Blame Game, an American band from Atlanta, Georgia, was formed in 1999 by drummer Alex Lambert, guitarist Ian Deaton, and bass player Matt McCalvin.
History
Blame Game's initial work is comparable to other bands of the hardcore punk genre, such as Rorschach, His Hero Is Gone, Angel Hair, and Assfactor 4. In 1999, shortly after their forming, Matt McCalvin decided to switch to second guitar, and Chris Ware was brought in on bass. The band played its first official show in 1999 under the name Blame Game at the Prison Issues Fest, which was organized by Chris Ware at the Under the Couch venue on the Georgia Tech campus. Blame Game then recorded their self-titled demo and it was released on cassette in a limited run of 100 copies. The tape was packaged in a brown paper lunch bag, and it was covered with a sticker of a photograph by artist Kim Hoeckle. Throughout 2000, the band played many shows in and around the south. In 2001 the band went on a mini-tour with Countdown to Putsch in Florida and Georgia. Following the tour, Blame Game recorded 9 songs at the C-11 warehouse with Brooks Meeks. The 9 songs were put on a tour cd-r, and 4 of these tracks were released as a self-titled seven-inch by both Ex-Space Six and Stickfigure Records. 500 of these were printed, and almost every cover was different due to the covers being divided 125 per member of the band and then hand made. Following these initial recordings, Blame Game played small tours and local shows between 2001–2002. Between this time the band began to draw a larger influence from avant-garde performers and bands, such as Captain Beefheart and U.S. Maple, as well as from free jazz performers like Peter Brotzman, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, shifting the band's sound from hardcore punk, to a more wiry, spastic and “improv” oriented sound. In 2002, the band performed on the WREKradio show Live at WREK, playing 12 songs and followed it with a second set which was entirely improvised. In January 2003, the band self-released the Blame Game Trio cd-r, which was recorded by Alex Lambert, and contained entirely improvised material. Later that same year, the band recorded 8 songs at The Living Room Studio in Atlanta, Ga with recording engineer Ed Rawls. These 8 songs where released on the b-side of a split LP with the German band Zann. Blame Game toured Europe for 3 weeks and the U.S. for 2½ weeks with Zann to support this release. In late 2003 the band recorded 6 new songs, which would top off a 77-minute 27-track cd anthology released by Stickfigure Records. Guitarist Matt McCalvin left the band in December 2003 over musical differences, turning his focus to his new band, Gongfodder. McCalvin would later join the band A-Fir-Ju-Well. George Asimakos was brought in to play second guitar after Matt’s departure. Blame Game attempted to do a 6-week U.S. tour in the summer of 2004 after writing new material with Asimakos, but only played a handful of these shows due to vehicle malfunction. In the winter of 2004, the band completed the writing of the Honey and Salt full length, and embarked on an East Coast tour. In January 2005 guitarist Ian Deaton left the band due to personal conflicts and went on to form the band God’s America. Reduced to a three-piece outfit, Blame Game then recorded their first official full length entitled “Honey and Salt” in February 2005 at Zero Return Studios, and it was released by Stickfigure Records on cd and ABC Group Documentation on LP. They soon embarked on one US tour, during spring break of 2005, accompanied by their friend Andrew Wiggins. This found them playing shows with Des Ark and Del Cielo. Immediately afterwards, Wiggins was recruited as second guitarist, returning the lineup to include four members. With the full length out, the band embarked on several east coast and midwest tours including a stint opening for Do Make Say Think In late 2005/early 2006 the band finished writing new material, which would be recorded at Zero Return Studios in February 2006. This album was released on LP July 2006 by Stickfigure Records and Ursa Minor Musik. The CD contained 3 songs by Blame Game, and one soundscape by Magicicada totalling around 30 minutes of play. In the summer 2006 the band went on a large US tour with Finnish band Echo Is Your Love. Following this tour, drummer Alex Lambert decided to move to New York City, putting the band on an indefinite hiatus. Blame Game played their last known show on January 25, 2007 at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, Ga. The following was left on their website immediately following their last show: January 26, 2007 - We played our last show for quite some time last night. Thanks to all who were a part of it. We are officially on indefinite hiatus. We haven't ruled out playing again but logistically it's not easy anymore with members living in different cities. Still if you have a show or tour opportunity, let us know. We'll consider everything.
