Bloodkin's First 7" Single & Tonight's 40 Watt Club Performance
Posted: Jun 02, 2011Bloodkin's Mark Fidrych & Evel Knievel
Tonight the Athens, Georgia, band Bloodkin's Daniel Hutchens, Eric Carter and William Tonks will perform at the legendary 40 Watt Club. Jerry Joseph will also join Bloodkin onstage. Bloodkin and Jerry Joseph stand as vital songwriters that Widespread Panic always respected (as well as Vic Chesnutt) and covered their songs.
Bloodkin plan on releasing a definitive boxset in 2012. Yesterday, this official release from Analogue Records announced the upcoming release of Bloodkin's first ever 7" single:
Contacts: Hunter Hoskins/Daniel Peiken
Analogue Records Releases Bloodkin’s First Ever 7” Single, featuring
Mark Fidrych & Evel Knievel w/b Henry Parsons Died.
Analogue Records proudly announces the forthcoming release of “THE BLOODKIN 45,” the first ever vinyl single from the iconic Athens rock band, Bloodkin, which features the life long musical partnership of Danny Hutchens and Eric Carter. The first pressing will hit the shelves on June 25th and will be available on 45 RPM, 7” virgin vinyl pressed at United Record Pressing. The record will be sold on analoguerecords.com, at the band’s live shows, and at select independant record stores scattered across the South East (and a few elsewhere). David Barbe recorded The 45 at Chase Park Transduction, and Tom Lewis mastered it for vinyl. Michael Lachowski (Pylon) at Candy Creative created the label art. This release will precede a career-spanning box set to be released next year by Terminus Records. This long awaited follow up to Analogue Records’s first release (The Arcs 45), features the newly written, “Mark Fidrych & Evel Knievel,” and the Bloodkin classic “Henry Parsons Died,” which Widespread Panic has made famous the world over.
“It feels like coming full circle”: Bloodkin’s First Ever 7”
Analogue Records is excited to release Bloodkin’s first ever 7” single, a format that audiophiles love for its warmth and dynamic sound quality. “Eric and I grew up on 45s,” Hutchens says. “They were a youthful obsession. My older sisters had stacks and stacks of 45s around the house, and The Beatles and The Monkees became my early favorites. ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’ ‘Last Train To Clarksville,’ ‘Daydream Believer’. . . catchy, sugary pop. And the whole experience of playing the 45s, watching 'em spin, noticing which labels looked best going round on the turntable––it's really cool for me, now, to be able to release a 45. Never done it before, and it feels like coming full circle.”
“No Computers Involved”: They don’t make records like this much anymore.
Bloodkin recorded these songs much the same way David Briggs recorded Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Glyn Johns recorded The Rolling Stones. In a similar manner as those 70s icons, Chase Park Transduction’s David Barbe recorded the tunes live in the studio straight to 16 track 2" tape with minimal over dubbing. He then mixed those 16 tracks to 2 track 1/2” tape. Barbe says that “Every record I make with Bloodkin is a new adventure, which was certainly the case here. It's always something good. Everybody live in the room together to tape; no computers involved. The feel of the record is the spot in the room where all of the sounds collide."
Tom Lewis (Tom Lewis Recording) mastered the songs from the 1/2” tape to high res DVD. From there, Analogue Records sent it to United Record Pressing in Nashville which pressed it from virgin vinyl for the very best in analogue sound.
Analogue Records co-founder, Hunter Hoskins, says that “Analogue Records, of course, wants all its music to hit tape and spin on vinyl.” Hoskins adds that “the opportunity to work with two of my very favorite song writers in Danny and Eric and press their music to vinyl has been really inspiring and truly an honor.
As soon as Daniel (Peiken, Label co-founder) and I heard “Mark Fidrych & Evel Knievel,” we knew we wanted to put it out. We have been such huge fans of the band for years. Bloodkin’s soul is all analogue. Audiophiles and rock and roll fans alike are really going to appreciate this release.”
Peiken adds, “I've been watching Bloodkin perform on stage for ten years and now I am thrilled to be working with them to get their music out to more people, particularly in this old school vinyl format. They are just fantastic artists.”
