The Blasters are Back in Long Beach: SoCal rockabilly/Americana heroes the Blasters have always straddled the line between old school rock & roll wonder and punk cool. In Long Beach, they'll be joined by Los Hurricanes and Dano Forte's Juke Joint Freakshow.

Back in August, when the Blasters performed at the Pacific Amphitheater with X and Los Lobos, we wrote: The Blasters tore the pace up with their American Music. They got a hero's welcome from this Costa Mesa crowd too, as the likes of Marie Marie? and I'm Shakin'? came and went in a blur. Phil Alvin's voice is still a force of nature and, while longtime fans of the band might still pine for the return of Dave Alvin, guitarist Keith Wyatt is a spectacular player. Like all of the bands on this bill, the Blasters have always wallowed in rockabilly while sitting comfortably in the punk scene. Tonight highlighted their hellraisin' side as well as their long glance at the past.

Expect a similarly riotous show on Saturday.

The Blasters are Back in Long Beach: The event takes place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 22 at Alex's Bar.



Blasters.com bio?

A performance by today's?Blastersvocalist-guitarist Phil Alvin, drummer Bill Bateman, bassist John Bazz, and guitarist Keith Wyattreflects influences that range from George Jones and Carl Perkins to Howlin' Wolf, James Brown and Bo Diddley. The band's?1980 debut album American Music (Rollin' Rock) was a powerful collection of fresh, distinctive performances that?shattered?the artificial boundaries between blues, rockabilly, country, R&B and rock & roll. The next three albums for Slash/Warner Bros. (The Blasters, Non-Fiction, and Hard Line) increasingly featured the unique songwriting voice of original guitarist Dave Alvin as the band's lineup expanded to include pianist Gene Taylor plus saxophonists Steve Berlin and New Orleans legend Lee Allen (the man who put a saxophone in rock & roll?). As the Blasters' fame grew, they began to draw accolades from artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton and Queen, and in turn the band encouraged and supported still up-and-coming LA musical peers such as Dwight Yoakum and Los Lobos.