You might want to watch out for a hot, DIY Chicago group: The Blissters.
Pictured: Local rock band The Blissters ( with out member Arnold Madlangbayan, left ) .
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The Blissters are a local, four-member power-pop rock band that formed in 2004. Their sound ( think new wave infused with heavy rock, complete with catchy boy-girl harmonies ) is as diverse as the influences they bring to the table, which range from Spice Girls and Abba to The Beatles and The Pixies.
Windy City Times spoke with The Blissters' openly gay member, Arnold Madlangbayan ( guitar and vocals ) about everything from teaching and his passion for everything Spice Girls.
Windy City Times: How are you doing?
Arnold Madlangbayan: I'm still here in my classroom, but everyone is gone, so it is nice and quiet, thank God!
WCT: What grades do you teach?
AM: Fifth- and sixth-grade language arts and science. So, if I sound a little brain dead... I apologize in advace. [ Laughs ]
WCT: [ Laughs ] I completely understand! Let's start with learning more about you. When did you first start playing the guitar?
AM: I first started playing the guitar when I was a sophomore in high school. I taught myself. My sister had an acoustic guitar, and she bought it from a youth pastor for like $100. She starting playing regular chords. I just copied what she would do. In my sophomore year, everything changed. I was totally into pop. You know, Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson. All these gay—you know! I wanted to grow up and be a choreographer! Then, I was introduced to pop rock and metal—like extreme stuff. Then Nirvana came out and everything, and I was like, "Oh my God! This is really cool!" That's when I started really playing. I never had any guitar lessons. I've been learning since sophomore year of high school.
WCT: When you started getting into rock, who did you look up to, at that point in your life?
AM: The Smashing Pumpkins, for sure. I was a huge Pumpkins fan. When Siamese Dream came out, my first song I ever learned was "Today" by the Pumpkins. I saw them on Saturday Night Live for the first time. I saw [ guitarist ] James Iha, who is Asian. He was a total role model. Rock was pretty much a Caucasian world. There wasn't a lot of minorities in rock. Us Asians are expected to be engineers, nurses, doctors. You'd never see one performing rock on American television. I was like, "Oh my God, I have to learn." So, I recorded it on my VHS. They would always point the camera to them playing chords. There was their weird bar chord that I learned from watching television. How to play a bar chord, how to riff to the song. I would practice that, practice that, practice that every day until I learned it. To this day, that is my favorite song ever.
WCT: See? You can learn from watching TV!
AM: Yes you can! At least, really good rock music.
WCT: The Blissters formed in 2004. I read that you and [ singer/guitarist ] Erica were previously in a band together. I was wondering what sparked the idea to start The Blissters, and how did you meet the other members [ bassist John and drummer Scott ] .
AM: Erica and I went to Northeastern University. I met her in an art history class. She was the only one who came in with auburn hair, dark makeup. I was like, "Oh wow, I have to be your friend!" ... In the '90s, it was all about being cliquey. So, I talked to her and she said she played guitar. I was like, "Wow, that's really cool. I play guitar, too." She suggested we play some songs together. We like a lot of the same groups. She's a huge Beatles fan. I'm not so much, but when it came to alternative music ... we liked a lot of U.K. groups that were around at the time. So, we formed a music group. Our first group together was called The Rim Show. Don't ask why. Yes, The Rim Show! It was a pretty dirty for that time. The Cure, at the time, had a DVD called The Cure Show. [ Laughs ] . So, we were like, why not just call it The Rim Show! ... We played for like a year. We played only one show, and it was a house party. It was kind of fun, because it was the only show we had played. But I almost didn't play that show because that's when I came out to my mom. She had some pastor come to my house [ laughs ] and gayxorcise [ exorcise ] me, or whatever you want to call that! My friends and I call him the Gayxorcist. I convinced my mom to let me play at this party. After that, we recorded a demo, and nothing ever came of that.
Then, Erica kicked me out of our own band.
WCT: Oh, no!
AM: Yeah, I was like, "Bitch!" [ Laughs ] This was our band that we formed together. But she said it didn't seem like I was committed to it and blah. It was a big fight. We had a lot of arguments. Erica was jealous because I was hanging out with new friends, so she was like, "I'm going to kick you out of the band." We didn't talk for years—four of five years.
I was still playing music, living on my own. All the songs we had written together, I really wanted to record. I was dating this guy who was really into music and had his own studio. ... He let me totally do it for free. I was like, "Okay!" I got it together with myself, my cousin's boyfriend, who played drums, and got my cousin to sing Erica's parts. Erica and I were like a duet. But it wasn't working, so I swallowed my pride and called Erica up, and she said "Yes. By the way, finally—I was waiting for a phone call!"
