Rock and roll is timeless. Since its creation in the 50’s thousands of great bands have graced our ears with earth shattering percussion, meaty bass riffs, brain melting guitar, and vocals that strike an emotional nerve on an incomparable level. Most of us daydream about what it would be like to sell out stadiums; the crowd at your beck and call but for Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon; that daydream has been a reality for the past 20 years.
“It feels fake to me,” Thorn said as he reminisced over seeing Blind Melon on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, “you know you can go to Disney Land and get your picture on a magazine cover; it just looked fake.”
20 years since that ’93 magazine cover, Blind Melon is back to doing what they do best. They have re-mastered and re-released their debut self-titled album as well as released their unheard “Sippin’ Time Sessions” EP. A great month for Blind Melon fans gets even better with Thorn saying the band plans on releasing a single. “I don’t know if it will turn into a full length record but for now we want to get together and release a song.” Even though another record might not be in the band’s immediate future, Thorn did hint that releasing a single “could turn into more,” noting how important it was to him to keep “doing Blind Melon and creating songs for the fans.”
In August, Blind Melon will travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina to play a few shows but no US tour is currently in the works. Although Blind Melon is not planning any tour dates, it is impossible to rule one out due to Thorn’s love of the road. “The real world doesn’t exist,” he stated, “it’ll beat you up but I love it, I love traveling and meeting new people every night and being in different countries, I go too long without getting out on the road and I kind of get cabin fever like I got to get out there and do some shows.”
Thorns love for performing became more apparent when he talked about his favorite show that he ever played. “One of our first tour we opened up for Guns n’ Roses and we were playing in a soccer stadium in front of 90 thousand people and they were all flicking their lighters to the beat of the end of Deserted.” He continued, “I just remember feeling like I was levitating and I had never seen anything like that.” This goes to show the effect Blind Melon had on an audience, particularly one that has never even heard of them before. “We had to win these audiences over every night,” said Thorn.
In an industry where talent replaces talent year in and year out, Blind Melon might seem to have fallen by the wayside. However, Thorn wanted to make sure people knew that they’re still here, “we’re still out there, we’re hanging in there and it’s important for us to go out there and honor our old songs and play new ones as well for a fan base that we feel so grateful for.” With Blind Melon still rockin’ after 20 years, fans can sleep soundly knowing they plan on doing so for a long time to come.
Editors Note: Blind Melon’s self-titled 1992 debut album, Blind Melon, featuring the now-iconic “bee girl” on its cover, has been remastered for the first time and expanded with the band’s previously unreleased “Sippin’ Time Sessions” EP for release on CD and digitally by Capitol/UMe on April 16. Creation of the new edition has been overseen by band members Brad Smith and Christopher Thorn. On April 20, a 180-gram gatefold 2LP vinyl edition of the remastered Blind Melon album and “Sippin’ Time Sessions” EP will be available exclusively at Record Store Day-participating retailers.
Special thanks to guest contributor Christopher Gesualdo for this interview.
