Vocals, Harp: Ed Kliman
"I started out playing coffeehouses in Detroit and soon graduated
into playing joints that the cops wouldn't go into until the ambulance
crew arrived. You don't last long in those places if you can't get the
job done."
This tough self-reliance comes through strongly in his songs, which often
draw on historical events and characters. "I like survivors - people
who have come through tough circumstances and refused to take a standing
eight count from life. Through song, I hope to connect with enough of those
people to make at least a few little corners of the world a better place
to live in."
Guitar: Jeff Michaels
Smoker and Drinker Extraordinaire. Enjoys quiet, romantic walks with your girlfriend through punk rock clubs, and he'd drink a lot more, if only time would allow... Plans for the immediate future include moving equipment, drinking to excess and sleeping late. Treading a thin line between road dog and hired gun, Jeff started playing on a variety of instruments at age 8 in
St. Louis. A friend showed him most of the parts to
"Purple Haze" and, as he puts it, "Man, it was all over
after that. I caught the bug."
After moving around, he settled in Austin for the last 25 years, where he is equally at home on
a stage or in many studios. Jeff quickly became a sought-after local audio engineer and producer, on top
of already formidable guitar skills. "I got reasonably handy
behind a console out of necessity... I built a tiny studio and was producing
various projects, and one day Ed calls up with a project, next thing you know, here we are."
Got a light?
Bass: Blackie Carter
Blackie's folks were good people who raised two fine
children. Because he has always believed in maintaining balance, Blackie
took it upon himself to make up for his brother and sister's lack of wickedness.
The first major step in that regard was to buy himself an electric guitar
with the money he skimmed from the take on his paper route. The next few
years of his life were passed banging away on his thrift store guitar while
listening to records. Time passed and Blackies initial urge to make an unholy
din (and to get chicks) turned into lifelong love for music encompassing
everything from Big Band jazz to Blues to Country to...
He just loves music, dangit.
Over the years Blackie has played with a variety of bands, most of which
centered around his punk and hard rock roots, but he has also made forays
into the realms of blues and alt-country. These days Blackie's love for
music is stronger than ever, and it's a safe bet that if he ever puts
down his instrument, it's only to go crack open a fresh beer.
Drums: Stephen Bidwell
Stephen Bidwell was born in Washington, DC and raised in the vanilla suburb of Reston, VA. A childhood obsession with music led to the pursuit of active performance. The drums came easiest, and Steve began studying them in earnest around the age of 12. High school involved a lot of lessons, hardcore punk bands, Go-go jam sessions, jazz dabblings, and general band-geekery. Steve chose to study music at a nationally recognized party school in the northern Appalachians (Go Mountaineers!). While there he got to study everything from Western classical music, jazz, over-the-top debauchery, and world music.
Since leaving the previously mentioned University with two redundant Bachelors degrees, he has lived in Pittsburgh, New Orleans (read: token Katrina victim), New York, and currently resides in Austin. While living in these cities he's played with top players in every style possible and opened up for national acts (Lee Greenwood…at a dog track…no, really). He's toured Asia twice, studied African drumming extensively (in Africa no less!) and counts Johnny Vidacovich and Wayne Krantz among his most influential teachers. Steve comes to the Thunder Chiefs via a craigslist miracle and is looking forward to bashing his way across Texas and the rest of the world.
Sounds Like
nasty, highly flammable, nitro-burning texas blues rock
"I swear, the chicken wire is to protect the audience from the Thunder Chiefs. Southern rock, funk and blues? They're dangerous. Enjoy."
- Mixerman
The Thunder Chiefs were born much in the same way that a Texas storm is. You take some elements blowing around in the big blue sky, have them run into each other at the right time under the right conditions and before you know it, you've got thunder, lightning, a gale that will knock you over and sheeee-it, somebody's fixin' to lose a trailer.
Just like a Texas storm, the Thunder Chiefs are a force of nature that must be reckoned with. Hold on tight to something or get down somewhere real low because the twister is coming and it will not be denied.
This latest incarnation of Thunder Chiefs began innocently enough with a recording session. Jeff runs a small studio in Austin where Blackie works part time as his assistant engineer. They were also two thirds of a nut crushing hard rock combo called the Trash Rock Kings. One day Ed booked a session at the studio to record the music for a play that he had scored featuring period Thirties music leaning heavily on the blues. During the mix sessions, Jeff called the guys and told them while holding his phone up to the monitors, "You have GOT to come over and listen to this."
And so they did.
They sat at the back of the control room listening while Jeff rolled the playback from his seat at the console. Somewhere in the middle of the second track, Jeff turned around and said, "We have GOT to put a band together with this guy." Glances were exchanged and the guys just smiled and nodded to Jeff in a manner that could only be interpreted to mean, "Well.. ummm... DUH!"
Phone calls were made, emails were exchanged and they all pulled a couple of songs out of their back pockets, as well as from the original demos that they thought would work. This all took place in the space of four days. Two days later, Jeff and the guys were in the studio laying down tracks as the Thunder Chiefs. Two days after that, Ed came in to record his vocal and harp tracks. When they all listened back to the mixes of what they had done, there was no denying that they had become more than the sum of their parts. Within minutes, they had begun their first full band rehearsal.
