Some genuinely fascinating cultural interaction here. Weird Tales will release an EP of blues covers on Jan. 15 given the cumbersome title Y’all Motherfuckers Forgot ‘Bout Good Ol’ Son of a Bitchin’ Blues, and in so doing, the Polish heavy trio continue a tradition nearly 130 years old at this point of European interest in African-American culture. From France importing jazz in the early 1900s and thus granting it legitimacy in the eyes of the American white middle and upper class, to Eastern Europe’s flourishing hip-hop scene, to Weird Tales taking on Lonnie Johnson‘s “Got the Blues for Murder Only” and beefing up its 12-bar structure with weighted riffing and a rolling groove, it’s never been entirely without a shade of cultural appropriation, and it certainly isn’t now, but this is a conversation that’s been happening for a long time, if not always in this form.

Did we motherfuckers forget about the blues? I guess there’s a case to be made amid all the proggy whatnot flourishing in heavy rock these days, but as anyone over the age of 15 knows, these things are cyclical. If Weird Tales are gonna help strip it all back to basics, they’re not hurting anyone or anything by doing so.

From the PR wire:

WEIRD TALES – Got the Blues for Murder Only

Polish doom trio WEIRD TALES are gearing up to release their latest EP “Y’all Motherfuckers Forgot ‘Bout Good Ol’ Son of a Bitchin’ Blues,” due out Jan. 15 via Interstellar Smoke Records.

The EP is a collection of four forgotten blues songs by the likes of Muddy Waters, Lonnie Johnson, Skip James and Blind Willie Johnson.

Here’s their first single, “Got The Blues For Murder Only,” the Lonnie Johnson cover: https://weird.bandcamp.com/track/got-the-blues-for-murder-only

“This is our version of ‘Got the Blues for Murder Only’ originally performed by mighty Lonnie Johnson,” says the band. “This is a single from our upcoming EP ‘Y’all Motherfuckers Forgot ‘Bout Good Ol’ Son of a Bitchin’ Blues’, so you may guess what it’s gonna be about. Blues. Dirty and desperate. Lonely and painful.”

Weird Tales are:
Dima (guitar, lead vocal)
Kriss (bass, vocal)
Matt (drums, vocal)

https://www.facebook.com/weirdtalesband/
https://www.instagram.com/weirdtalesband/
https://weird.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Interstellar-Smoke-Records-101687381255396/
https://interstellarsmokerecords.bigcartel.com/

Weird Tales, “Got the Blues for Murder Only”