... We did the record together. At the time, we were called Combination F. It was after a sushi combination that was a bad mistake to order. [ Laughs ] / After that, nothing came out of it. We didn't have a bass player. My cousin's boyfriend wasn't into playing in the band. But Erica and I were still together. We spent a couple of months playing old and new songs together. Then we played at Star Gaze for an open mic. We played at the Heartland Cafe.
... We found John probably over a year ago. He's been our saving grace. We love him. We get along with him. He sings, so we can go three-part harmonies, which is something we wanted to do. We also met Scott on Craigslist. These are two guys who really wanted to play, and were seriously looking for a band. He comes from Iowa City. He didn't have any money or anything, but wanted to try out for the band. He tried out. He loved it. He's been with us every since. They found us pretty much by accident on Craigslist, and have been with us every since. It's been a ride, but it's been a great experience for all of us.
WCT: What caught my eye is that both you and Erica love the Spice Girls.
AM: We love them! We saw them in February, and by far, it was the greatest show on earth.
WCT: Who is your favorite Spice Girl?
AM: Of course Scary, because she's not from London, you know, she's from Leeds. [ Laughs ] We, of course, are always quoting the Spice World movie. We have the DVD, and pretty much quote it every time we text or e-mail each other. Or, even if we are out in public.
WCT: What would your Spice name be?
AM: On my MySpace, it's Rice Spice. It's totally Rice Spice. [ Laughs ]
WCT: Last year, The Blissters won a Starbucks contest, which helped put you on the map. Can you tell me more about that?
AM: Erica worked at Starbucks for many years. She got an offer to play. We had to submit our stuff, obviously. I think it was pretty much for the Starbucks employees. Hundreds of bands submitted to this Avant-Grande competition, and we were one of the final three. We ended up getting reviewed. ... We got our stuff played on 93XRT, like our first single off our EP called "Just Like You." That's how it came about. Listeners got to vote for the top three, and we got voted. It was really nice. We got to play at the Riverside. It's outdoors and it was beautiful that day.
WCT: You've played all over Chicago. What's your favorite place to play?
AM: I think the Elbo Room is one of our favorites. We've always had a good relationship with the venue. It's a small space, but we love it there. The biggest place we got to play was the Double Door. That was fun. We played in International Pop Overthrow. We've played that festival two years in a row now. So, Elbo Room, Double Door and Subterranean would be our top places. We've played a lot of great places in Milwaukee, too. ... That's one place that has really embraced our music, too, so we love playing there.
WCT: What's one of the weirdest things that happened at one of your shows?
AM: Sometimes there are people who are drunk and falling. That's kind of typical though, having one of our friends drunk and falling. It'll be really bad, but bad funny, where people are falling over themselves and showing me their boobies. It does nothing for me, ladies, I'm sorry. [ Laughs ] I did have a pair of boxer shorts through at me one day. That was great. It was funny, but it didn't come from a guy, unfortunately. Not a lot of gay men come to our shows. It was one of my lesbian friends. [ Laughs ] I don't want lesbian boxers! Usually, it's just a lot of fun. Nothing outrageous really goes on.
WCT: What's your favorite song to play live?
AM: Right now, our favorite song would probably be "Right or Reason." That's probably one of our favorite songs to play live, just because there is a lot of fun stuff going on, like harmonies. Nobody is really the lead singer in that song. A lot of different musical things are going on, both vocally and instrumentally. We love playing that song. It's a trip for us. We like it a lot. Everybody plays a part. There is no band leader.
And "Mama Mia" by Abba.
WCT: Everyone loves a good cover. So, what else is in store for the band?
AM: Currently, our manager is trying to hook up shows for November. ... In October, we're trying to set something up for JBTV. We have our video, "Wet Reckless," which has been shown on there, and now they want us to do the show, but it's hard with our schedule. We are a working band, so everyone is working. Fran is doing a good job of pulling it all together. We were all doing it by ourselves. All of us are going to school or going to work full-time. So, that's our manager, Fran—we call her our Franager. [ Laughs ] Her name is Francesca, but I call her Trancesca, even though she's no tranny.
WCT: Are you recording?
AM: We have a four-song EP, and we have a new song up on Myspace that we recorded about a month ago. We're doing it in sections, in the sense that every time we get some money, we record in the studio, instead of doing it all at once. It's more special that way.
See www.myspace.com/theblissters. Check out The Blissters at one of two upcoming shows. Catch them at Reggie's Rock Club, 2109 S. State, on Wed., Oct. 8. The show ( 21 and over ) is free, and doors open at 8 p.m. The Blissters will also be in Milwaukee, Wis., on Nov. 21 to play at the BBC Upper Level. The show ( 21 and over ) starts at 10 p.m.
