Point Blank: point blank!

Point Blank embodied the spirit of southern rock with rare energy. And it was on stage that the group gave the best of itself

Five country boys, bearded and long-haired, all advance together in front, on the same line. By reading the text that accompanies the image, there is no doubt: Point Blank will blow up in your face! This is precisely the promotional campaign chosen by Arista Records to launch the release of the first album: “Point Blank… One of the toughest, brutalest and nastiest bands ready to break anything… Ultra-powerful rock performances praised by critics and audiences at their concerts… Listen to their record now. And prepare for the shock!”

Recorded in Memphis and released in the spring of 1976, Point Blank’s first album was indeed a shot in the arm in the world of southern rock, and indeed in all of US rock in the 1970s. Intense southern boogie-rock that draws on on sharp guitars, relentless rhythm, big vocals and hits that hit the mark (“Free Man”, “Moving”, “Bad Bees”). An undeniable success, which can be explained, in large part, by an extraordinary experience of the stage. “Our goal was to reproduce in the studio the energy we had on stage, to play our music instinctively, in live conditions”said Rusty Burns, lead guitar of the group, at the time.

Founded in 1974 in the Dallas suburb of Irving by Rusty Burns, drummer “Buzzy” Gruen and singer John O’Daniel, Point Blank got its start in the area’s small venues and bars, even the smallest ones. glaucous. “We played wherever we were accepted,” says John O’Daniel. I remember a club where they checked if you were carrying weapons before entering. And if you didn’t have one, we gave you one…”

Find this paper on Point Blank in full in our issue 158, available on newsstands and via our online store.