Teenage Unicorn: A Chat with Evelyn Hurley of Blast Off Country Style

Discography:

C'mon and Blast Off Country Style [Compilation] (TeenBeat, 1994)

Rainbow Mayonnaise Deluxe (TeenBeat, 1994)

Blast Off Country Style were quite the unique band. Formed in Harrisonburg at JMU with two girls and two guys, they had a very lo-fi indie pop sound that fit in very well with the sound of the moment. Signing with one of the preeminent indie labels of the time, TeenBeat, the band experienced limited success before disbanding around 1996. Frontwoman/guitarist Evelyn Hurley later became a member of Cotton Candy with TeenBeat founder/Unrest leader Mark Robinson and has a very happy life as a mom and librarian. She was very gracious with her time and her memories about being in a Virginia indie rock band in the '90s.

Pete Crigler: Tell me about your musical background.

Evelyn Hurley: I grew up singing in church and school choirs, and I also played clarinet for a year while when I was in grade school. Mostly though, it was just singing around the house with my sisters and brothers. 

Pete: How did Blast Off come together and what was the Harrisonburg scene like at the time if there was one?

Evelyn: Harrisonburg, (James Madison University,) in the early 90s had a really interesting musical scene. There were the typical 90s all boy grunge bands that were getting gigs at the university that paid a lot, and then you also had really good smaller bands playing house parties every weekend. My favorite band at the time was Sexual Milkshake, which is on Teen Beat, and I thought they were the coolest band I’d ever seen. Their costumes and the background effects combined with really great songs and stage performances were eye opening, and showed me that music, performance, and art could combine and be really interesting and a lot of fun. So I was thinking, “I can sing, so if I can find somebody to play some instruments, then I can have a band.” I was friends with Mary and she had a guitar, and she was friends with Phil who had a bass, and Phil was friends with Callahan, the drummer from Sexual Milkshake. So I thought, “OK, well if Mary will do it, then maybe Phil will join, and then Callahan might think that we’re kind of serious, and he’d join too.” Which is exactly how it worked out. I don’t really remember what the band practices were like, but I’m sure they involved a lot of malt liquor.

Pete: How would you describe the band's sound?

Evelyn: I guess the sound is more of a spontaneous musicality. We said from the start we just wanted to have fun and make songs that were interesting and for us and our friends.

Pete: How did the band come to sign with Teenbeat?

Evelyn: Callahan was already on TeenBeat, so when Vomit Launch was on tour in ‘92 they came to Harrisonburg and Mark asked Callahan if he knew anybody who could open up for them, and Callahan suggested BOCS. So we played the gig, and Mark was there and he liked us and asked us to come play some shows in DC with Unrest. And all this led to other gigs, and our eventual 7”’s on TeenBeat.

Pete: What was it like recording the band's early singles?

Evelyn: The first 7” was recorded in Harrisonburg over the summer of ‘92, and it was great fun! Phil and Callahan had recorded before, so they knew what was going on. I’m not sure if Mary had done any recording but I never had, so it was a super interesting and eye opening experience for me. Most of the engineers in those early recordings were super confused by us, and kind of frustrated by our inability to be “professional” but we weren’t professional, we were learning as we went along.

Pete: What was it like recording Rainbow?

Evelyn: That was recorded during the summer of ‘94 at American University, by Evan from Eggs. We had finished college by then, so we were pumped to be doing music without college interfering. I don’t think we were as prepared as we probably should have been, but it was a lot of fun.

Pete: What was the Lollapalooza experience like?

Evelyn: It was amazing! I mean, it was everything you think it would be! We would watch these great bands perform all day long, meet amazing musicians, and then hang out with friends in the evening after the shows. It was wonderful.

Pete: What was the idea of success like for the band?

Evelyn: I’m not sure what you mean... I’m sure initially we thought playing shows with our friends in basements of houses around Harrisonburg was a success, and it was! Then as other playing opportunities came up, especially in other cities, like Charlottesville, these made us feel pretty successful, too. Once we started playing in DC, Baltimore, NYC, and Boston it was different from most of the other bands in Va, so every show was an interesting and successful experience for us. I’m pretty sure BOCS was a wild success by all of our estimates.

Pete: What caused Mary to depart and Allison to come in?

Evelyn: Mary left because she got married and had a baby, which was obviously more important than being in a band. We all were all living in DC at that point, so it was kind of easy to find another guitarist. Allison was a friend of a friend, and she had been in bands before. We were stoked that we could get another girl guitarist, and she was a good fit, really talented.

Pete: What ended up causing the band to suddenly breakup?

Evelyn: I’m not sure it was sudden, we weren’t playing many gigs, and everyone’s jobs were kind of getting more time consuming. Also, Phil moved to Portland, Oregon, and he was pretty intent on living there, so we were kind of naturally ending. We’d been together for 4 years, which was 4 years longer than I ever thought we’d be together, so it seems like it was the right time to call it quits.

Pete: What were you up to after the split?

Evelyn: I began grad school, which in addition to my full time job and working as a waitress a few days a week, made me pretty busy. I didn’t mind any of it, though, I was having a great time. And then Margaret, from Tuscadero, and I began Hot Pursuit.

Pete: Tell me about Hot Pursuit.

Evelyn: Margaret and I knew each other from Teenbeat, and we had a lot of similarities in music and humor and we just gravitated towards each other. I met Ginger at my job, and I knew that from talking to her at some work parties that she played the drums. So I asked her if she wanted to play drums with me and Margaret, and luckily she said yes. Ginger is a great fit for me and Margaret, very chill and California compared to the hyper East Coasters that we are. Plus it was awesome to find a girl to join the band.

Pete: How did Cotton Candy come about and how has that been?

Evelyn: Mark and I got married and had kids pretty quickly, and that obviously takes up a lot of time, so we knew that if we wanted to do music we should do something together to make the logistics easier. Mark is incredibly talented, so doing something with him was a no-brainer. We had performed together in the ‘90s, so it wasn’t a totally brand new experience for us, and it just seemed like something we should do, and it’s been great.

Pete: What are you and the band members currently up doing?

Evelyn: Mark and I live in Boston, and I’m a librarian and he’s a graphic designer. Mary lives in New York, I’m not sure what her job is, but I saw her a few years ago and she seemed great. Phil lives in Taiwan, and works as an English teacher. Callahan lives in Arlington, Va, he’s a web designer, we probably see each other the most of the BOCS people. Allison lives in Ohio, I think she’s a teacher. Margaret lives in NY, she’s a book author and illustrator. Ginger is in DC, and she’s a museum curator at the National Gallery of Art.

Pete: Are the members of Blast Off still friendly?

Evelyn: Yes, I don’t think there are any hard feelings, at least not on my part. I mean, I guess I can’t speak for them, but I think we are all still friendly!

Pete: What do you think will be the band's legacy not just overall but in the history of Virginia music?

Evelyn: I haven’t heard if we’ve made an impact or if we have a legacy, unless it was one where we showed that you can have fun and make good music and art. We had good timing, and made the most of our good luck!