Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Blitzen Trapper’s evil plan

Blitzen Trapper’s got the funk, the Boss, Sabbath, and Neil Young; you just don’t know which one you’re going to get at any given show...
Blitzen Trapper’s got the funk, the Boss, Sabbath, and Neil Young; you just don’t know which one you’re going to get at any given show...

Blitzen Trapper released VII about a year ago on their new home, Vagrant Records. The songs on the album blend the band’s country-rock standards with a dose of funk. So, how did these Portland boys come to write a Grand Funk Railroad album?

“At the time that I was writing it I was listening to the Country Funk compilations, Ike and Tina Turner, and J.J. Cale — who’s always my favorite. I kinda just blended them all together,” Blitzen Trapper mastermind Eric Earley explained to the Reader via phone. “There’s about half that record that we really enjoy playing live. Most records are like that. You usually get a half record. Sometimes you get a whole record that really pops live, but it just depends...”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The band is now in the preliminary stages of devising VII’s follow-up. However, Earley says they probably won’t be playing any of the new original material at upcoming shows. He did state that the band continues to add new covers to their live sets. One of these may be their take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on the Highway,” which appears on the recent Born in the U.S.A. tribute, Dead Man’s Town. A cover which is endorsed by Springsteen himself. After the album was released, he took to Twitter to reveal that the Blitzen Trapper track was his early favorite on the album.

Ironically, Springsteen was not an early favorite for most of the band.

“None of us really grew up with him that much. It’s always been later on that we got into him — Mostly through Nebraska. I don’t think he’s been a huge influence on us, mainly because we’re from the West Coast. No one really listened to him out here when we were kids,” Earley explained.

Past Event

Blitzen Trapper and Cassorla

  • Thursday, October 2, 2014, 8 p.m.
  • Casbah, 2501 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego
  • 21+

One album that was a favorite for the young Trappers was Neil Young’s Harvest. They will be performing the album in its entirety at an upcoming concert in Portland. Earley said that selected cuts from the essential record will also make it into the live sets during their current tour. Then he explained a devious plan that was inspired by the idea of covering an entire album.

“We were talking about doing a tour where we learned two records and we would choose which one we wanted to do each night and the crowd wouldn’t know which one we’re gonna do. It would be kinda fun. You’d either get Harvest or you’d get Paranoid by Black Sabbath. You just don’t know.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Classical Classical at The San Diego Symphony Orchestra

A concert I didn't know I needed
Blitzen Trapper’s got the funk, the Boss, Sabbath, and Neil Young; you just don’t know which one you’re going to get at any given show...
Blitzen Trapper’s got the funk, the Boss, Sabbath, and Neil Young; you just don’t know which one you’re going to get at any given show...

Blitzen Trapper released VII about a year ago on their new home, Vagrant Records. The songs on the album blend the band’s country-rock standards with a dose of funk. So, how did these Portland boys come to write a Grand Funk Railroad album?

“At the time that I was writing it I was listening to the Country Funk compilations, Ike and Tina Turner, and J.J. Cale — who’s always my favorite. I kinda just blended them all together,” Blitzen Trapper mastermind Eric Earley explained to the Reader via phone. “There’s about half that record that we really enjoy playing live. Most records are like that. You usually get a half record. Sometimes you get a whole record that really pops live, but it just depends...”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The band is now in the preliminary stages of devising VII’s follow-up. However, Earley says they probably won’t be playing any of the new original material at upcoming shows. He did state that the band continues to add new covers to their live sets. One of these may be their take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on the Highway,” which appears on the recent Born in the U.S.A. tribute, Dead Man’s Town. A cover which is endorsed by Springsteen himself. After the album was released, he took to Twitter to reveal that the Blitzen Trapper track was his early favorite on the album.

Ironically, Springsteen was not an early favorite for most of the band.

“None of us really grew up with him that much. It’s always been later on that we got into him — Mostly through Nebraska. I don’t think he’s been a huge influence on us, mainly because we’re from the West Coast. No one really listened to him out here when we were kids,” Earley explained.

Past Event

Blitzen Trapper and Cassorla

  • Thursday, October 2, 2014, 8 p.m.
  • Casbah, 2501 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego
  • 21+

One album that was a favorite for the young Trappers was Neil Young’s Harvest. They will be performing the album in its entirety at an upcoming concert in Portland. Earley said that selected cuts from the essential record will also make it into the live sets during their current tour. Then he explained a devious plan that was inspired by the idea of covering an entire album.

“We were talking about doing a tour where we learned two records and we would choose which one we wanted to do each night and the crowd wouldn’t know which one we’re gonna do. It would be kinda fun. You’d either get Harvest or you’d get Paranoid by Black Sabbath. You just don’t know.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader