Member Since: 7/5/2007
Band Website: myspace.com/themyselfband
Band Members: Willy Blanefield III
Influences: Superman, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Boy George, Richard Nixon, Petula Clark, Hank Aaron, Bruce Springsteen, Isaac Hayes, John Lydon, Shirley Temple, Flipper, Minnie Pearl, Little Richard, Tiny Tim, Mark E. Smith, Randy Newman, Elvis Presley, Gary Numan, The Monks, Soupy Sales, The Fat Boys, Katherine Hepburn, Lemmy, Sgt. Slaughter, The Extravagant Bachelor, and, of course, Richard Brautigan.
Sounds Like: “NOW PLAYINGâ€: SONG ONE: “SHAFT!†• THE STORY: Willy takes on Isaac Hayes and clearly dominates in the testosterone department. STYLE: Impeccably sexy! ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1980. SONG TWO: “MY DRUG WIFE†• THE STORY: Willy gets curiously tender in this odd ode to a drug-derived friendship with a man whose wife supplies all of the drugs. “My wife’s been baking some bread, so just sit down and relax your head, she’ll fix you up a nice supper, she’ll fix you up give you an upper, or some coke to take on the way†offers the husband in question, encouraging the protagonist to come on in from the cold, before continuing his winter journey. The song then slides into an ever- increasingly downward spiral of hallucinogenic sentimentality, offering seemingly nonsensical lines like “Look at the table, it’s brand new, we carved it with our handsâ€, which becomes a bit cryptic if one dwells on the apparent heavy drug intake involved. STYLE: A perplexing combination of madly-strummed acoustic guitar and a hyper, jazz-dizzy piano, at times creating a sound that comes across like the sound of John Fahey’s simple brother, falling down a mineshaft, clinging to his collection of Dr. John LPs. It’s weird folk, for weird folk, folks! ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1983. Hard as it is to believe, this one appears on the final, untitled release of Anton Dumbovic, Blanefield’s angry, angry, Eastern Bloc answer to Iggy Pop. Apparently the madman had a mellow side. SONG THREE: “FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE†• THE STORY: A raw, emotional, even fierce, rendition of the American popular song, originally published in 1904 and credited to Hughie Cannon, this murder ballad of love gone wrong has been recorded more than 250 times, by the likes of Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, and Stevie Wonder, a distinguished roster to which now can be added Willy Blanefield III. STYLE: Willy offers one of his more emotive performances to this violent tale, singing with a throaty conviction, accompanied by a delirious battering of percussion created with a variety of pots and pans. ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1980, on side two of The Hari Armi Experience's only release, “Paisley Cave Boysâ€. SONG FOUR: “SNOW MAN†• THE STORY: Basically this one adheres to the classic rock/punk subject: getting laid (or, more appropriately, of wanting to). The lyrical gist seems to indicate that the protagonist is having a chilling effect on the objects of his interest, the more he tries to explain himself the colder his chances become. His claims not to be “Bob Dylan, Sammy Davis, George Peppard or Joan Collins†are best left to the listener's interpretation. Blanefield himself is offering no explanation. STYLE: A caustic, guttural, punk-tinged vocal performance, accented by Blanefield's trusty one-string acoustic (affectionally named “One-String Newmanâ€, presumably after one of his heroes, Randy Newman). The cheap guitar is amplified by securing the microphone of a portable public address system inside the hollow of the body, creating vibrational cacophony and feedback. Note the final expulsion of breath to end the song, in which the snow man's frozen breath is brilliantly personified. ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1983. Appears on the final, untitled release of Anton Dumbovic, Blanefield's angry, angry, Eastern Bloc answer to Iggy Pop. SONG FIVE: “RAMROD†• THE STORY: Really, this is a pretty horny little song about a gearhead and the gal of his lustful regard, one that tries a parting grasp at responsibility by mentioning “a little chapel nestled in the pinesâ€, apparently suggesting the romeo has truly fallen for his girl, or perhaps the chapel is just another cozy spot for more piston-fueled fun? Only Bruce Springsteen knows, as this is a cover of his same-titled song from The River, his double LP of 1980. “My brother had the Springsteen record,†explains Blanefield. “I read the lyric sheet and thought the words were pretty funny so I decided to give it a try. I didn't bother to listen to the actual song. I still haven't heard it to this day. Why bother? I love Bruce Springsteen!†STYLE: Here Blanefield offers one of his most affected, child-like singing forms, amusingly bringing in a British accent, by way of John Lydon. He places this off-kilter reading over the minimal plucking of one of his handmade string instruments, a two-by-four, strung with fishing line attached to finishing nails. ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1980. Appears on side two of The Hari Armi Experience's only release, “Paisley Cave Boysâ€. SONG SIX: “SEXY COTTAGE INDUSTRY†• THE STORY: A song about a son whose father hounds and pesters him to take on the family business, which the young man, seemingly derisively, refers to as a “sexy cottage industryâ€. Literally escaping into Canada, the son is pursued by a bounty hunter named Fung, hired by his relentless father to bring him home. STYLE: Utilizing Blanefield's child-like vocal approach, sung over the odd playing and multiple rhythm tracks from a tiny PT 1 Casiotone player. ORIGINALLY APPEARED: 1981. Exact release unknown. One of a few dozen Blanefield tracks found at the ends of an assortment of industrial safety and medical aid tapes, which the artist often salvaged from dumpsters to facilitate his recording needs.
Record Label: A Very Limited Recording Company
Type of Label: Indie