pot of strong coffee."
Third album and hiatus (1992–1996)
Released four years later, the band's 1992 album ''
Cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...
'' was seen by some as lackluster due to the reliance on ideas previously explored and absence of distinct experimentation.
In 1993, Blind Idiot God and
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...
wrote and recorded the title song for the movie ''
Freaked
''Freaked'' is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Tom Stern and Alex Winter, both of whom wrote the screenplay with Tim Burns. Winter also starred in the lead role. Both were involved in the short-lived MTV sketch comedy show '' The Idiot ...
'', marking the first and only time the band collaborated with a vocalist.
The entire band performed on
Praxis' album ''
Sacrifist
''Sacrifist'' is the second album by Bill Laswell's experimental music project Praxis (band), Praxis, released in 1993 on Laswell's label Subharmonic (record label), Subharmonic. Originally, the album was intended to be a Rammellzee project, but ...
'', released in 1993.
After Cyclotron was released, the members began pursuing their own separate musical endeavors. Andy Hawkins began a solo guitar project named Azonic, under which he released ''
Halo
Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to:
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Video games
* ''Halo'' (franch ...
'' in 1994 and ''
Skinner's Black Laboratories'' with
Justin Broadrick
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...
of
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...
in 1995. Gabriel Katz collaborated with Bill Laswell on ''
Dub Terror Exhaust'', for which he composed music and contributed bass parts. In 1996, Ted Epstein left the band to pursue other interests. Unwilling to continue without a drummer, the remaining members placed Blind Idiot God on hiatus.
Return and new album (2001–present)
Drummer
Tim Wyskida
Tim Wyskida (born November 13, 1971) is an American drummer, most recognized for his work in the bands Khanate and Blind Idiot God.
Biography
Tim Wyskida began playing drums at the age of twelve, learning jazz technique and composition. In 2000, ...
, known for his work in
Khanate
A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire.
Mong ...
, joined in 2001 and Blind Idiot God began work on their fourth studio album. However, setbacks and delays occurred as Gabriel Katz encountered problems with
tendinitis
Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder (rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow (tennis elb ...
and hearing loss. The line-up finally began performing in a live setting in 2006, playing a series of well-received gigs in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. In 2012, Gabriel Katz left the band and was replaced by
Will Dahl.
In 2013, three newly recorded tracks appeared in the HBO documentary ''
Downloaded
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...
'', a film by
Alex Winter
Alexander Ross Winter (born July 17, 1965) is a British-American actor and filmmaker. He played the slacker Bill in the 1989 film ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and its sequels ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' (1991) and ''Bill & Ted Face t ...
detailing the history of
Napster
Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
.
It marked the first time new material by Blind Idiot God had been made available to the public in over twenty years. The band's fourth full-length album, an accumulation of thirteen years worth of recorded material, was announced in 2014. Titled ''
Before Ever After
''Before Ever After'' is the fourth studio album by Blind Idiot God, released by Indivisible Records on February 24, 2015. It marks the first album of new studio material by the band since ''Cyclotron'', released twenty-two years prior. Produced b ...
'', it was the debut release of Indivisible Music, a label founded by Andy Hawkins.
''Before Ever After'' was issued on vinyl on February 24, 2015, followed by a Compact Disc release on April 6, 2015.
On April 13, 2016 the Blind Idiot God embarked on their "Raise the Titanic" tour, which marked the band's first live shows outside of the United States. Concurrent with their tour, ''Before Ever After'' was reissued for worldwide distribution.
In 2017, the band announced the re-issue of their second album ''
Undertow''. Set to be released on October 13, the newly remastered release is to include two versions of "Freaked", a collaboration with former
Black Flag vocalist
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...
and Blind Idiot God's sole composition to feature vocals. They also announced plans to re-issue ''
Cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...
''.
Musical style
Though at its core
heavy metal, Blind Idiot God's music is informed by
punk rock,
dub, and
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
composers
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
E ...
, notably
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...
,
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
and
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
. In a 1997 ''
Guitar Player
''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...
'' interview, Hawkins explained one reason he drew inspiration from classical music was to use more advanced
harmony
In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
: "When I listen to a lot of metal and hard rock, I think 'Great Intensity! Boring
chords
Chord may refer to:
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve
* Chord (as ...
!'" The band's music also heavily drew from
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
, with its members citing
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet.
Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...
,
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
and
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...
as being early musical influences. Former drummer Ted Epstein has also commented on the role
funk music
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
plays in his music, saying "something that has been with me since I was 15 or 16 is the idea of funk as a concept, the syncopation and the push/pull thing that exists in funk, embodied in
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkadeli ...
,
Grandmaster Flash
Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...
,
Sly and the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...
, and
The Meters."
Comparisons have also been made to
Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...
,
Last Exit, the
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
,
Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to:
Name or surname
* Glenn (name)
* John Glenn, U.S. astronaut
Cultivars
* Glenn (mango)
* a 6-row barley variety
Places
In the United States:
* Glenn, California
* Glenn County, California
* Glenn, Georgia, a settlement ...
and
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
.
