Blood on the Saddle

Blood on the Saddle is an American cowpunk band who was part of the mid-1980s LA punk scene. They were one of the first bands to violently fuse country music with punk rock, and in doing so became one of the key cowpunk bands. They began playing in Los Angeles, CA in early 1983 with the line-up of bandleader Greg Davis on guitar and vocals, Ron Botelho on upright and electric bass, and Hermann Senac on drums and back-up vocals. In July of 1983 Annette Zilinskas quit The Bangles and began co-singing in the band, later playing rhythm guitar and harmonica. The band's goal was to create a new style of American music, which would later be called "cowpunk." Hermann had the idea of naming the band after the traditional cowboy song, Tex Ritter's "Blood on the Saddle," that Big Al the bear sings at the Country Bear Jamboree in Disneyland. They were playing the LA club scene when in 1984 their self-titled debut album was released on The Minutemen's New Alliance (Enigma) label. The band was busy touring North America until 1986 when their second album "Poison Love" was released in America on Chameleon/Suite Beat and in Europe on Stiff UK and New Rose. Touring then expanded into Canada and Europe. In 1987 the band's third album "Fresh Blood" was released on Greg Ginn's SST label in North America and New Rose in Europe. The original line-up broke up soon after. Bandleader Greg Davis spent the time between incarnations as a member of The Vandals and backing up country singer Candy Kane. Since then, BOTS has released "More Blood" (1993, Semaphore), "Quit Calling Me From Jail" (1994, Kill Rock Stars), "New Blood" (1995, Last Call), and "Flesh and Blood" (2001, One Million Dollar Records). The current line-up includes founder Greg Davis, Dave Frappier (who has anchored himself behind the kit since 1994), and newcomer (former Jolly Ranchers bassist) Billy Hines. The new line-up is putting the finishing touches on a new album (Blood Alcohol) and getting ready for another tour.... Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.