Blair Gun debuts, VirgoTwins stream, LP & the Vinyl travels, Blink 182 cancels, Tom Waits celebrates

Blair Gun’s debut album Blaspheme Queen was just released, along with a video for “Bennet.” According to singer-guitarist Joedin Morelock, “‘Bennet’ is about a man that I met online. After years of making music and seeing no progress, no fans, no attention, he was making all these posts about giving up on his dreams and his feelings of defeat. It really touched me on a profound level because he reflected a lot of my own personal fears at the time and the fears of a lot of people that are pursuing a career in the arts.”

VirgoTwins was founded in 2022 by San Diego/Tijuana-based MC Gilead7 (of Chicago hip-hop act Tomorrow Kings) and San Diego producer Boricua Sandy. Gilead7 has taught hip-hop culture at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Sandy’s instrumental production has been heard in music from the FiveSe7ven Collective, and her own release Indigenous Goddess. The duo will drop their album ArtSpace on April 21. A single and video is streaming online for “Unspoken,” featuring DJ Presyce of the Chicago collective The Molemen.

Jazz singer Leonard Patton teamed up with the Danny Green Trio to form LP & the Vinyl in 2019. Their debut album features original arrangements of music by The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, David Bowie, and Oasis, as well as two of the group’s original songs. The band recently won a Jazz Road Tours grant, enabling them to travel to Florida and Georgia at the end of March for shows in Orlando, Del Ray Beach, Miami Dade, Largo, and Madison.

Blink 182 had to cancel the first leg of their reunion tour, after drummer Travis Barker suffered an injury to his finger requiring surgery. The reunion tour was due to start in Mexico, followed by a Latin American leg, but those dates are canceled and the tour will instead launch on May 4 in St. Paul, MN. They’re still booked to play Pechanga Arena on June 19 and 20.

Tom Waits, a graduate of Chula Vista’s Hilltop High, moved to L.A. in 1971 and began his recording career. The 50th anniversary of his debut album Closing Time will be celebrated June 2 with a vinyl rerelease available in black and clear versions as a double 180g LP cut at 45 RPM, with half speed mastering by London’s Abbey Road Studios. The gatefold jacket was specially created for the reissue with thick cardboard and black poly-lined inner sleeves.