Mr. Blotto
Mr. Blotto came together in the early 1990's. The guys knew each other from other bands and decided to get together on their off nights to play whatever they felt like playing with no real plan for world domination.
Taking advantage of Chicago's rich Open Mic Night scene, Mr. Blotto played about a Million 3-songs short sets. After a run of these, a series of bootleg tapes gained a surprising measure of popularity and Mr.Blotto went into the studio to record Parking Karma. The band was not yet a year old.
Around this time, David B-3 Allen joined. He brought to the band his formidable skill on the Piano, Synths, & Hammond B-3. In addition, he supplied another singing voice and a somewhat insane improvisational wit.
Next came Bad Hair Day. This CD propelled Mr. Blotto to the top of the regional scene. The band went from one-nighters in bars to playing theaters on consecutive nights without repeating a song. 1998 saw a third CD, Ancient Face; 1999 brought Mark Hague. As lead guitarist, he quickly jelled with the boys and helped pen the next generation of Mr. Blotto tunes. Paul, Mark & Mike started meeting every Monday to work on new original ideas. In these sessions, any idea would be chased down and put to tape. These songs became Cabbages and Kings, the 4th CD which WXRT called the bands best release yet.
In 2005, Mr. Blotto picked up a young, fresh drummer from Indiana by the name of Tony Dellumo. Shortly their after Paul, Mark, Mike, Tony and Dave started in on a new album that was finished spring 2006. With help of the legendary Grateful Dead lyrycist, John Perry Barlow, Mr. Blotto released their 5th studio album, Barlow Shanghai.
When Dave "B3" Allen had to leave the band at the end of 2005, Mr. Blotto hired on another hoosier by the name of Steve Ball. The future looks to be very exciting for the band as Mr. Blotto's ever evolving musical onslaught hits the jam scene with all five cylinders firing hard!
Read the "Barlow Shanghai" Blog for John Barlow's story on how the magic began.....
