10 BUDDY JANUARY 2015

else as a band,” Rusty empha-sized. “It was only to help Prestonfinancially. At the time of thereunion, I was in San Franciscowhere my construction companywas building a Tilley’s store at ahuge mall in south San Fran-cisco. We were about halfwaythrough the build when we de-cided on the show for Preston. Iflew in from the west coast andPoint Blank rehearsed for a weekin preparation for the date. Theday after the show, I headed backto San Fran for another threemonths.”

Rusty’s decision to record theshow multi-track for “posterity”was to prove pivotal to the nextchapter of Point Blank history.

Unbeknownst to the mem-bers of Point Blank, they alreadyhad a well-established and loyalfanbase in Europe, where PointBlank never got around to tour-ing during their first run. Oddlyenough, it seems that for manyEuropeans, particularly for thepartners at the French recordlabel, Dixie Frog, Southern Rocknever died. Fans flock to hearsurviving Southern rock bandsas well as the countless tributebands playing the genre, and inthe case of Point Blank, there wasa veritable hunger for anythingthe band could produce. WhenDixie Frog found out that therehad been an actual reunion andthat it had actually been recorded,they couldn’t be satisfied quicklyenough.

Rusty had returned to workin San Francisco when Phillipcalled, saying, “You’ve been talk-ing to those guys in France (DixieFrog) and they just got a hold ofme and said that you told themyou had recorded it and nowthey’re freaking out, they wantit.”

“So we listened to it (the liverecording),” Rusty said, “and itwas like WOW, that soundspretty good. So, we decided togo ahead and get serious aboutmixing it and producing it, andthat’s the record (Reloaded). Oncethey found out about it, threehours later, we had a record dealand a European tour. We didn’tdo anything. I mean, all we didwas send the CD off and let themlisten to it…It was just a roughmix and Dixie Frog called andwanted to know if we were inter-ested in doing an album deal,and so while we were talkingabout that, the Sweden RockFestival called and said theywanted to know if we wanted toplay. I was sitting there withPhillip while he was talking tothem and he said, “Yeah, maybe,depending on the money and hewent, uh, hang on a second.”And he looked up at me andasked, “Would you go to Swe-den for $15,000?” I said, “Hell,I’d go to Midlothian for $15,000.”

The band was astounded.“Wow, the magic is still in thisband,” Rusty remembered feel-ing. “You know, it’s the chemicalreaction and when you get thosemusical personalities together,and then it was like - wow, wehave fans in Europe? We didn’tknow we had fans in Europe. Wehad never touched into that. Youknow, the band had been brokeup for 25 years.

“I’m glad I decided to recordthe show multi-track as it be-came the catalyst for the Reloadedrecord and subsequent recorddeal and European/Scandinaviantour and of course, the reforma-tion of Point Blank.”

ReloadedPOINT BLANK RELEASEDthe live recording of that benefitshow, Reloaded (Dixie Frog) in2007, followed by their first per-formance at Sweden Rock Festi-val, and a subsequent tour ofFrance, Belgium, England, up toand including The RockpalastShow in Germany. Mouse Mayes(BUDDY Texas Tornado 1987)came on board in 2008. Sincethen, the band has returned toEurope five times to theirnewfound fans who treat themlike Southern Rock royalty.

Rusty continued, “We’vecome to find out the guys thatwrite for the bands at Dixie overthere… they were very very VERYinto Southern Rock, more so thanthey are here-they live for it.Well, while doing interviews withthem-it was kinda eye opening-we found out that not only didwe have fans, but the loyalty wehad in the fans there. They saidthat we gauge every southernrock band according to threedifferent records. One wasLynyrd Skynyrd, another was theAllman Brothers and the thirdone was Point Blank. And theysaid, your first album is kindalike the top shelf for us. That fornew southern rock bands theyhave to kinda lean into that. Wenever considered ourselvessouthern rock. We’re Texas Rock’n’ Roll. Texas blues rock. Kickyour ass rock ’n’ roll, we weren’tvery friendly about it.”

“A German interviewer saidsomething about how we didn’tuse any Confederate flags, be-cause apparently every band thatgoes over there has a fuckin’Confederate flag,” John recalled.“And I said, “Actually, we arefrom Texas and we’ve got a flagof our own to be proud of.””

Reloaded was followed up bythe group’s first studio album, in27 years, 2009’s Fight On! (DixieFrog) with its strong songwriting,punchy musicianship and unde-niable passion, as in the case ofthe instrumental “My Soul Cries

Out,” Rusty’s moving tribute tohis father who passed in 1995.

Filling out the current lineupare bassist Kirk Powers, whobrings formidable chops honedfrom years of studio session work,Austin Hall of Fame keyboardistLarry Telford, and Houstondrummer Greg Hokanson, whowas strongly referred by BillyGibbons.

Volume 9, (Fairway Records)their latest CD, is impressive inits depth and breadth, with driv-ing Texas rock and blues, lots ofsoul, some hints of reggae, aswell as a mellower, southwest-ern C&W approach, as in“Amigos,” which wistfully remi-nisces about compadres, someof whom have passed.

(Bill Randolph died June 19,2001, from a heart attack, PhillipPetty died from cancer on June7, 2010, Kim Davis died onOctober 18, 2010, and MichaelHamilton, who played keyboardsfor the group, died, also fromcancer, on May 13, 2011.)

KickstarterVOLUME 9 WAS FINANCEDby Kickstarter (internet-basedcrowdfunding), which pleasesthem immensely.

