Newbies Blueberry Love Machine headed to Brooklyn

Although they’re a new band, the members of Blueberry Love Machine all are veterans of the Reno scene.
Rapper Tony Walker, 25, performs at Spoken Views at Se7en Teahouse and Bar as The Locus and also has worked with local artists as varied as Operation Panda, Kate Cotter and Sol Jibe.

The soft-spoken rapper has a distinctive flow that suits the soulful vibe of BBLM.

The band also includes Barre Guillien as singer, piano player and guitarist, John Gibson on bass and Joseph Bentle is the drummer. They also have women singers occasionally — Jen Tucker and Walker’s sister Lacy Redhead both have joined in for gigs. Walker, who is an Iraq War veteran and also a painter, said Blueberry Love Machine is working hard and fast to form a cohesive unit because they’ve been invited to a half-hour slot on the bill of the Fort Green Food, Music and Film Festival in Brooklyn Sept. 5-6.

“A friend of ours is from Brooklyn,” he said. “He’s a really close friend with the guy who organizes it, and will be filming it. He called him up and told him there’s these kids doing music in Reno, and they listened to a couple of songs, and all of a sudden, we’re going to be playing in front of 10,000-15,000 people and it will be shown in 30 million homes on the East Coast.”

The festival is in its second year and will be hosted by hip-hop artist Common and singer-musician Meshell Ndegeocello, Walker said. Last year, it was hosted by rapper Talib Kweli.

The band has nine original songs, including crowd favorite “Celia Cezone,” a song Walker wrote about a poor girl who has no other choice but to sell herself.

“I was channeling some of the things I’ve seen growing up here in town,” Walker said. “I feel like it’s a song people definitely connect with because a lot of females deal with that, especially if they’re not from this country.”

The band holds down a steady gig every Saturday at the Sierra Gold bar and restaurant on South Meadows Parkway and will play at noon Aug. 30 on the West Second Street Plaza during the Truckee River Festival. If you go to one of their shows, stick a few dollars in the jar to help pay the band’s expenses to Brooklyn. Although all the band members hold down day jobs, they are also looking for sponsorships from businesses. If interested, contact Walker at 775-303-7833 or e-mail him at sucolnot@yahoo.com.

Walker said the band’s name draws as much attention as their music.

“We were sitting down thinking of all these deep names, and a friend who had been drinking and fallen in the river came in and he just called out this name: Blueberry Sex Machine. We changed it to ‘love’ because we deemed it inappropriate, especially for people in Reno, but actually, more people like Blueberry Sex Machine instead of Blueberry Love Machine,” he said. “But I’ve never seen people not smile when we tell them our name. It’s cool because we’re not taking ourselves too serious, although the music is pretty heartfelt and serious.”

In addition to their regular Saturday night gig at Sierra Gold, Blueberry Love Machine plays Sundays at Java Jungle for free.

You can see the band perform “Celia Cezone” on Youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zAlgvDqzM
Look for upcoming Blueberry Love Machine shows on the band's myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/blueberrylovemachine