Danny Blueberry dives deep into his archives to fish out the eccentric classic Space Guppies — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
For many artists, revisiting youthful creations can be as cringe-inducing as paging through an old yearbook. But for idiosyncratic Montréal singer-songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller Blueberry, it has led to a treasure trove of buried gems like this raucous cautionary tale about scaly lunar invaders.
“This is one of the first songs I wrote,” says Blueberry. “I was about 17 years old and I had a small aquarium in my room. I noticed that the guppies were surreal and had a certain grace and elegance to them that I did not see in the other fish,” he recalls. “I imagined that they came from outer space and were eventually going to invade Earth in great numbers.”
Speaking of great numbers (in more ways than one): Blueberry has more than 70 songs cut from the same feverishly imaginative cloth. While spending time in Taiwan In 2021, he met Mike McLaughlin and Chuck Payne, two American musicians based there. The trio hit it off and spent eight months recording 28 Blueberry originals penned during his four decades as a musician.
“These songs are now being released monthly,” Blueberry explains. “Each with a video and each will be part of a collection called The Opium Year.” Previous releases in the series include Someone Who Would Have Your Back (Winshields), Mirage and his racy rendition of Batman and Robin. The four singles have amassed an amazing 1.5 million streams and counting.
Watch Space Guppies above, sample more songs from Danny Blueberry below, and find him at his website, Facebook and Instagram.
