“The Rap/Nu Metal BLISTER66. I remember they were hardcore partiers and I had a blast killing them. Them appearing on my site opened a lot of doors for me. The lead singer Chris and I, accompanied the very first article ever written on me, in (Denver’s) Go Go Magazine. BLISTER66′ bassist, Andy was the first buttocks I ever ate on my site. It wouldn’t be the last“
~Maris The Great
THE DEMISE OF BLISTER 66
“BLISTER 66 is the most popular rock and roll band in Colorado. They are also one of the hardest partying. Because of this, one doesn’t simply interview BLISTER 66. One sits down, with tape recorder in hand with the intent of interviewing BLISTER 66 and then gets sucked into the strange party vortex that these guys live in. While they all take their music and Blister business very seriously, they definitely approach partying with as much gusto. My first attempt to talk with the band ended with me drunk and talking to equally intoxicated lead singer, Chris Dillenger aka, Big Clem, aka, Crispy Chris, aka, Cookie Crisp (By me!) in a local rock club. Two of my favorite locals, Throat Culture and Filth Industry were on stage that night, blowing the place apart around us. When he’s drunk, Chris is the ultimate class clown. On this particular go-around, Crispy felt the need to display his large testicles to all in the club interested in seeing them. While I was thrilled at the prospect of viewing Crispy’s testicular virility (come to think of it, the sight of any guys testicles thrills me) I am more facinated by the strange spell that put me in that situation in the first place. I came to find out that Blister 66 put that strange spell on a lot of people.
In a lot of ways, it’s this spell that intrigues me almost more than their music. But don’t get me wrong. The Blister’s brand of Hip-Hop meets Hardcore kicks my ass in all the right places. Their two CDs, 97’s “Throw it in dry” and last years, “White Trash Summer”, not only made me a fan, but a whole lot of other people as well. They’ve sold a lot of CD’s and a lot of merchandise and have garnered support from every corner of the local entertainment community in the process. Blister 66 can do no wrong. Club owners once reluctant to book such a rowdy act that sings songs about things like masturbation, now fall over each other trying to accommodate the boys. Winning awards and scoring ideal gigs has almost gotten boring in its regularity. Nominated four years and running by Westword Music Awards in the category of best Rock, Goth, Metal, and Punk (You figure it out), Blister 66 have nailed the last three in a row. They just triumphantly opened for 311 in KTCL’s Big Adventure. And as I am typing this, the band is probably just wiping the sweat off their instruments following two shows at the Denver edition of the Warped tour.
So we all know that BLISTER 66 are kicking ass and taking names and that a large part of it is due to their music. But I think the magic that is Blister 66 and thus the spell I previously mentioned, has to do with the members themselves. They are all natural born stars. Nothing they do is an act. BLISTER 66 doesn’t sit around having meetings about how to be BLISTER 66. They don’t talk about their image or who should get the next tattoo, or who should be the next one to pull out his testicles in public. With BLISTER 66, the shit just kinda happens. On stage as well as off. Chris is as warm, charismatic and eager to make sure you are enjoying yourself as he is he’s in front of a crowd of 1000. The attention he gives to the fans, whether it’s spending hours personally answering e-mails or whether it’s shaking hands out on the street and in the clubs, is almost to the point of being legendary. Philo seems more comfortable when he’s playing his guitar. A conservative, easy-going guy who shuns the spotlight when off stage, strap a guitar around his neck and he’s thirteen years old all over again. He noodles with it, blasting out power chords with the same joy he probably felt the first time he heard Ace Freheley. Andy is just plain nuts. I love Andy. One never knows when the fearless bassist, aka DJ 69 Valentine, might run through the room butt ass naked. He’s as accomplished as a DJ as he is a bassist and has the enthusiasm of a little kid on Christmas day whenever he gets to do either. Drummer, Dave Foonberg aka, Super Dave is the consummate pro. Always known and respected by virtually every local band for what he can do and has done on the drums, Dave has been forever teased for looking kind of like a responsible shop-class teacher on stage. Well as it turns out, Dave offstage. is…uh…well…the most responsible. Often being elected to do the driving early in the morning and late at night on the band’s road excursions, Dave bares this responsibility because he is the Blister-dude most likely not to be too drunk or hungover to take on the task. The only member of BLISTER 66 that misleads is DJ Kage. Onstage he seems a little removed, maybe even aloof and distant from the craziness. Fuck that. He’s the devil. He is as much a part of the BLISTER 66 madness as anyone else in the band.
