Influence, Wing Man, Connector and Friend
(from BluesNews.ch): Kurt Bislin was born on May 20, 1958, in Wangs, SG, Switzerland and passed away on the 16th of July 2024. At the age of 14, Kurt invested his last 5-Franc-coin to by a 33 of Lightnin’ Hopkings, without knowing what he was getting into. This experience accompanied his entire life. He started playing the guitar at the age of 17, learned the blues harp as well as the drums. He’s also known as singer, producer and songwriter…
This’ one of my favourite Bislin & Forlin numbers!
After our generation was done being 70’s teenagers, I met him somewhere around the year 1980, when i was “singing” for a Swiss rockband called Chinook, and Kurt was playing with bands like Bluecaster and Raindogs. Kurt and his Bandmates like Benno “Keith” Rupp, Tino Forlin and my band consumed vast quantities of alcohol and nocotine in the same dives.
While our bands shared billing on a few gigs, our first collaboration took place in Heinz Grob’s Altendorf Studio, in the early/mid 80s. There we used up studio time his band, disfunctional at the time, was unable to use. That’s where the first version of “Songs for You” was recorded, our provisional band name at the time was “The Heartbeats“. I recorded that same song on my first solo album “Heartbeat“, more than 30 years later, after we reconnected after a radio silence of about 20 years.
Coicidence? Kurt was one of my biggest influences of my musical life. Lemme share a few little tidbits…
Influence
Around Kurt and his bandmates I learned about blues attitudes and some of my first riffs. They taught me songs like “Route 66” and sometimes allowed me to sing “Dead Flowers” with them. We discussed blues, rock’n’roll, Muddy Waters, woman (rarely), the Stones, play-the-damn-song, rhythm and guitars through hours of late enubriation. The influence of these friends has shaped my lyrics-smithing more that my axe-slinging. I’m still struggling to play the blues.
Record Holders
Apparently Kurt and I held, at least for a time, the record for most beers consumed in two hours. This alledgedly happened at a place called “Cafe von Rotz” in a town a few miles from our homes. Since i was not allowed (or able) to drive, Kurt hauled our asses to and from the places we haunted… I’m sure we learned more responsibility later in our lives.
Wing Man
I met, too late in my life, my very first real woman, Margaret, in an after hours hangout called Soldanella, a club that featured live music seven days a week. The Lady lived and worked in a restaurant about a half hour drive up the Tamina valley. Kurt and i (shotgun) would bring her home in the wee hours, keeping both of us awake for an other hour.
Connector and friend
It was always Kurt who made his friends tolerate me in their blues circle. He kept being my friend even after i got kicked out of one of his formations due to incompetence as blues bassist. It was was primarily Kurts (and his band’s) fault that i got wasted with Champion Jack Dupree and Philadelphia Jerry Ricks before their show at the gym hall of my high school. The stories these two legends told shaped most of my attitudes towards the music industry. When I got stuck in Canada for three decades, Kurt was the first musician friend to visit me from across the pond in the late 80’s. It was Kurt who helped me (re-)connect with musicians when I returned to Switzerland 30 years later.
God, i miss him! ?
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