BLUE OYSTER CULT: 5 - 2 + 2 = 5. Got it?
by Martin Popoff

Hardradio recently spoke to Blue Oyster Cult vocalist/guitarist Eric Bloom about the two new members of the band, Jules Radino on drums and Richie Castellano on bass.

"We had a drum-off," says Bloom, from the road in the midwest. "Bobby (Rondinelli) gave us plenty of notice, and we put out the word, you know? We called ex-drummers, and got a lot of recommendations. A lot of people knew people who might be interested. So we had six people for a drum-off. One guy was a no-show. But five other guys showed up. Since then, several other people have been in touch (laughs). But it's too late now. And out of everybody who drummed, there were two really good players. We had to make a really tough decision, because each guy was very, very good. But we chose Jules Radino." "We just liked Jules' feel. It occurred to me the next day, why we liked his feel so much. He was a student of John Miceli, who is one of my favourite drummers. Miceli was Meat Loaf's drummer, and Enrique Iglesias' drummer. He actually left us to go work with Enrique. Hey, money talks. And John is actually now in We Will Rock You, in Vegas. So he recommended Jules, and that's why I realized we liked his style so much, because we loved Miceli's style. So, being his student... as a matter of fact, Jules took over all of Miceli's students, when Miceli went on tour. So he's a very good drummer."

And where do you stand on the bass player situation?

"The bass player was... we got no notice, and had to come up with a bass player in less than two or three days. That's too long a story to explain. But basically, this is one of those rock 'n' roll stories, where Woody, our soundman... he's with us like 90% of the time, but sometimes he's got other things he's got to do. One of those times, we had toured Europe, where he couldn't come. He recommended a family friend, Richie Castellano, who is a young man who has two degrees in digital engineering; he's only 24. But he graduated college in three years, got his masters in a year and a half, and was actually teaching college in audio engineering. And his father owns two music stores in Staten Island, NY. He's my son's age. And also he's a hardcore gamer, so Richie and I really hit it off."

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