Whatever the hell BLISTER 66 is doing, they should keep right on doing it, because it’s working. While rumors of various degrees of truth are always making their way around the scene regarding the band being signed, the truth is, if there was ever a local band worthy of being signed, it would be BLISTER 66. And while there are activities the band doesn’t feel comfortable talking about yet concerning certain possibilities in their immediate future, the band really doesn’t take their own hype too seriously, preferring to hold company with real people, as opposed to the phony types attracted by their popularity. BLISTER 66 also still has both feet firmly planted on the local music scene ground. A scene they all believe in and are very accommodating in the support thereof.
This is where I come into the picture. I had to go to great lengths to come off as if I love BLISTER 66 in order to get close enough to interview them. When In reality, I have been counting the days that I can kill them and rid them from the music scene that I, Maris The Great, am meant to rule.
Here is the final interview of BLISTER 66.“
~Maris The Great
BLISTER 66 FINAL INTERVIEW
MARIS THE GREAT: Cookie Crisp, did you get the name Big Clem because you have a big wee wee?
CHRIS: (Laughs) Maybe!
How did you get the name?
CHRIS: Big Clem came from a night at ALL STARS. That’s a sports cabaret down on Sante Fe. Topless bar…good time. We were making fun of the lonely old perverts that sit by themselves and pay the chicks to hang out with ‘em. I thought, I gotta have a cool name like one of those old dudes like, something like Clem (Laughs). So I changed it so I could get hot chicks!
Being you have rather large testicles, are you one of those guys that shoots all over the place when they cum or are you more of a gusher?
C: It’s all over the place! (Laughs)
Great! Let’s talk about who BLISTER 66 is and where it all started.
C: We got together four years ago. Andy, Philo and myself had all played together in previous, different bands. Andy and I decided to start a new project. We said, let’s get Philo involved cuz we were all in the same practice space anyway. So we got Philo, got a drummer also named Chris. Chris, “The chainsaw”. So we just started jamming. That was the beginning.
Were you all long hairs?
C: Andy had short hair, I was in dreadlocks and Philo was in pre-dreadlocks.
You were initially called Blister. Why did you add the 66?
C: We added the 66 when we came out with “White Trash Summer” because as we toured more nationally we found out there were quite a few other bands who had the name “Blister”. We didn’t want to get sued or have to buy the name out. So we just said, “fuck ya all”, we put a 66 on the end of it and copyrighted that.
Why not three sixes?
PHILO: Our old keyboard player denoted he didn’t want any religious moniker on either side. Whether it be the Devil or God.
Was there a certain point when you knew that this band was happening?
PH: Probably our first show together. We did a tattoo benefit for one of our homey’s old studios. Tom DePriest was our main ink-slinger back then. He worked at Remy’s, which was relocating. He asked us to do a relocating party to help them fund the move.
Was the first album out yet?
PH: No. This was before the first album. This was like the summer of ’96. We threw together enough songs to do a short set and give everybody a taste of what our songwriting capabilities were. We didn’t have a programmer or a keyboardist or anything at that time. It was just a totally raw three piece, with Chris singing. And from the response we got from the audience, we knew we had some fuckin’ flavor goin’ on and some magic together so…
Did you want to mix Hip-Hop with metal or hardcore from the beginning?
PH: Yeah. That was the way our style totally was. We had songs that had major Hip-Hop influences, like, “I did your Mom”. We’ve always been down with a lot of different types of music for a long time. I’ve always been into Rap. Listening to things like Digital Underground. All the way back to things like P-Funk. NWA, back in the day. It’s all as much an influence on me as the metal stuff.
Andy, you left the band at a certain point. Why?
ANDY: I left BLISTER 66 to explore the world of being a DJ. I had an opportunity to spend some time over in Europe. I spent some time in Amsterdam. I did some stuff over there and started opening my mind to new digital music and sounds. Stuff that I was absolutely fascinated in. After a while, I couldn’t any longer deny the feeling and the love of playing in a band. Throwing your heart and soul into songs you create with your family, with your brotherhood. That kind of energy is just off the hook compared to doing anything independently as far as like, DJ-ing goes.
Do you still DJ?
A: I still love DJ-ing. I still do it. It’s more of a personal hobby or a source of personal meditation, you know? But my love, heart and soul are in this band and with these guys. It’s magic.
While you were gone, who replaced you in BLISTER 66?
A: BLISTER 66 never really replaced the bass player. A keyboard player, Joe Sego was programming the bass on some of the songs and playing live bass on some of the songs as well.
