2nd & wall: the toad interviews blister soul about a timely song

 1: Hey guys. Who is Blister Soul, for those in the area who haven't heard of you before?

Blister Soul is a four piece rock & roll band from Joplin, Missouri. Members are: Greg Ballew – lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Jason Otero – backup vocals/lead guitar, Bryan Bridgford – bass guitar, Tony Otero – drums. We are currently in the studio recording original songs, and we look forward to sharing them with everyone very soon.

2: How long have you all been playing together?

Some members have been playing together in different bands since the late 90's, but the current lineup was formed in the summer of 2017. 

3: Let's talk about the song. The release seems very timely... but when was it actually written? 

The song started when Bryan started a bass riff and everyone started playing along. Greg experimented using a few phrases he was working on that eventually became the lyrics, and the song was born. The final version of the lyrics were completed in October of 2018. 

We were trying to remember if there was a specific violent incident that inspired the final verse, but unfortunately there have been too many since then to recall. Most likely, it was simply influenced by the culmination of so many similar killings.

4: Tell us a bit about the history surrounding the song, and what inspired you to write it. 

The inspiration came from researching Joplin history. We had never heard the story before. In 2018, there was a memorial held at 2nd & Wall for a “collective owning of that sin,” and that sealed it. The song was written to own up to the ignorance about the past, to bring light to the injustice done.

5: The Joplin chamber of commerce hosted a silent solidarity walk yesterday, stopping at places of historical significance. That final site was 2nd and wall. We noticed you and your band mates were there; what was the event like, and how did it make you guys feel? 

Right before we got to the event, we re-recorded the studio version of the song, so it was very fresh on our minds. As the story of Thomas Gilyard was read aloud, the lyrics were going through our heads. The first verse goes:

Nothing to see here at 2nd & Wall

But crowds will gather when they hear the call

The mob at the jailhouse have the boy in hand

No need for a jury when the sentence is planned

None of us in the band knew how big that original mob was, but we were shocked to hear that 3,000 people came out to witness a murder. It made us sick to think about.

It was a sobering event, and we were happy to be able to participate together as a band. It was an emotional experience seeing all the names of unarmed victims written across the sidewalk. A few hundred people were gathered together on that spot. It felt redemptive to have a crowd gathered back at that location taking a stand against racial violence, but also frustrating that it was still only a fraction of those who attended the lynching.

6: How do you hope this song will be received, given the current state of the country and this city in particular? 

We hope it challenges people to think about how racism mutates from one generation to the next. We like to tell ourselves that we’ve come a long way, but if you trade the noose for a bullet, the present looks a lot like the past. It’s easy to say “all lives matter” when it’s not your life that’s at stake. It’s been 117 years since Thomas Gilyard’s lynching, and most of our “progress” is too little too late. 

We did this acoustic arrangement for a special show that eventually got cancelled by Covid-19. That’s when we started doing a series of videos we called the #CoronaSessions. When we were getting ready to release this video the news had just hit about Ahmaud Arbery, so we  originally dedicated this video to him. Then a few days later we heard about Breonna Taylor and then George Floyd. We’re convinced that if video evidence wasn’t leaked to the public, these crimes would have been overlooked – just like the lynching of Thomas Gilyard. We want this song to challenge the systematic racism that has denied justice to ethnic minorities in our country. We hope you join us in taking action against racial discrimination and police brutality, both of which are still happening in Joplin.

7: Anything you'd like to add for our readers and viewers? 

It helps us a lot if you visit blistersoul.com, join our email list, and follow our social accounts. We’re hoping to release the official single and an EP this year, and connecting with fans helps us make all that happen.