“There comes a point in yourlife,” Rusty explained, “there’snot a record label that’s layingmoney around for your record-ing and your production and thecopying and all the artwork…Only problem when you had arecord label, they had a chainaround your neck if they’re go-ing to give you any money. (WithKickstarter), it’s like “Why don’twe go to the fans, let them be therecord label, see if they want todo it?”

The Kickstarter thing was realgood,” Rusty continued. “It re-stored a little faith in humanitythat people you don’t even knowput money towards your causeand you need that kind of sup-port mechanism, plus, you get tocontrol your own money. Recordlabels will spend thousands ofdollars on needless garbage and

R O C K

you have to pay it. And in thiscase we scrimped and sold bottlecaps; and, God, we just had tomake it work and we made itwork the best we could, and itturned out really nice.”

“We got to make enoughmoney to buy two Hoverounds”John added. “Because pretty soonme and Rusty’s gonna be comin’in on those little hovercrafts.

“We’re just taken on a newagent right now (Greg Stead ofChicago’s GLS Booking Agency).It’s been kind of tough becausewe’ve just been trying to do itourselves. Sometimes, we’re justkinda touchy about PointBlank…It’s our baby, eventhough it’s 40 years old.”

40-year partnershipWITH 40 YEARS UNDER THEbridge, the two principals ofPoint Blank are far from therowdy 20-something youngstersthat left the Metroplex with onlythe clothes on their backs. Butthe years have tempered themand it’s with that perspectivethat Rusty and John have gleanedsome valuable life lessons.

Rusty: “The biggest life les-son in the music business is:Practice. Play better. Make surethat it’s a nightly deal and everyday you try and play better thanyou did yesterday.

“And, whether you make itor not, don’t matter. It’s thework ethic.

“Like, this is not a dress re-hearsal, it’s the big time. Nomatter how big your big time is,play it as the big time. It’s allabout attitude. If you can playand you can do everything else,then your attitude is what’s go-ing to be the vehicle that willdrive your talent to a gig. Betight, be rehearsed. Being awareof what everybody in the band isplaying and not just what youdo. It’s like we’re all snaps on501 jeans.”

John: “It’s like a sport, likebaseball or football, or basket-ball and if one guy didn’t do hisjob, it brings everybody down.You do your job and try to helpeverybody else to make sure theyget their job done.

“It gets to be natural after awhile. You play together so long,I know what he’s gonna playalmost before he does it some-

“They said that we gauge everysouthern rock band accordingto three different records. Onewas Lynyrd Skynyrd, anotherwas the Allman Brothers andthe third one was Point Blank.And they said, your first albumis kinda like the top shelf forus. That for new southern rockbands they have to kinda leaninto that. We never consideredourselves southern rock. We’reTexas Rock ’N’ Roll. Texasblues rock. Kick your ass rock’n’ roll, we weren’t veryfriendly about it.”

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–RUSTY BURNS

times, not note for note, but Iknow where he’s going. CuzGood God, I’ve been next to himfor 40 years. Most people aren’tlucky enough to get to do that.You can be as good individuallyas you want to be, but you’re notever going to be as good as youcan be till you share it with some-body else. You feed off eachother. When I’m hot, he’s smok-ing and it fires me up. And it’sthe same way with the other fiveguys.”

Rusty: “I think one of thebiggest lessons we probably cameto realize is if you’re in the middleof your third record with a ma-jor record label, you’re startingto kinda feel pretty good aboutyourself, and you kinda startthinking that kind of stuff mayhappen forever – it doesn’t.There comes a time when thereality of it all sets in and yourealize that wow, you’re just an-other one in a long line of guysthat almost made it –you’re justanother average Joe.

Unless you’re going to relyon your talent, but as far as you’relooked at in this business, they’relooking for the next 23 year oldwith a 28 inch waist. They’re notlooking for guys that are good.Good never got you very far.

But putting some makeup onand spitting fire and droolingblood on stage can sell out andstill do it.

“But we weren’t into the the-atrics; we were about the music.We never cared about being thebig dog or the big fish in a littlepond. Just put us on a big stageand we’ll go out there and seewhere the music goes.”

“And have the goals changedfor these august professionals?

“Same as always for us,” Johninsisted. “Make a living for our-selves and care for our families.We’ve had the limo rides, andpromo and press parties- nowwe are about making our musicand pleasing our fans!”

“Back then, (the goal) was tohave a band that would lay downa layer of musical strata that waslegitimate and reputable,” Rustyoffered.

“I wanted PB to be taken se-riously which was quite difficultif you weren’t from NY or L.A.My goal now is to play until I’mdead while still enjoying it like Iwas 19.”

Even as they look forward toa musically and emotionally richfuture, they still can’t help butreflect back on the pivotal eventsof October 20, 1977.

“A lot of our dreams crashedthat day,” Rusty mused. “It mighthave been the difference betweenus maybe having been a head-liner at the Texxas Jam instead ofan opener act (Point Blank playedat the 1979 and 1982 events).It’s just that one miss of an inter-section…

“Either that or we could havejust been in the airplane andcrashed and we would have beenthe biggest thing. Dallas wouldhave even liked us. It doesn’tmatter.

“All that matters is that wehave some more gigs coming upsoon and we are blessed to be onthe cover of BUDDY magazine withyou, brother.” ■

The new lineup includes Michael “Mouse” Mayes, Greg Hokanson, Kirk Powers, Rusty Burns, Larry Telford, John and O’Daniel: Point Blank