Blackbirds

There are at least two bands/artists with this name: 1) BLACKBIRDS is a hardcore/punk band from Michigan (although some members are from Canada). Their earlier material took cues from American Nightmare/Outbreak/97A but their new material is in the vein of His Hero Is Gone/Tragedy/etc. They are not broken up anymore and are back together with a new lineup, new releases soon, and are back touring. The hardcore band Blackbirds is not associated with blackdog records.

There are at least two bands/artists with this name: 1) BLACKBIRDS is a hardcore/punk band from Michigan (although some members are from Canada). Their earlier material took cues from American Nightmare/Outbreak/97A but their new material is in the vein of His Hero Is Gone/Tragedy/etc. They are not broken up anymore and are back together with a new lineup, new releases soon, and are back touring. The hardcore band Blackbirds is not associated with blackdog records. www.myspace.com/blackbirdshc 2) Blackbirds is a trio from Byron Bay, Australia consiting of Timorese Benhur Helwend on vocals/ukele, Jamaican Harry Belafonte’s grand niece Renee Simone on vocals, and Indonesian guitarist Adi Noersadi.

They play feel-good, island style music. There is also a rock band on blackdog records named blackbirds that does benefit shows for invisible children. You can find more info about them at http://www.blackbirdsmusic.net 3) THE BLACKBIRDS were originally formed in south-west Germany and they released their first album "No Destination" on UK-Label Saga in 1968. THE BLACKBIRDS consists of psychedelic beat/pop music with a touch of the Mothers of Invention type satire (Something Different) and some progressive touches. Strong vocals by singer and guitar player Werner Breinig and some interesting Hammond organ work by Hubert Koop are characteristic of the group's music which proves a great talent of specific song writing. The German label OPP released 5 tracks of this first album on the "Snake in the Grass" album later on. 2nd album "A Touch Of Music", originally released in 1971 on German Label OPP with a complete new line-up - with the exception of singer and guitar player Werner Breinig who now played violin and flute as well- and a complete new style of music.

They adopted a nice, poetic and classical (not symphonic) influenced progressive style with long tracks. There was also room for some more powerful passages inbetween, characteristic for the early seventies progressive music we all have learned to love (Dag Erik Asbjornsen, Cosmic Dreams At Play). Unfortunately, THE BLACKBIRDS were disbanded after these two album. Both original THE BLACKBIRDS albums are very rare but thanks to German Label Long Hair, both albums are reissued with some bonus tracks. 1st album - Recommended for fans of Psychedelic Rock or Zappa. 2nd album - Highly Recommended for any Kraut Rock fan as an underrated Kraut Rock classic. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..