Baltimore/DC Punk Vets Form Power-Pop Band Blue Streak & Release "No Guns On TV Hill" B/W "Dog" 7-inch Single (Painter Man Records)

Blue Streak is a DC/Baltimore-based "super-group," of sorts, consisting of current and former members of local area Punk/Hardcore bands Angel Du$t, Give, Pure Disgust, and Red Death... although, they're playing jangly Power-Pop, rather than your typical Hardcore/Punk fare. Blue Streak consists of guitarist/piano player Ben Schultz (Give,) drummer/percussionist Robin Zeijlon (Red Death, Pure Disgust, Lackluster,) bassist Nick Heitman (formerly Angel Du$t,) and vocalist/guitar player Mike French (Angel Du$t, In Between.) French, Heitman, and Zeijlon previously played together in "Throwback Pop-Punk" outfit Dizzy Pleasure Club (DPC) with Pat McCrory of Turnstile & Angel Du$t, who released a 5-track EP entitled D.C.P. on Photobooth Records back in 2016. As you might have already gathered, Blue Streak is named after 1999 Buddy Cop Comedy film Blue Streak starring Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, and Dave Chappelle; "Nick thought it would be funny to name a band after a painfully average Comedy, instead of a painfully average Hardcore song," frontman Mike French told The Witzard, via email. "Also, a lame band from the UK [already] took Gun Shy." French readily cites XTC's Andy Partridge and Big Star's Alex Chilton as two of his personal musical heroes—"people who can write a song and play their instrument."


Blue Streak recently played their first show together as part of acclaimed DC music festival Damaged City 2018, which was held April 5-8th, along with the likes of BLACKSAGE, Limp Wrist, Nosebleed, Primal Rite, and Wildhoney. Coinciding with their debut show, Blue Streak released a 2-track EP entitled "No Guns On TV Hill" B/W "Dog" recorded with esteemed Minor Threat, Q and Not U, Fugazi, and Bad Brains producer Don Zientara at his Arlington, Virginia-based Inner Ear Studio. Here's Blue Streak's origin story, as told by Mike French: "Nick and I ran a label together and toured together in Angel Du$t. I wrote "No Guns [On TV Hill]" in 2015 as a joke song, but he liked it too much, so here we are. A year later, I moved into Nick and his girlfriend's guest bedroom and we wrote "Dog." Ben and I met over some hot gossip on my last Angel Du$t tour. Robin played in a regionally-important band called Lackluster that I love." French says Blue Streak are currently planning a West Coast tour, as well as "hopefully, a sequel." Blue Streak's "No Guns On TV Hill" B/W "Dog" is currently available to stream or download on Bandcamp, Spotify, and like-minded streaming platforms, as well as limited edition black/blue 7-inch on Seattle's Painter Man Records.