Acoustic, melodic pop-rock band Waldo Bliss have performed with artists as prestigious as Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter and the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz. They released the Music for the Inside of Your Body album in 2016 and they’re working on another. They perform at the Cinema Bar on Thursday, and singer Dan Carlson told the News about what they have planned…
When did you start playing and performing?
We started playing as the band Waldo Bliss in 2004. I personally had already been playing guitar and writing songs many years before that. Formed it by asking musicians that were friends to start playing together to do mostly original songs. An important thing was finding musicians that were really good at singing vocal harmonies. I was very much aware that there are great solo singers who might not know how to blend very well, strange as that may sound. I was fortunate enough to find singers that could sing both lead and harmonize wonderfully. I also feel very lucky to have found Randy Ray Mitchell to play guitar from the start. He is quite an amazing musician as are the other players in the current lineup, Gia Ciambotti, vocals and Dan Rothchild, bass.
Describe your sound/style?
Waldo Bliss plays acoustic based music with organic vocal harmonies.
What are your career highlights so far?
Our career highlights so far are the gigs we’ve played opening for great bands at the Coach House (including the Bangles, Ian Hunter, Petula Clark, America, Micky Dolenz, Modern English and Wang Chung, among others).
What recorded music is available — particularly the most recent?
The record Music For The Inside Of Your Body that you can see here https://www.waldobliss.com/music-2/ is available on iTunes and Spotify. It is from 2016 and is not current. We were about to record a new record right at the beginning of the pandemic but the required isolation prohibited us from recording. The other EP that you see on that page is usually available at live gigs. We are starting to record a new record now.
Have you performed at Cinema Bar before? Any memories?
Yes. We played the Cinema Bar last August 15. I remember enjoying how we played and liking it that people who had never heard us before seemed to like us.
What can the audience expect from the set this time?
I believe that it will be fair for you to expect great vocal harmonies.
What else do you have coming up?
We will be opening for the Motels at the Coach House https://thecoachhouse.com/that in San Juan Capistrano on February 17. The next thing after that will be a House Concert in Las Vegas on March 16.
Waldo Bliss performs at 9 p.m. on Thursday, January 11 at the Cinema Bar. Go to thecinemabar.com for more information about the show.
Elsewhere this week
The Culver Hotel will be hosting the likes of Sylvia & the Rhythm Boys, and Scotty Bramer. Go to culverhotel.com for more info.
The next show at Boulevard Music is Special Consensus at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 20. Visit boulevardmusic.com for more info.