Eric Jay Bloom (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist, guitar and keyboard/synthesizer player for the long-running band
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
, with work on more than 20 albums. Much of his lyrical content relates to his lifelong interest in science fiction.
Early life and education
A native New Yorker, Bloom was born in
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 ...
, the youngest of three children, and grew up in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. His mother was a housewife, active in local charities and family life. His father ran a picture frame and print company in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Bloom is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Bloom attended
JHS 216 (George J. Ryan Junior High School), and then moved on to
Woodmere Academy
Lawrence Woodmere Academy, also known as "LWA", and "Woodmere Academy", is an independent school located in Woodmere, New York, United States. It is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools and the New York State Board ...
and
Cheshire Academy
Cheshire Academy is a selective, co-educational college preparatory school located in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1794 as the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, it is currently the eleventh oldest boarding school in the United ...
in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
. It was there that he purchased his first guitar, a $52 Harmony full-bodied electric.
After graduating from Cheshire Academy in 1962, he went to Spain for the summer, studying at
Menendez Pelayo University in
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
, before starting college in the fall.
Bloom, known as "Manny" Bloom in college, attended
Hobart College in
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...
, studying
modern languages
A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such ...
. In 1964, he left early to work for a family car-importing company, but he returned a year later, partially out of concerns that if he was not in school, he would be picked up in the
Vietnam draft.
![The Lost and Found](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/The_Lost_and_Found.jpg)
In college, Bloom was involved with the casual forming of a couple of short-term bands for playing at local venues. One of these was Rick and the Ravons (Bloom being Rick). He also organized music for various fraternity parties. For one of them, he hired a band that later asked him to join. They renamed it as Lost and Found, with whom he performed off and on for a few years. The band was composed of George Faust on guitar,
John Trivers
John Trivers (born 1946) is an American songwriter and musician, the recipient of gold and platinum records for his involvement with Blue Öyster Cult and Tina Turner, and the co-writer with his wife and partner Elizabeth Myers of several popular ...
on bass, Peter Haviland on lead guitar, Jeff Hayes as drummer, and Bloom singing.
In 1963, Bloom was also exposed to the music of
Wilmer and the Dukes, who made a profound impression on him. He attended over 100 of their performances, and he and his band Lost and Found opened for them when they came to play at Hobart. Other major influences were
James Brown, and
Ronnie James Dio.
In Bloom's senior year, he was encouraged by his friends to join their
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an interna ...
fraternity. He also found himself volunteering to do sound engineering at local college events (such as a performance by
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal musi ...
), simply because he could not stand how bad the sound was. It was through his efforts that the college finally updated to a better sound system, after he graduated in 1967 (receiving a
BA in modern languages).
Career
Summer of Love: 1967
After college, Bloom toured with the band in upstate New York (he was the only one who had a van to transport equipment). The band had some membership changes and was renamed as Rock Garden. They made one attempt to record a single but could not land a contract, so they continued on with live performances and cover tunes, until the band broke up in July 1967.
Though Bloom had applied and been accepted for graduate school at
San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, he decided instead to spend the
Summer of Love of 1967 as a drifter, pan-handling or selling sketches for $1 in
Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
(P-town),
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
, until he got a job washing dishes. On Labor Day, his college friend Trivers invited him to perform in
Clayton, New York
Clayton is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 5,153 at the 2010 census. The town is named after John M. Clayton, a federal political leader from Delaware.
The town contains a village also named Clayton. Bo ...
the next night. Despite the short notice, Bloom packed up and left Provincetown for good. Lost and Found re-formed and played through the rest of the season.
Soft White Underbelly: 1968–1971
In 1968, Bloom moved to
Plainview, Long Island
Plainview is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located near the North Shore of Long Island in the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 27,100. The Plainview post office has ...
to live with his sister. He obtained a job at
Sam Ash Music
Sam Ash Music was founded in 1924, and is the largest family-owned chain of musical instrument stores in the United States, with 44 locations in 16 states. With corporate headquarters in Hicksville, New York, Sam Ash sells musical instruments, r ...
in
Hempstead, selling music equipment. One day in late 1968 some members of the band Soft White Underbelly, Donald Roeser (later
Buck Dharma
Donald Roeser (born November 12, 1947), known by his stage name Buck Dharma, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the sole constant member of hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult since the group's formation in 1967. He wrote and ...
),
Allen Lanier
Allen Glover Lanier (; June 25, 1946 – August 14, 2013) was an American musician who played keyboards and rhythm guitar. He was an original member of Blue Öyster Cult.
Lanier wrote several songs for Blue Öyster Cult albums, including "T ...
and Andrew Winters, entered the store. One of them spotted a photo that Bloom had put up as a joke—he had placed an 8x10 glossy of his old band Lost and Found up on the wall with all the major bands such as the
Rolling Stones and
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
. One of the SWU members recognized it because Les Braunstein, their lead singer, had also been a Hobart College alumnus, and had told his bandmates about the other college band. As Bloom talked with them about the photo, they struck up a friendship. Bloom ended up doing some sound engineering for them at the
Electric Circus
''Electric Circus '' (also known as ''EC'') was a Canadian live dance music television program that aired on MuchMusic and Citytv from September 16, 1988 to December 12, 2003. The name originated from a nightclub that once existed at Citytv's fir ...
in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, and they mutually impressed each other enough that in November 1968, the band's manager,
Sandy Pearlman
Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...
