music
THE BLIMP
Sonic Hindenberg
Consider The Blimp as a lit cigarette ready to burn hydrogen and explode. “Our music is like driving a car
upside down on the highway,” says drummer Leland Vessey. The Blimp cranks out loud, gritty, surreal music
about being born, dying, drinking, drugs, hair, heartbreak, the morality of wearing other peoples’ skin and the
“trials and tribulations of growing up in a small western town.” An inflating part of the Eugene underground
scene, The Blimp plays like the name of its tour van: Fast and Bulbous.
Guitarist and songwriter Lucas Gunn (who often plays a solo set to begin the night) says he makes music
“that makes you wonder what’s going on.” With a stage full of masked musicians — Gunn, Vessey, Miranda
Jenee (piano), Jesse Wood (guitar) and Braden Allison-Hall (theremin, percussion, trumpet et al.), all of whom
also sing, as well as Top Lady, the mannequin queen commanding all the parts of her plastic army, The Blimp
is definitely higher than you and fine with it. The heads and body parts “are comforting to us,” says Jenee.
But the theatrical freak Zappadelica is balanced with a pop-sensibility “combining weird avant-garde
with catchy rock numbers,” Allison-Hall says. “It’s meant to catch you off-garde.” And it does. On its debut
EP The Blimp, Not Beer, a capella is juxtaposed with instrumental madness and tracks like “I Want Good
Music With Boobs In My Face.” The Blimp makes you question not only what is going on, but who the fuck
these people are.
“We are very loud,” Jenee says. “They’re afraid of us in San Francisco.”
The Blimp plays with My Autumns Done Come and Lucas Gunn 9 pm Friday, May 25, at WOW Hall; $5 adv;
$8 door. — Patrick Newson
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8 TH & LINCOLN + 687-2746 + TICKETS: CD WORLD, HOUSE OF RECORDS, UO TICKET OFFICE, TICKETWEB.COM, WOW HALL BOX OFFICE + WOWHALL.ORG + ALL AGES
24 MAY 24, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM