In early February, The Blind Staggers released their latest album, Doing Alright… Considering. We’re premiering the video for one of the record’s songs above, called “Party Friends.” When addressing the video’s concept, singer Laura Zielinski said “We were all just missing getting together, having band practice and playing shows. We wanted to do something fun while we are all stuck at home on lockdown and get a few good laughs in.” Within weeks of the album’s release, the current pandemic began to take shape and the band’s touring plans had to be shelved. In spite of this, guitarist/singer Damien Christian Wilburn remains optimistic, explaining “I’m stoked that we were all able to shoot this from our homes and create something while not being able to get together in person. Everything is very heavy right now. If you’re not stressed, you’re at least bored. We just hoped to entertain some people and maybe make some folks smile.”
In many ways, the song “Party Friends” is representative of the album as a whole. “It sums up what this record is about for me,” Wilburn said. “There were a lot of personal things going on within the band during the writing of this album. Laura and Tony, (guitarist Tony Lee) got married and moved to Denver. I had quit drinking and working at the bar I called home for ten years. So, there was a lot of uncertainty. Change was coming, but there was a strong desire to hold on to what matters – good times with good friends.” Zielinski added, “It seemed like a fitting tune for the time and for us as a band right now. We’re all getting older and priorities are changing, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know how to have a good time. Because believe me, we do. And that’s a lot of what this new album is about.”
Compared to their previous work, Doing Alright… Considering is arguably The Blind Staggers’ strongest material to date. “We feel it’s the best record we’ve put out. We’ve grown as band and as musicians over the last ten years. This record leans much more rock ‘n’ roll than it does country/Americana, which was a conscious choice as much as a natural progression,” Wilburn said. He continued, “We decided that we can basically write whatever we want because it will always sound like ‘us,’ so everything became more open. Lyrically it’s very much in the same vein as our previous albums. It’s still about dealing with our lives and the choices we’ve made, for better or worse. We’re just the people sitting next to you at the bar with a couple stories to tell. Always have been.” Check out the video for “Party Friends” above and visit Bandcamp to purchase the album.
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