Blind Melon makes sighted comeback

By John Benson

Thirteen years after the lead singer’s death, his successor offers a similar vocal timbre and delivery.

Over a year has passed since Blind Melon, known for its lone ’90s hit single “No Rain,” reformed with new singer Travis Warren for a new future.

A rising band in the early ’90s, the group’s career came to screeching halt when its lead singer and founding member Shannon Hoon died from a cocaine overdose in 1995 at age 28. More than a decade passed before Warren entered the picture and the surviving members — Christopher Thorn, Rogers Stevens, Brad Smith and Glen Graham — considered restarting Blind Melon.

It was during the recording of what would become the band’s new album “For My Friends” that guitarist Stevens said he felt Warren was the right person to add a second chapter to the Blind Melon story.

“The song ‘For My Friends’ I wrote and sent it to Travis, and it was done in one night,” said Stevens, calling from somewhere in Pennsylvania. “That song, to me more than any of the other ones, was kind of a bridge to the past in a way because it’s something that almost could have gone on one of the other records.

“And when (new song) ‘Sometimes’ happened, I really like that one and thought that sounds kind of fresh. I thought ‘Last Laugh’ was really strong, too.”

For Stevens and his bandmates, the idea was not only to find the Blind Melon sound but to accurately capture the momentum the group experienced with its 1992 self-titled debut and 1995 follow-up, “Soup.”

“I’ll tell you what, we would have made some great records with Shannon,” Stevens said. “There was no doubt in my mind. It was definitely going somewhere. I think that our best records were in front of us when he died. And I think we were kind of making a breakthrough when we made the ‘Soup’ record. There was something interesting about to happen, which is obviously depressing for us.”

For die-hard Blind Melon fans, the new incarnation is a dream come true. With a similar vocal timbre and backwoods delivery, Hoon successor Warren has proved worthy with the feeling that “For My Friends” could have easily been recorded a decade earlier. The other compelling factor is the notion of hearing certain album tracks (“Sleepyhouse,” “Drive” and “Time”) that may never have been played live again. You can see Blind Melon in action Saturday at Diesel in Pittsburgh.

“We were pleasantly surprised to find people still turning up at shows at all, so that’s been encouraging for us,” Henderson said. “I think I kept my expectations perfectly low on that level. But I don’t know, ... to me it’s all going well that we made a record that we like. Now we’re out there playing shows, and it just feels like the right place to be.”

He quickly added, “More importantly, I think there are better songs to come. We’re excited about it.”