Blind Army

It is a homecoming of sorts as the rock band Blind Army debuts its first CD in front of a Drumheller audience on July 21 (2007).

The band, made up of front man Peter Fooks, guitarist Robin Hill, bass player Warren Bauman and drummer Leo Vandenbrun have had an eight year history after forming in a basement suite. They have gone through a few incarnations, and are now ready to launch their first CD, and to do it in Drumheller.

“It’s coming full circle for me,” said Fooks, who now resides in Calgary. “I started singing and playing in bands with my brothers when I was 12 years old, right her in Drumheller. When Blind Army was given the opportunity to have the CD release her at Red’s it really was an easy decision.”

While Fooks is the only member of the band from Drumheller, they do most of their gigging outside of Calgary.

“It’s easy coming home,” he said.

The album was nearly eight years in the making. They recorded the nine-track album over a series of trips to Vancouver, working with Jeff Dawson. Dawson has produced artists such as Daniel Powter, State of Shock and Holly McNarland. Dawson also worked with Drumheller band Downtyme on their last CD.

“It was a matter of timing,” said guitarist Robin Hill, when explaining the eight year wait for the CD. “We knew we didn’t want something that sounded homemade. We wanted the right songs, the right studio and of course the right musicians. It took longer than we had originally hoped, but we feel the results speak for themselves.”

Fooks appreciated the professional approach to recording. “When you record stuff on your own, it is all in your own hands and you see it through from start to finish and it doesn’t turn out how you think,” he said. “Then when you work with a producer and the studio, it starts off not at all where you think it should be, and you think ‘this doesn’t sound right,’ and then you get the end result and it sounds right.”

He says the album’s content came from every point in the band’s eight-year stint. “You get a lot of diversity because there are songs that are years old beside songs that you just wrote,” he said.

The nucleus of the band, Fooks, Hill and Bauman has stayed intact. It took a few incarnations until drummer Leo Vandenbrun came onboard in 2004.

“That’s when things really started to happen,” said Bauman. “When Leo came onboard, that’s when things really clicked. Our shows were getting better and our writing more cohesive.”

The CD release party is at Red’s Place this Saturday. After that the band has shows lined up until the beginning of December thoughout Alberta.

Find out more about the band by going to www.myspace.com/blindarmyband
- Inside Drumheller

If the rock gods are kind, Canadian Rockers, Blind Army will find a whole lot of success with their debut CD.

This band has a modern, hard rock sound that is primed for radio play. Blind Army has a sound that reminds me of a cross of several different post grunge rock bands including Fuel, Candlebox, and Seven Mary Three.

...there are a couple of songs that I like quite a bit (That’s It, and Dictate). Both songs I can hear getting massive amounts of radio play. The problem is, if I were to hear this on the radio, I would likely get the tunes confused with another group from the 90’s era of rock. I am sure that the same can be said for many bands, from just about every decade of rock, so this should not surprise me...it isn’t a bad disc by any means...The music is solid, and Pete Fooks vocals are pretty good.

If you are a fan of any of the band’s I mentioned above, you are going to enjoy this disc quite a bit. You can check out some of the tracks at CD Baby.com!
- Hard Rock Hideout