Blind Idiot God

Blind Idiot God was formed in 1982 in St. Louis, Missouri when its members were teenagers. Before adopting free jazz and dub influences, they essentially played hardcore punk, with their songs being roughly one minute in length. During this time, they socialized within the St. Louis hardcore scene, including members of Drunks with Guns and Ultraman. After failing to find a vocalist that shared their musical aspirations, the band opted to continue as an instrumental outfit.[2] Their first live performance came in September 1983 at a basement party. After playing the first song of their set, a reggae version of "Hava Nagila", they were interrupted by the police who shut the party down after receiving complaints from the neighbors.[6] After hearing their self-produced cassette demo, Greg Ginn of Black Flag signed them to SST Records, and the band moved to Brooklyn in 1986.

The band began searching for a producer who would be willing to work with their mixture of noise, dub and heavy metal. Originally, Hawkins wanted to enlist the aid of British producer Adrian Sherwood, known for his work with numerous reggae groups as well as his contributions to the industrial hip hop ensemble Tackhead.[7] In January 1987, Blind Idiot God entered B.C. Studios to record with producer Martin Bisi, who they had met through composer Bill Laswell. Their debut album, the eponymously titled Blind Idiot God, was released on SST Records in 1987 and received critical acclaim. While categorized heavy metal and noise rock, the music made use of distortion techniques while hinting at free jazz and European classical music influences, with its final three tracks ostensibly belonging to the dub genre.[8] The virtuosity of the band's players was praised in an article for Electronic Musician, which said "Andy Hawkins' guitar dips and swirls, chases its tail, and ultimately screams its existence, while Ted Epstein and Gabriel Katz lend form and substance on bass and drums respectively. At 19, 20, and 21, the trio is young enough to dazzle with potential. Jazz, heavy metal, reggae, art music - B.I.G. has elements of all of these, yet establishes their very own recipe."[9]

The success of Blind Idiot God's first album coupled with powerful live performances earned them recognition in underground music circles. The band soon began collaborating with avant-garde composer and saxophonist John Zorn. Zorn contacted the band after attending one of their performances at CBGB's and professed his enthusiasm for their work along with his desire to collaborate with the group. The band joined him onstage on numerous occasions to perform improvised music, Zorn compositions and even in his John Coltrane cover band "Ascension" which featured infamous 2 minute versions of Coltrane compositions like A Love Supreme and Ascension.[2]

The Blind Idiot God's second album Undertow was issued the following year by Enemy Records and produced by Bill Laswell. The style remained similar to what had been represented on the band's debut, with excursions into dub territory interposing bludgeoning noise rock. Noted musical departures included the heavy metal/funk hybrid "Alice in My Fantasies", a George Clinton cover, and "Purged Specimen", a short piece composed for them by John Zorn that also featured him on alto saxophone.[10] Praising the Blind Idiot God's knack for memorable melodies and rapid tempo-changes combined with Laswell's production, EAR Magazine declared Undertow superior to their debut and "as addictive as a pot of strong coffee."[11]

Released four years later, the band's 1992 album Cyclotron was seen by some as lackluster due to the reliance on idea previously explored and absence of distinct experimentation.[12] In 1993, Blind Idiot God and Henry Rollins wrote and recorded the title song for the movie Freaked, marking the first and only time the band collaborated with a vocalist.[5] The entire band performed on Praxis' album Sacrifist, released in 1993.

After Cyclotron was released, the members began pursuing their own separate musical endeavors. Andy Hawkins began a solo guitar project named Azonic, under which he released Halo in 1994 and Skinner's Black Laboratories with Justin Broadrick of Godflesh in 1995. Gabriel Katz collaborated with Bill Laswell on Dub Terror Exhaust, for which he composed music and contributed bass parts. In 1996, Ted Epstein left the band to pursue other interests. Unwilling to continue without a drummer, the remaining members placed Blind Idiot God on hiatus.[4]

Drummer Tim Wyskida, known for his work in Khanate, joined in 2001 and Blind Idiot God began work on their fourth studio album. However, setbacks and delays occurred as Gabriel Katz encountered problems with tendinitis and hearing loss. The line-up finally began performing in a live setting in 2006, playing a series of well-received gigs in New York City. In 2012, Gabriel Katz left the band and was replaced by Will Dahl.

In 2013, three newly recorded tracks appeared in the HBO documentary Downloaded, a film by Alex Winter detailing the history of Napster.[4] It marked the first time new material by Blind Idiot God had been made available to the public in over twenty years. The band's fourth full-length album, an accumulation of thirteen years worth of recorded material, was announced in 2014. Titled Before Ever After, it was the debut release of Indivisible Music, a label founded by Andy Hawkins.[5] Before Ever After was issued on vinyl on February 24, 2015, followed by a Compact Disc release on April 6, 2015.[13][14]

On April 13, 2016 the Blind Idiot God embarked on their "Raise the Titanic" tour, which marked the band's first live shows outside of the United States. Concurrent with their tour, Before Ever After was reissued for worldwide distribution.[15] In 2017, the band announced the re-issue of their second album Undertow. Set to be released on October 13, the newly remastered release is to include two versions of "Freaked", a collaboration with former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins and Blind Idiot God's sole composition to feature vocals. They also announced plans to re-issue Cyclotron.[16]

Filmmaker and actor Alex Winter is a long-time admirer of Blind Idiot God, having used their music in his debut feature film Freaked and again in his 2013 documentary Downloaded. In 2014 he described them as "one of the most revered and influential bands to come out of the SST era [...] they are as great and bold today, as ever." Former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins professed himself as being a fan of their work and felt honored in having collaborated with them.[5]