There is no overestimating David Bowie’s singular contribution to the worlds of art, music and film throughout the course of his creative lifetime. Three years after his passing, Bowie won the BBC poll for Greatest Entertainer Of The Twentieth Century and for good reason: Each creative step of his gender bending and genre bending career served to shake up his own cultural status quo while pulling his growing audience into further magical places. The term Bowie itself has come to represent the spirit of cultural and musical creative anarchy the man inspired during his lifetime.
So how would one go about capturing that spirit of cultural creative anarchy in a Bowie tribute show, when most tribute bands are all about statically capturing the songs, outfits and moves of that particular artist? Perhaps by reflecting that inventive spirit of sonic exploration
The Order Of The Blackstar is no ordinary tribute show. It is an homage to the creative spirit of David Bowie executed by four creatively talented musician performers. Imagine Bowie himself pulling ‘A Bowie’ to reinvent arrangements from his diverse musical catalogue for a new tour, and you get a sense of what Blackstar is successfully attempting to achieve.
Much in the same way Bowie’s choice of backing musicians from Ronson & Alomar to Fripp & Eno to Vaughn & Reznor spanned genres and eras, Order Of The Blackstar features musicians with diverse musical skills and tastes.
Guitarist Steve White is a touring and studio musician with a long resume of bands and artists to his credit including Industrial Music giants KMFDM and the seminal UK industrial band PIG, plus a ton of remix work that makes him uniquely suited to the many styles of guitar one needs at their disposal with a Bowie-centric project.
Bassist Miguel Mejia has straddled the professional worlds of Opera and Flamenco after beginning his musical journey playing electric guitar in various 90’s garage bands, while post-pandemic has found a new home playing bass guitar in tribute bands like OOTB.
Aaron Nicholes isn’t just an extremely skilled drummers who can turn from Gothic Rock originals to an Earth Wind And Fire tribute band in the same night, he’s also a solo artist with songwriting credits who then turns around to score films, commercials and corporate presentations. Who better to tackle the many styles of Mr. Bowie’s diverse catalogue.
And few singers can capture the evolution of David’s tenor-to-baritone vocal transformation like William Wilson, whose own unique vocal timbre and delivery having evolved over decades and projects makes him uniquely qualified to capture the Many Voices Of Bowie.
From unique arrangements on old favorites to colorful visuals and outfit changes to a setlist that captures the spirit of the man himself, Order Of The Blackstar not only does their homework but takes the entire package to a new place beyond a simple tribute. They’re creating Bowie Level Magic.
The die has been cast: ‘To Bowie’ is now officially a verb. Anyone can cover the songs he wrote and recorded over a near fifty year career, but can anyone capture that essence spirit and truth of the artistic path taken over decades by the man born David Jones? Order Of The Blackstar has answered in the affirmative with the definitive proof that only an audacious execution of channeling David Bowie can…