Diggin' The Cult

Australia's own rock'n'roll dandy, Dave Graney, is a massive fan, and Radio Birdman were inspired by a lyric in their song Dominance And Submission to call their own 1977 debut album Radios Appear. Turns out The Hoodoo Gurus had hoped to get them out here for their inaugural Dig It Up! invitationals but the stars weren't in alignment, either way, a significant slice of the Australian musical community reckon New York state rockers Blue Öyster Cult are dead set legends and massively influential. Which, as it turns out, was a surprise – a pleasant one of course – to the veteran five-piece, who are making their first ever journey to Australia in their 40-year career.

“That's only been told to me by Australians,” lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboards player Eric Bloom chuckles. “I really don't know that for a fact. We have a lot of Australian fans who come to the States to see us, so we've heard it from them.”

Bloom began his association with the band as their acoustic engineer, replacing the band's original singer Les Braunstein early in 1969. The band – then called Soft White Underbelly – recorded two albums before they officially became Blue Öyster Cult in 1971, but both were rejected by the label they were courting at the time, Elektra, and it took a New York producer named David Lucas pressing their case to then Columbia Records mover and shaker Clive Davis for Blue Öyster Cult to get signed and release their eponymous debut album in 1972.

“You just do what you like,” Bloom says of their “sound”, “and do what comes out of your head and into the instrument and into the mic and hope other people like it. Every time we sort of tried to guide the material in a certain direction, it didn't work for us. When we were more spontaneous and just wrote what we thought was good, that always worked better for us.

“We all came from the same place – we'd all been in bar bands before – so we all liked Hendrix, we all liked Cream, we all liked The Doors, we all liked the British Invasion [bands], we liked guys who came before us  – Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Roy Orbison – we all liked the same stuff. Harmonies – some Beach Boy influences, some R&B influences, which is where I came from. I was lead singer of R&B bands in '66, '7, '8, you know, with a mix of Beatles, Stones.”

The breakthrough single for Blue Öyster Cult was the for most part very pop (Don't Fear) The Reaper, released in 1976. They were also always open to inviting people outside of the band to contribute songs or lyrics, so that then-aspiring songwriter Patti Smith wrote lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult, alongside science fiction novelist Michael Moorcock, who was also a seminal contributor to UK's Hawkwind.

“Oh certainly – fresh blood to stir up the mix is always good,” Bloom admits. “Patti was our keyboard player [Allen Lanier]'s girlfriend, so we knew Patti before she ever made a record. When I joined the band, I moved into the band house in Long Island, New York, Christmas of '68, and during the early '69 period, Sandy Pearlman, our manager, was friendly with Patti and she was just doing poetry readings.”

The band, which currently includes guitarist Donald Roeser, keyboard player and guitarist Richie Castellano, bass player Kasim Sulton and drummer Jules Radino alongside Bloom, still plays between 70 to 90 concerts a year. “We've probably done 4500 shows in our career,” Bloom points out.

Blue Oyster Cult will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 18 April - Dig It Up, The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Friday 19 April - Dig It Up, Twin Towns, Gold Coast QLD
Sunday 21 April - Dig It Up - Enmore Theatre & surrounds, Sydney NSW
Thursday 25 April - Dig It Up, The Palace Theatre and surrounds, Melbourne VIC