PH: I actually did most of the bass looping for out live performances on about half the songs for “White Trash Summer”. I played the parts and we looped them in through Joe’s keyboards. Then sampled them. He then played some of the bass live.
Andy, I know you are straight, but if you were undead and gay, would you find me attractive?
A: Well, I find you attractive now (Laughter around the room)
Since you are so heavily into techno, will the next BLISTER 66 CD reflect that?
A: I would definitely say yes. Now that we’ve brought in DJ Kage there’s a lot of Hip-Hop influences and there’s gonna be a lot of techno influences. Just the stuff we are now inspired by.
PH: I would say that Andy is probably on crack again (Laughs) Since we have a new DJ in the band that’s just totally into Hip-Hop, we’ll probably be heading more in that direction. We’re gonna stay true to what we do and what we write. Whatever people bring to this band. Some techno, some Hip Hop some of that heavy, hard-core rap shit. Some good music to scratch your nuts too.
The song “Intolerance” intrigues me. What does BLISTER 66 know about prejudice?
PH: I think it’s the level of thinking the members of this band have always been on. I think everybody in this band has been discriminated against. We’re all fucking freaks to the average world. With our tattoos and our piercing. I’ve been discriminated against my whole life in some form or another. Whether it was because of my long hair or tattoos. You know, it’s always been my free style of thinking. Racism is fucked up.
Yeah, but isn’t the white race stealing Hip-Hop from the black community much the same way they did with rock and roll?
C: Maybe now, a little bit. But you have to understand that Andy and I was playing this kind of music like, eight years ago. We’ve always been on this track for quite awhile. But you see your little gang-banger wanna be white kids out in the suburbs that think they’re all urban and hard. They try to rip off that culture a little bit.
Super Dave, when did you get hooked up with these guys?
DAVE: About ten months or so after “White Trash Summer” came out.
How did you get the gig?
D: I was playing with Colemesis and Blister 66 approached me. Chris was like, “C’mon dude, join the band!”
C: That’s because I wanted to date you, man! (Laughter)
D: No, they had a thing on their website, an ad on their website.
Did you have to audition?
D: Yeah, I had to audition with like, 45 other guys. I auditioned once, and they had like, three guys come back a second time.
Why do you think you got the gig?
D: I don’t know…
A: Dave got it because he blew the entire band (Laughs) We were like, whoa dude! We’re gonna take you out on tour. (More laughter)
What’s the difference between playing with BLISTER 66 and some of your previous bands?
D: Their amps are bigger, their dicks are bigger (laughs), their crowds are bigger…everything is bigger!
What is it like playing with a DJ?
D: It’s interesting. I’ve never played with a DJ before. It’s like having another solo instrument going off while I play. It’s interesting, I like it.
That brings us to you DJ Kage. When did you join BLISTER 66?
DJ KAGE: About the same time as Dave.
How did you become a member?
DJK: I was always around the guys, drinking…partying. I was always hanging out. It just seemed like a good idea to everyone that I join the band because they were thinking of adding a DJ anyway, so the next thing you know I’m in the band.
Have you ever been a DJ for any other band?
DJK: No. This is the first time. I was a solo DJ for about four years prior to BLISTER 66.
Was the idea of mixing your Hip-Hop style with Blister’s heavy style new to you?
DJK: Oh yeah. It’s definitely a new style for me. But it works, and I like it.
Let’s talk a little about “White Trash Summer”. Refresh my memory. When did it come out?
C: May of last year.
That CD is such a major leap forward from the first one.
C: Well, for one, we recorded the first CD in like, one day. It definitely makes a difference when you have a budget. As a band, we had grown and our writing styles had grown. The direction we wanted to go in was a little bit cleaner.
In retrospect, how do you see the album?
C: It could be better (Laughs) There’s not enough low end. I particularly don’t like all the songs. I think the beginning sucks (Laughs) I don’t know, cut out a couple of the shitty songs, add some low end and get rid of the first two tracks…
PH: You’re never happy with what you do. We’re all perfectionists. We’re always riding each other’s ass. If somebody fucks up we don’t give them a dirty look but we know about it inside, you know. We are our worst critics. To me, no matter what, I’ll probably never be 100% happy with anything I do. After it’s done there’s always something you could have done better.
“Booty Shake” is one of my favorite songs. Philo, since you are pretty prevalent on that song, one gets the impression you’re an ass man.
PH: Sometimes you just got to flip it around and hit the back door every once and awhile (Laughs) And not even apologize for the shit (More laughter)
What kind of ass do you enjoy?
