Echo Park Press Release

A Record 30 Years in the Making
Echo Park Releases Debut CD
Story by David Brewer


Echo Park: Top row-(from left to right) Bob Rochelle, Steve Roark and Rusty Blanton. Bottom row-Jamie Blanton and Bill FisherPatience is truly a virtue.

After 30 years of playing music together, multiple lineup changes and countless hours spent huddled over a mixing console, local progressive rockers Echo Park have finally released their self-titled debut album. While the band’s personal goal of releasing the record before Guns N Roses’ long awaited disc Chinese Democracy hit stores fell short by a few months, the five members are thrilled nonetheless to finally see their hard work come to disc.

To celebrate the release of the record, Echo Park will host a CD release party at Geno’s in Boone on Friday, May 8. The show will start at 8:00 p.m. The CD is currently available at Boone Drug’s Deerfield and New Market locations, as well as at Fat Cats, Appalachian Music and Rydell Music. Echo Park can also be purchased online by clicking to www.cdbaby.com and most digital music distributors.

Before their CD release show, Echo Park will celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Who’s classic rock opera Tommy with a pair of guest-laden performances at the Valborg Theatre on Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2.

For more information, click to www.echoparkband.com.

Band History

In 1977, Murfreesboro native and recent Boone transplant and bassist Bill Fisher stopped by a local music store to inquire about local musicians. The shopkeeper suggested he contact a talented local high school guitarist named Rusty Blanton. Fisher did just that and the two have been playing music together on and off ever since.

During 1979, Blanton, along with guitarist Kyle Graham and drummer Mark Williams decided to form a band. However, Fisher’s departure back to his hometown in the eastern part of the state left the trio without a bass player.

At the behest of his bandmates, Blanton called Fisher to gauge his interest in moving back to the High Country to join the new band. According to Fisher, they didn’t exactly have to twist his arm. Within a month, the bassist moved into the band’s house in Blowing Rock and Echo Park was born, taking their name from a sign in their Blowing Rock neighborhood.

Echo Park’s classic lineup went their separate ways in 1982, although Blanton and Williams began writing and performing together during the next few years until the drummer eventually split for Wyoming. In 1985, Blanton contacted Fisher and local musician Robbie Stevens to play a gig and Echo Park version 3.0 was born.

During his days at ASU, Fisher lived in the dorms with future Echo Park member Bob Rochelle. Originally trying out for the band in 1982, the tenor vocalist and keyboard player eventually joined the ranks of Echo Park in 1988. Multi-instrumentalist Steve Roark joined during this period, adding considerably to the band’s sound and style. Roark moved to Nashville during the 1990s, but returned to the area in 2007, rejoining Echo Park.

Others who have tickled the ivories and furthered Echo Park’s musical cause include Lane Robinson, Steve Kofroth, Erik Mowrey, Aaron Burleson and Steve Sensenig.

In 1989, Blanton’s son Jamie was born. During the next several years, his father, Fisher, Rochelle and Roark began noticing the youngster’s proficiency behind the drum kit. Jamie played his very first gig with Echo Park as a seventh grader in 2001 at the Watauga County Relay For Life.

“Jamie grew up in this environment with a rock and roll band in the basement,” said Fisher, who along with Rochelle and his father, all take credit for turning the young drum prodigy into a first-class smart aleck.

“He’s gone through the [musical] stages that took us years in a very short period of time,” said Rusty of his son’s mature playing.

The members of Echo Park don’t suffer from grand delusions of rock stardom. Rather, they’re just thrilled to still be friends who can come together and make challenging music that they love.

“I treasure their friendship as much as I do the music,” said Rochelle. “We’ve all been a part of each other’s lives even when we weren’t playing music together.”

The Disc

During the mid-1990s, Echo Park recorded several original tracks for what they hoped would be their first CD. Originally planning to complete the songs in a professional studio, the band’s plans took a left turn.

“Somewhere along the line we decided to scrap it and just do the whole thing ourselves,” said Blanton, whose basement became Blantone Recording Studios.

While the prospect of saving money seemed attractive at the time, taking on the recording duties themselves meant they could take as long as they wanted. Along the way, life intervened on countless occasions, repeatedly pushing back the release of the disc.

“The biggest problem is that we all have lives,” said Jamie.

“And jobs,” said Fisher.

“And children,” added Rochelle.

Eventually, after many false alarms and jokes during their Jones House summer shows, the tracks were completed and mixed and the final product was shrink-wrapped. Echo Park features 12 original tracks, some of which date all the way back to the band’s first years together. And although he hasn’t been an active member of the band for decades, founding member Mark Williams contributed much of the album’s lyrical content.

“It’s like our first album is our career retrospective—it’s like our greatest hits,” said Fisher.

Inspired by the likes of Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes and Kansas, the band’s music combines the grit of classic rockers like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin with the epic compositional flair of their progressive rock heroes.

“The common thread is the progressive rock,” said Rusty.

“We don’t play dance music,” added Rochelle.

Throughout the disc, the younger Blanton’s driving rhythms and sharp fills propel the solid string work of his father and Fisher, while Roark’s keyboards and horn work fill in the gaps and Rochelle’s vocals soar atop the mix.

“We’re the most talented band that nobody’s ever heard,” said Rochelle.