A Record for Our Times: “Ain’t Got No American Wierdos, Just American Idols”
The A-side, “Mark Fidrych & Evel Knievel,” laments the rise of American Idols at the expense of the grand tradition of “American Wierdos,” the real American Idols, like Harvey Pekar, Bill Hicks, Hunter Thompson, and George Carlin. Hutchens explains that the song “involves my frustration with what seems like the systematic dumbing down and taming of the American psyche. You used to have to really go out and accomplish something to get famous. You had to really charm and excite the nation by beating the Yankees on the National Game of the Week like Mark “The Bird” Fidrych or by jumping the Snake River like Evel Knievel. Now you just have to be on a reality TV show.”
“I don't think we’ve ever played it better.”
This Analogue Records release marks the first time Bloodkin has recorded their own version of “Henry Parsons Died.”
Hutchens says that the song has been “a staple of live Bloodkin performances for over 20 years; I wrote the song in 1989. Somehow it just fell between the cracks and we never recorded it. Widespread Panic released their version on Everyday in 1993, so the song was out there, being heard, and that's the most important thing to me, and when we make Bloodkin records, it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, you have to find the pieces / songs that fit together correctly, and somehow ‘Henry’ just didn't seem a natural fit for any of the records we made until this project. I'm kind of glad (we waited) now, because I love this current band lineup so much, and I think this new recording really does the song justice. I don't think we’ve ever played it better.”
Bloodkin Bio (from Last.fm)
Daniel Hutchens and Eric Carter met each other when they were eight years old. After high school, they started getting serious about their blossoming songwriting partnership. The road eventually led them to Athens, GA, which soon came to be a permanent home. They continued to concentrate on their songwriting, and by the early 90s they had a catalogue of over 300 [songs]. By this time Hutchens and Carter had given their musical collaboration a “band name”: Bloodkin.
People started to notice, and some even started covering some Bloodkin songs; most notably Widespread Panic, who wound up recording three Bloodkin songs (“Makes Sense to Me,” “Henry Parsons Died,” and “Can’t Get High”), and who continue to play those and other Bloodkin songs live. Panic’s cover of “Can’t Get High” peaked at 27 on the Billboard AOR charts. Daniel also wound up playing with ex-Velvet Underground member Moe Tucker in the early-to-mid 90’s; he played on three of her albums and several of her tours.
In 1994 Bloodkin released their first official CD, GOOD LUCK CHARM. The project was produced by Johnny Sandlin (legendary producer of the Allman Brothers, Eddie Hinton, and so many others). Bloodkin recording projects over the years have also featured producers John Keane (R.E.M, Cowboy Junkies, etc.), and, more often than any other producer, David Barbe (Sugar, Son Volt, Drive By Truckers, etc.).
The full Bloodkin discography reads as follows:
GOOD LUCK CHARM (1994)
CREEPERWEED (1996)
OUT OF STATE PLATES (1999)
ALL DOLLED UP (live) (2000)
THE BLOODKIN COMMUNITY GOSPEL REHAB (2001)
RAVIN’ BEAUTIES (2002)
LESSER (Daniel Hutchens solo) (2003)
LAST NIGHT OUT (2005)
LOVESONGS FOR LOSERS (Daniel Hutchens solo) (2006)
BABY, THEY TOLD US WE WOULD RISE AGAIN (2009)
Bloodkin Current Lineup
Danny Hutchens (Guitar / Vox), Eric Carter (Guitar), David Nickel (Bass), Aaron Phillips (Drums), and William Tonks (Guitar / Dobro).
Analogue Records
Daniel Peiken and Hunter Hoskins founded Analogue Records in 2009 to put out great rock and roll records on high quality vinyl. Previously released Athens “supergroup,” The Arcs, called The Arcs 45 (Eddie/Living the Dream).
Websites
Tomlewisrecording.com
Bloodkin.net
Chaseparktransduction.com
Stay tuned for upcoming Bloodkin news...
James Calemine
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