Blue Sky Blackout - “Clear From A Mile Away”
After a year of playing shows, Blue Sky Blackout is glad to finally release some real recorded material. The band was formed by songwriter/guitarist Jon Hunt in early 2009. Hunt, a longtime fixture of the local music scene in bands like Shatterproof and Lunar 9, had spent the previous few years in LA and was anxious to start something new on his return to Minneapolis. Before moving back, Jon had already recruited most of the band and recorded demos of a dozen songs. The final lineup – with Christian Erickson singing, Jon Hunt singing backup and playing guitar, Mykl Westbrooks and Brandon Dalida on guitars, Tim Ritter on bass and Marc Iwanin on drums – played its first show in July, 2009.
Various combinations of us have played with each other before in bands like Astronaut Wife (Erickson and Ritter), Landing Gear (Hunt and Westbrooks), and Medication (Iwanin, Dalida and Hunt) and many of those bands were either released by Susstones or recorded at Flowers Studio. Despite the long history, this isn’t just a re-hash of what we’ve all done before. Jon’s flair for melodic Brit-pop influenced songs is still there, but with a heavier rock vibe thanks to a six-piece band that includes 3 guitars.
The idea behind 3-Sided Singles was cooked up over a few drinks by Ed Ackerson, Paul Kolderie and Christian Erickson one night as they were lamenting the loss of the “B-side”, the one place where even the most commercial bands could show a more adventurous side. The concept was to give bands a chance to show 3 different sides of what they do. And we think that’s what we’ve done with this release.
The tracks included in the 3-Side are:
1. Somebody Said That You Loved Me.
2. Libertine
3. The Drugs Don’t Work
Also included is some digital cover art and some behind-the-scenes photos taken by singer Christian Erickson during the recording sessions, which were produced by Ed Ackerson at Flowers Studio.
We hope you dig it.