PH: I don’t like a flat ass. A woman’s got to have some shit there to grab on to. Something that flaps around when you smack it. Something that flows like jello, you know. But I’m a very appreciative man when it comes to asses, yes I would say that.
Andy, what do you like most about women?
A: I like their teeth (Laughs) the ones that don’t have braces on them! No, I’m a big fan of hanging out at titty bars. So I pretty much like the whole package. I like it all. I like a pretty girl.
Crispy?
C: I pretty much like the whole package. It depends. Every chick is different. If you look at all the past girlfriends I’ve had, none of them look remotely alike. Fuck, I don’t know. I like them all.
DJK: I like big ones, little ones, brown ones, white ones, yellow ones (Laughs) I like‘em all.
C: Dave likes highschool chicks (Laughs)
I whacked off the first time I heard, “Hands around the World”. I heard that song caused you problems.
C: Well, we never like, got into a lot of trouble over it. We’ve just offended a hell of a lot of people with it. There’s clubs around that think we’re the most offensive band around (laughs) Fuck ‘em.
What’s your take on the buzz surrounding the band?
Ph: We’re a bunch of humble kids (Laughs) Right now, were so far away from where we want to be that whether or not people perceive us in a certain light…we aren’t aware of all of that. From our point of view we’re our worst critics. We are so far from where we want to be that all of that doesn’t matter.
C: We’ve won a lot of shit but we don’t really care about all of that. It’s nice to be recognized, but until we are where we want to be, that shit is kind of menial. But we always have a great time and we really dig everyone who has supported us. It’s nice to play with a national (band) and get as big of a response from the audience.
Does BLISTER 66 attract a lot of phony people trying to get close to the band?
C: Some people want to be friends with who ever is the coolest at the time. We’ve seen a lot of people like that. I hate artificial people who want to be around you because your band is cool. Who, back when your band wasn’t cool, didn’t want to be around you. People like that just piss me off. It’s stupid.
A: I think phony people suck. You know down deep inside who your friends are.
Ph: I kind of let people be who they are. What ever their gig is…I’m pretty much a secluded person. I don’t hang out with a lot of people. I’m kind of an asshole (Laughs) I know who my close knit family and friends are. That’s what is really important to me.
DJK: We meet a lot of phony people. But there here one day and gone the next. I don’t put much thought into it.
There were rumors regarding all of you recently being seen riding around town in Limo’s. The rumors were that you got signed. What can you tell me about that?
C: We were riding around in Limos. There was a producer guy and a company who took an interest in us. They were basically sporting us around and hookin’ us up. That’s pretty much how the rumors got started. People were seeing us riding around with these people and started getting excited.
Who were these people?
C: We probably shouldn’t say.
What about the whole thing of getting signed?
C: We haven’t signed anything yet. We’re having a helluva lot of fun. We’ve got a lot of interest from different areas. Hopefully one of our options will pan out. If not, we’ll find new options.
Ph: I think the music industry is a real tight knit family. It’s hard getting your foot in the door unless you know somebody. It doesn’t matter how good you are. There are thousands of great bands that will never make it. It’s all about getting in with the right people, right time.
C: It’s all about persistence. You have to have a strong will. That’s why so many bands don’t make it out of their garage or the clubs. You’ve just got to be persistent and make it happen.
What’s the status of a new album?
C: That’s all up in the air because we don’t know what’s going to happen with our immediate future. It’s really hard to say. It’s a bit of a mystery.
PH: Right now we are writing a lot of new material for our third album. Since we just acquired Dave and DJ Kage in February, we’ve been letting it gel and getting tight. We are beginning to write the third album together. We are gonna keep doing what we’ve been doing. Pounding out shows, taking some time off to write some good songs and maybe shop around a demo. We are gonna just keep pushin on, throw some water on that shit and get it takin’ care of.
Well to wrap things up, let me ask some important questions about your wee wee’s. Andy you have a Prince Albert. Do you have to take that shit off when you fuck?
A: No, but I have been known to break a few ribs (Laughs)
I’ve heard you’re well hung.
A: They used to call me pony boy.
What building or skyscraper most reminds you of your wee wee?
PH: I would have to say the 9000 building on Sunset Blvd (Laughs) It’s a big black building I used to run around in when I was a kid.
A: I think mine would be the Gates Rubber Company (Laughs) That way I would never have to run to 7-11 in the middle of the night! (More laughter)
C: The Sears tower, that’s pretty self-explanatory! (Laughter)
D: The Taj Majal.
What about you, DJ Kage?
DJK: The Leaning Tower of Pisa!
(Much laughter around the room)