When poet/puppeteer Ted Milton picked up the alto sax for the first time he experienced catharsis and, after his short-lived sax tutor told him he can’t teach him anything without spoiling his aspiring pupil’s idiosyncrasy, he formed Blurt in 1979 with brother Jake Milton on drums and arts teacher Peter Creese on guitar.
Their sound was rough and urgent, though not unfinished – far from it – the sparse vox-sax-guitar-drums instrumentation showed off the taut lines of Blurt’s schizo-disco-scapes, able to crowd them with claustrophobia while still keeping a clear, fresh sound. Ted Milton’s total lack of interest in smoothing out belied a stronger mind than most.
During gigs they found their audiences flabbergasted at first, awestruck at second and hooked in the end. Rumour spread about this crazy three-piece outfit with a madman going out of his mind on bourbon and blowing his sax to shreds.
Almost forty years later, Blurt found themselves rediscovered by critics and new, young audiences, receiving invitations to play major festivals like Glastonbury, Recontres Transmusicales and some exclusive one-off gigs.
Ted Milton finally seems to get some recognition for his art lately, as proven by invitations for the Berlin International Literature Festival and to join the series of concerts with Odes, organised in the framework of Patti Smith’s art show at the Fondation Cartier in Paris in June 2008.
Manning the drums now is Dave Aylward, while long-term Blurt guitarist Steve Eagles – a former member punk band Satan’s Rats and later of pop-punk band The Photos – completes the line-up.
Their 1981-released live album In Berlin and their tracks off the 1980-released Factory Quartet got re-released on LTM Records and, following a decade-long break, the band even released two brand new albums, 2010’s Cut It and 2015’s Beneath Discordant Skies.
