A Walk Down Memory Lane With 'The Blasters' Frontman

Despite the fact that he leads one of America's hardest-driving rock and roll bands, Phil Alvin comes off less like Elvis and more like The Nutty Professor. During a conversation with this man—who has a Ph.D in mathematics and a curious mind— he may distractedly rush from one arcane subject to the next.

Let's hope when he and his group, The Blasters, play Maxwell's on Friday, he keeps the introductions short.

The Blasters are working on a new album, Alvin told Patch recently. "But it seems like a faintly ridiculous idea," said Alvin, whose band, loved by Queen, produced by Mellencamp, began in the early 1980s. "The notion of a record, of recorded sound, is so archaic. Not just because people don't buy them. But because music existed for centuries without anyone feeling the need to record it."

Alvin goes on about the imperfections of technology, which leads to a long, involved rap about Facebook, then to "actualizing paradigms," and finally, to something a denizen of earth can actually understand: the origins of The Blasters. 

"We were mentored by a guy named Lee Allen," said Alvin, who grew up in Downey, California. "He was a legendary saxophonist who played on all the Fats Domino and many of the Little Richard recordings. He taught The Blasters how to really rock and roll, to swing, as opposed to screwing around with the blues. We don't sound like Aerosmith because we studied with Lee."

Off on a typically entertaining tangent, Alvin also mentioned some of the best advice he ever got from Allen.

"We were sitting in a car together one night, smoking a reefer. Lee never preached, but he did say, 'These drugs? Just don't make too big a deal about them.' It's why I've never gotten in trouble, the way lots of musicians have."

This leads Alvin to talking quantum theory, which connects, naturally enough, to a talk on time travel and lands us squarely back in the 1980s. When this great roots rock band was big enough to be featured in Walter Hill's cult classic film "Streets of Fire," starring Diane Lane.

How did they get this plum role?

"Walter was a huge Blaster's fan. In fact we were supposed to be the band in the bar scene in '48 Hours,' but frankly, there was too much racial invective for our taste, so we bailed. But they wanted us back for 'Streets.' Joel Silver, the producer on the film held us hostage in his office, for about 6 hours, until we could come to terms. It was pretty funny. You know, the 80s."

Asked if brother Dave, now a successful solo artist, will ever be joining the band, Alvin says probably not. 

"He's written a bunch of things for us, though. I think it works better like this."

Alvin goes on to talk about hanging out with guitarist and blues legend, T Bone Walker, which leads to the notion of "mechanical royalties" not being paid. This in turn takes him to the "structural problems" with Facebook, which he considers a "4th generation solution" to the problem of communication.

Alvin promises a great show, full of "real rock and roll," which would seem to be a natural resolution to his raps. But there are footnotes about Charlie Sheen, how he had to sue his old label, Slash, in order to get paid for The Blasters' 80s recordings, which leads to the notion that the royalties situation in music needs to be "deconstructed." 

Eventually, Alvin is reminded that the sun is setting and the conversation must come to a close. He is gracious and thanks the interviewer. And implies, there is more, much more of this conversation, to come.

The Blasters will be at Maxwell's on Friday with The Hi-Risersat 10:00 PM. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of the show. For more information call 201-653-1703