(Rock N Roll Universe) Inspired by the heavy blues improv of Cream and Hendrix, legendary proto metal gods Blue Cheer roared forth from the San Francisco Bay area onto the national scene in a big way in early 1968 with their debut album 'Vincebus Eruptum'. Completely at odds with almost all of what was coming up from the hippie flower power underground, they were the antithesis of bands such as The Grateful Dead, as subtle as a jackhammer and louder than a 747. In a brand new exclusive interview conducted by Rock N Roll Universe with founding member Dickie Peterson, the legendary bassist discusses the band's new album, their first in 15 years, 'What Doesn't Kill You...', recording the classic 'Vincebus Eruptum', playing with Jimi Hendrix plus much, much more.RNRU : Blue Cheer has a brand new studio album out 'What Doesn't Kill You..." which is the first studio album from the band in 15 years, and the first one released here in the U.S. in 20. How do you feel the album came out, and why was there so much time between albums?
DP : First off, I think the album came out really great. Duck McDonald is an excellent producer. He did pretty much what I wanted to do, in that we wanted to capture who we really are. I think he did a really good job in doing that with today's technology applied to what we do. We didn't record for quite some time simply because #1, we're performing artists. We record albums because you have to in this business, but if you really want to see what Blue Cheer is all about you have to go stand there. Performing live, that's what we're all about.
RNRU : What do you feel the band's chances are of ever being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? Is that something that you're even interested in?
DP : It's not anything that excites us. We'd be more interested in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Infamy. The Hall Of Fame is a strange animal. There's a lot of people that should be in there who aren't, and there's a lot of people in there who I don't know how they got there. But I know this, that you join, and that's how you become eligible to be considered. To me, this doesn't have anything to do with rock & roll. Rock & Roll...the obvious doesn't have to be enrolled to be considered. So, it's not something we don't even talk about. The band speaks for itself. If you want to make it a hall of fame type of band, that's up to somebody else, not up to us. If they think we're going to pay money and try to buy fame, they're wrong. Not to mention most of the guys who get in end up playing Atlantic City, Las Vegas, or they die. We're more interested in the gig tomorrow night than being in the hall of fame. - more on this story
