Blinker the Star | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Pembroke, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Indie rock, Blues, Pop music |
| Years active | 1992-present |
| Labels | Treat & Release A&M DreamWorks, Vibra Cobra Records |
| Members | Jordon Zadorozny |
Blinker the Star is the recording and performance name of Jordon Zadorozny, a Canadian solo artist who has worked with various musicians to create eleven albums. Notable musicians who have appeared on Blinker the Star albums include Leland Sklar, Ken Andrews, and one of Jordon's childhood heroes, Lindsey Buckingham.[1][2]
Zadorozny launched his musical career with a solo album created in his Pembroke basement. Aside from two songs featuring Reg Wick (a pseudonym for Doug Hempstead, who became a journalist and head of his own music project, Area Resident) on drums and Phil (last name unlisted) on bass (or "bace," as the credits spell it), and a guitar intro by Randy Pederson on one of those songs, he played all of the instruments and used elementary and improvised production techniques to create the self-titled album, which was released in 1993.[3]
Zadorozny moved to Montreal and on the strength of favourable reviews from the debut album,[4] which featured complex, hard guitar-pounding riffs mixed with softer, melancholy tracks, was signed to A&M Records. In 1996, with drummer Colin Wylie,[5] bass player Peder Jakobsen, and Guns N' Roses keyboardist Chris Pitman, Blinker the Star recorded the album A Bourgeois Kitten.[6]
In 1997, Zadorozny moved to Los Angeles, where he was tapped by Courtney Love, and her band Hole, to help with their 1998 album Celebrity Skin. Zadorozny contributed to the song Reasons to Be Beautiful.[7]
In Los Angeles, Blinker signed with DreamWorks Records and released the album August Everywhere in 1999.[8][9][10] Singles from the album, particularly "Below the Sliding Doors", enjoyed considerable airplay on Canadian radio stations such as 102.1 The Edge; the album was number 89 on The Edge's top 102 albums of 1999.[11]
After being dropped from DreamWorks, Blinker re-emerged in 2003 with the album Still in Rome,[12][13] then, in the spring of 2012, We Draw Lines.[14][15][16] Blinker drew in several musicians for 2013's Songs From Laniakea Beach, then went solo again with 11235 (2015)[17] and 8 of Hearts (2017).[18] That was followed by Careful With Your Magic (2019),[19] Juvenile Universe (2020)[20] and another solo album, Arista (2021).[21][22]
Zadorozny has put together live bands to open for Sam Roberts[23] and Sloan.[24] His band played Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern with Wide Mouth Mason, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Killjoys and Local Rabbits during Canadian Music Week,[25] and has played Edenfest[26] and the North by Northeast festival.[27] He last appeared at the Horseshoe Tavern in 2019.[28]
In November 2021, Buckingham gave Zadorozny and Brad Laner retroactive song-writing credit after it was found that he accidentally plagiarized their song "Swan Song".[29]
