I’m sure David Bowie would get a mighty kick out of it.
With a name inspired by a line from Bowie’s “Suffragette City,” The Total Blam Blams may be the perfect moniker for a band that strips its rock to the core, injects it with a bit of Motown-laden soul and pumps it out on stage with bravado.
“We don’t mess around,” says lead guitarist Jayson Heystek. “It’s full throttle.”
Perhaps that’s why it’s also a big kick after seven years of their existence to crank up the Total Blam Blams’ first proper album, “Cheetah Paw,” an EP recorded by Al McAvoy at Grand Rapids’ Atomic Sound.
The three hefty tracks are filled with the sort of inventive layering and raw punk-like attack that defines the musical mélange meted out by Heystek, lead singer and guitarist Nora Heystek, bassist Kyle Dood and drummer Ben Taylor.
As Jason Heystek puts it, he grew up in the Flint/Saginaw area (where he first met Nora as a kid) listening to “lots of old soul” records. When that influence gets tossed into the blender by a bunch of “punk-rock kids,” the Total Blam Blams emerge.
Jason, Nora and Kyle fired up the studios at News Talk 1340 AM for Wednesday’s Local Spins Live segment with a rare acoustic performance of a new song from that EP, “Everyone Gets Lovin’,” with Jason on acoustic guitar, Nora on lead vocals and vibraslap (purchased just for this particular tune), and Kyle on backing vocals. It required a new, concise arrangement of a pretty ferocious rock song, and you can see a video of that unique performance below.
For those of you who missed the show, the podcast of the full band interview is here as well.
(Check out last week’s performance by guest The Northern Skies here.)
Of course, to really appreciate the Total Blam Blams means catching them live at “full throttle” rock volume, which fans get a chance to do at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Pyramid Scheme for the band’s CD-release show.
Admission is $5, and the lineup includes three other terrific West Michigan bands: Heavier Than Air Flying Machines, Faux Fur and The Extra Texture.
For more on the Total Blam Blams, check out their Facebook page or their Myspace site.
Email: jsinkevics@gmail.com
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