Blue Cheer’s Manager Says Resurgence Is On The Way

Blue Cheer, a big influence on metal,  grunge, and stoner rock, went through a variety of lineups over the years, but founder Dickie Peterson was always at the core. He was the band’s heart and soul, not to mention its voice and thunderous bass — so when he died after a long battle with cancer in 2009, it seemed the band was done.

The group’s most recent guitarist, Andrew MacDonald, wrote on the their website  “Out of respect for Dickie, Blue Cheer (will) never become a viable touring band again.”

But now, according to the band’s manager, it appears that might not be the case after all.

Tony Rainier, the band’s guitarist during the late 1970s and early 1980s, is planning to resurrect the Blue Cheer name and carry on. He’ll be joined by Luke Ayoso (apparently from an 80s glam band called Frenchee) as the vocalist, with a drummer, bassist and lead guitarist to be announced.

We know what you’re thinking — how can a band with no original members and a serious lack of identity carry the Blue Cheer banner? Yeah, we have no idea either. Rainier hasn’t even been part of the band since 1988. Regardless, Shroom Angel Records has plans to release “several vinyl LPs and CDs to showcase the Tony Rainier period” of Blue Cheer’s history.

And band manager Mike Bodack has a few words for the skeptical souls out there: “For those who had no right to say that Blue Cheer is done, wake up! Dickie wouldn’t want that … So all you 1%ers wake up, because, as Dickie would say, ‘We need ya!’ Keep Blue Cheer going. The name and music will live on.”

It should be said without hesitation that the first three Blue Cheer albums, ‘Vincebus Erruptum,’ ‘Outsideinside’ and ‘New! Improved! Blue Cheer’ are pretty much guaranteed to tear your head right off.  If you love it loud and raw, look no further.

As for this new incarnation, we’ll let you be the judge. It might be terrible. But then again, it might only be awful.