The elements combined, lightning struck, thunder rolled and they were carried away to a place that was both higher and lower than themselves. Thunder Chiefs had been born, kicking and wailing into a world where their blues rock tornado was ready to take on all comers and leave them begging for more in a wake of beautiful destruction.
Thunder Chiefs are here, grab on to something tight, get down real low and be prepared to be blown away.
Hey! Thanks for the add! Keep in touch and make sure you let us know if we can send you any tracks for a new song or an album you are working on. Nothing is out of reach with the talents on our team!
Thurs. June 12 / Belmont Hotel / Dallas, TX Fri. June 13 / Bend Studio / Dallas, TX Sat. June 14 / Hill Country Galleria / Austin, TX Sun. June 15 / Bend Studio / Houston, TX
Late development: Rockus Circus will be on Public Access Ch. 16 on Austin TV tonight (Monday, June 9th) during the hour of 10pm-11pm! We won't be on the whole show of course, so tune in and don't miss it!
We'll also be at Stardust Club in South Austin this Saturday, June 14th, 10pm-1am. No Cover, 21 & up. Stardust Club & Billiards 11940 Manchaca Rd, Ste. 104 Austin, Texas 78748
This jerk from Sao Paulo, Brazil, named Thunder Blue, ripped Windy off for over a thousand dollars for things she ordered for her mom and daughter. What kind of scumbag would do this? Please spread the word about this bastard. I would ask all my friends to please respost this blog on their site. Below is the url for his site.
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><B>Hey Thunder Chiefs! I just hired you!.<BR><a href="http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc16">Click here</a> to start your new job.</span><BR><BR>Link: http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc16<BR><BR><img src="http://ak.zynga.com.edgesuite.net/can/spin.gif">
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><B>Hey Thunder Chiefs! I just hired you!.<BR><a href="http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc16">Click here</a> to start your new job.</span><BR><BR>Link: http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc16<BR><BR><img src="http://ak.zynga.com.edgesuite.net/can/spin.gif">
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><B>Hey Thunder Chiefs! I just hired you!.<BR><a href="http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc15">Click here</a> to start your new job.</span><BR><BR>Link: http://sunshine.zynga.com/friendfactory.php?s=cc15<BR><BR><img src="http://ak.zynga.com.edgesuite.net/can/dude.gif">
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Hey Thunder Chiefs, I just bought you as my PET! <br/><a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053&source=in_comment._link...._PETL...._v4......'>Click here to find out how much I think you're WORTH!</a><br/><br/><a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053&source=in_comment._img1...._PETL...._v4......'><img src='http://cdn1.slicezero.com/oyf_prod/images/ffs_directory.png' border='0' /></a><br/>
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Hey Thunder Chiefs, I just bought you as my PET! <br/><a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053&source=in_comment._link...._PETA...._v4......'>Click here to find out how much I think you're WORTH!</a><br/><br/><a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053&source=in_comment._img4...._PETA...._v4......'><img src='http://cdn1.slicezero.com/oyf_prod/images/ffs_money4_myspace.gif' border='0' /></a><br/>
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MIB Entertainment along side Texas Spartan Records are putting together the biggest battle Austin Texas has ever had since the addition of SWSW. Imagine 16 bands battling in a playoff format for 1000.00 bucks Winner take All.AND ONLY THE CROWD DECIDES THE WINNER!!! This is truly a testament to how faithful your fans are to you and your band.The entry fee for the bands is a 100.00 bucks.This will insure that every band will bring nothing but their A game. After all you can only play a song once so the crowd is in for an exciting night of music. Followed by a After party with three live performances from local artist and a DJ on the one's and two's all night to keep the crowd hyped. So show your support and add me to your friends and lets put this event on the Map. get at me for more info!
ENTER YOUR SMOKE SONG IN 2008 MARIJUANA MUSIC AWARDS!! GLOBAL MMA WINNERS ANNOUNCED 20 SEP @ TEXAS NORML'S 6TH ST SMOKEOUT. 2008 AMERICAN MMA WINNERS ANNOUNCED @ NEW YORK HARVEST FESTIVAL 10-13 OCT! CHECK OUT MMA TO ENTER!
<span style='font-size:20px; font-weight:bold'>Hey Thunder Chiefs, I just bought you as my PET! <a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053'><span style='font-size:larger;'>Click here</span></a> to find out how much I think you're $$WORTH$$!</span><br/><br/><a href='http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=361263053'><img src='http://cdn1.slicezero.com/oyf_prod/images/ffs_money4_myspace.gif' border='0' /></a><br/>
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Hey man! Good to hear from ya. :) Work's killin' me, but I'm still breathing. Wheezing but breathing. :) Damn, I don't know what's in the air up here. People's allergies are running amuck! I'm looking forward to hearing your new album! Yeah...definitely send the tunes my way somehow. I hope your week rocks! Thanks for keepin' in touch. Keep it up. Come visit "Big D"!
If you are in town Wed April 16th we are going to be playing at the Stubbs! If you are not doing anything we would love to have you come hang out with us. You can buy tix at http://stubbs.frontgatetickets.com <