In reviewing the band's debut, a critic of ''
Electronic Musician
''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians.
History and profile
''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...
'' noted that "if you took original
Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
multi-track tapes, wiped the vocals off, and handed them to
Scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
, the reggae dub-mixer, the result might sound like B.l.G."
Since its inception, Blind Idiot God's music has been entirely instrumental, with its members stating their unanimous disinterest with incorporating vocals into their arrangements. Andy Hawkins has explained "when you hear a voice, it usually has such a distinct emotional quality to it. It speaks in a whole different kind of way then the music does, so it just interferes with what we are trying to do musically." However, during the early nineties the band expressed a desire to form a separate project that integrated vocals into their music.
Legacy
Filmmaker and actor
Alex Winter
Alexander Ross Winter (born July 17, 1965) is a British-American actor and filmmaker. He played the slacker Bill in the 1989 film ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and its sequels ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' (1991) and ''Bill & Ted Face t ...
is a long-time admirer of Blind Idiot God, having used their music in his debut feature film ''
Freaked
''Freaked'' is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Tom Stern and Alex Winter, both of whom wrote the screenplay with Tim Burns. Winter also starred in the lead role. Both were involved in the short-lived MTV sketch comedy show '' The Idiot ...
'' and again in his 2013 documentary ''
Downloaded
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...
''. In 2014 he described them as "one of the most revered and influential bands to come out of the SST era
..they are as great and bold today, as ever." Former
Black Flag vocalist
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...
professed himself as being a fan of their work and felt honored in having collaborated with them.
Band members
Current members
*
Will Dahl – bass guitar
(2012–present)
*
Andy Hawkins
Melton Andrew Hawkins (born January 21, 1960) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and coach. Hawkins spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Diego Padres, and also played for the New York Yankees and brie ...
– lead guitar
(1982–1996, 2001–present)
*
Tim Wyskida
Tim Wyskida (born November 13, 1971) is an American drummer, most recognized for his work in the bands Khanate and Blind Idiot God.
Biography
Tim Wyskida began playing drums at the age of twelve, learning jazz technique and composition. In 2000, ...
– drums
(2001–present)
Former members
*
Ted Epstein – drums
(1982–1996)
*
Gabriel Katz
Gabriel Paul Katz is an American bassist and founding member of the noise rock band Blind Idiot God. He performed with the band since its formation, recording three studio albums with them between 1987 and 1992. He also assisted bandmate Andy Haw ...
– bass guitar
(1982–1996, 2001–2012)
;Timeline
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/2021
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar
id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_album
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1983
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1984
LineData =
at:03/01/1987 color:black layer:back
at:06/01/1988 color:black layer:back
at:01/01/1992 color:black layer:back
at:02/24/2015 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Andy text:"Andy Hawkins"
bar:Gabriel text:"Gabriel Katz"
bar:Will text:"Will Dahl"
bar:Ted text:"Ted Epstein"
bar:Tim text:"Tim Wyskida"
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Andy from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1996 color:Guitar
bar:Andy from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Guitar
bar:Gabriel from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1996 color:Bass
bar:Gabriel from:01/01/2001 till:01/01/2012 color:Bass
bar:Ted from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1996 color:Drums
bar:Tim from:01/01/2001 till:end color:Drums
bar:Will from:01/01/2012 till:end color:Bass
Discography
;Studio albums
*''
Blind Idiot God
Blind Idiot God is an American instrumental rock trio formed in 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, by guitarist Andy Hawkins, bassist Gabriel Katz and drummer Ted Epstein. The phrase "blind idiot god" comes from horror writer H. P. Lo ...
'' (
SST, 1987)
*''
Undertow'' (
Enemy
An enemy or a foe is an individual or a group that is considered as forcefully adverse or threatening. The concept of an enemy has been observed to be "basic for both individuals and communities". The term "enemy" serves the social function of d ...
, 1988)
*''
Cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...
'' (
Avant AVANT, also known as AVANT street art guerrilla collective, was the artist group active in New York City from 1980 to 1984. By 1984 AVANT had produced thousands of acrylic on paper paintings and plastered them on walls, doors, bus-stops and gallerie ...
, 1992)
*''
Before Ever After
''Before Ever After'' is the fourth studio album by Blind Idiot God, released by Indivisible Records on February 24, 2015. It marks the first album of new studio material by the band since ''Cyclotron'', released twenty-two years prior. Produced b ...
'' (Indivisible, 2015)
;EPs
*''Purged Specimen'' (Enemy, 1989)
*''Sawtooth'' (Enemy, 1989)
References
External links
*
Blind Idiot Godat
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Idiot God
American experimental rock groups
American instrumental musical groups
American noise rock music groups
American post-hardcore musical groups
Musical groups established in 1982
Musical groups disestablished in 1996
Musical groups reestablished in 2001
Musical groups from St. Louis
Musical groups from New York (state)
American musical trios
Dub musical groups
Math rock groups
Rock music groups from Missouri
Enemy Records artists
SST Records artists
1982 establishments in Missouri
Instrumental rock musical groups