, asked if Bloom would like to become their tour manager. Bloom moved into the group's house in
Great Neck, New York
Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincorpo ...
in December 1968.
Blue Öyster Cult: 1972–present
In April 1969, when lead singer Braunstein dropped out of the group, Bloom became the band's vocalist. The band went through several name changes, but in 1971 settled on Blue Öyster Cult. Their first album was released by
Columbia Records in 1972, and they were voted "Best New Band" by ''
Creem
''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential crit ...
'' magazine.
In 1976, their platinum album ''
Agents of Fortune
''Agents of Fortune'' is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released by Columbia Records on May 21, 1976.
The Platinum-selling album peaked at No. 29 on the U.S. Billboard chart, while the cryptic single "( ...
'' with its hit "
(Don't Fear) the Reaper
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band's 1976 album '' Agents of Fortune.'' The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, deals with eternal love and the inevitab ...
" launched the band into international fame, though that particular song was sung and written by lead guitarist
Buck Dharma
Donald Roeser (born November 12, 1947), known by his stage name Buck Dharma, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the sole constant member of hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult since the group's formation in 1967. He wrote and ...
. Both ''
Creem
''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential crit ...
'' readers and ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' critics' voted "Don't Fear the Reaper" as the top single of the year.
Bloom bought his own house in Great Neck in 1976, where he still resides to this day.
![Eric Bloom 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Eric_Bloom_1.jpg)
Bloom has been one of the longtime members of the band throughout the decades, along with original member
Buck Dharma
Donald Roeser (born November 12, 1947), known by his stage name Buck Dharma, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the sole constant member of hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult since the group's formation in 1967. He wrote and ...
(it is estimated that they have given over 4,000 live performances). He has co-written many of the band's songs, and often collaborates with writers both inside and outside the music industry. Bloom is credited as playing "stun guitar" on some Blue Öyster Cult works, a term the band uses for the distortion sound of his
rhythm guitar.
Outside work
Bloom is known for being an avid reader, especially science fiction and fantasy novels. He once sent a fan letter to English science-fiction author
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...
, and then collaborated with him on three songs. "
Black Blade" was written from the point of view of Moorcock's
Elric character, and the other two were "
The Great Sun Jester" and "
Veteran of the Psychic Wars
"Veteran of the Psychic Wars" is a song by the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was written by Eric Bloom and British author Michael Moorcock (creator of Elric of Melniboné). The song first appeared on the 1981 album '' Fire of Unk ...
", the latter of which was used in the original ''
Heavy Metal'' movie. In 1987, Bloom and Moorcock performed the song live at the
Dragon*Con
Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American List of multigenre conventions, multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia ...
convention in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, Georgia.
Bloom also collaborated with author
Eric Van Lustbader
Eric Van Lustbader (born December 24, 1946) is an American author of thriller and fantasy novels. He has published as Eric Lustbader, Eric V. Lustbader, and Eric Van Lustbader.
He is a graduate of New York's Stuyvesant High School and Columb ...
on the song "Shadow Warrior", and in 1998, 2001 and 2020 with
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...
author
John Shirley
John Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American writer, primarily of fantasy, science fiction, dark street fiction, westerns, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, ''Wyatt in Wichita'', and ...
on the ''
Heaven Forbid
''Heaven Forbid'' is the thirteenth studio album by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released on March 24, 1998. It was the band's first studio album with new material in a decade (not counting the 1992 soundtrack to ''Bad Channels'' ...
', ''
Curse of the Hidden Mirror
''Curse of the Hidden Mirror'' is the fourteenth studio album by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released in June 5, 2001. The only single from the record was the poorly received "Pocket". Lackluster sales and poor relations led to ...
'' and ''
The Symbol Remains
''The Symbol Remains'' is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released on October 9, 2020.
The title comes from a lyric in the song "Shadow of California" on Blue Öyster Cult's 1983 LP ''The Revölution by Night' ...
'' albums.
In 2006, Bloom began a partnership with artist Philippe Renaudin, to create and sell six elaborately painted custom-made guitars, each one of which interprets a different Blue Öyster Cult song, and each of which was played during BÖC performances.
References
External links
Official websiteEric Bloom Guitars– Bloom's 2006 series of custom guitars
– Bloom interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Eric
1944 births
Living people
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American heavy metal singers
Jewish American musicians
Jewish singers
Jewish rock musicians
Jewish heavy metal musicians
Blue Öyster Cult members
Songwriters from New York (state)
Musicians from Brooklyn
People from Queens, New York
Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni
Science fiction fans
People from Plainview, New York
Guitarists from New York (state)
Lawrence Woodmere Academy alumni
20th-century American guitarists
Cheshire Academy alumni
Psychedelic rock musicians