For a long time, they played without a bass player, but the sound they had been working out was a new, and often times overlooked, one. It was a rebirth of old garage bands like The Troggs and The Easybeats mixed with a kind of modern influence (the likes of Dinosaur Jr. and dare I say - Mudhoney)... THE BLACKOUTS' new garage-ey / indie sound began to get noticed around the country by some of the major labels, and pretty soon bands were getting picked up left and right that had that same "new" "garage revival" sound. This "new" "garage revival" sound became popularized by bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, and many more... all the while - THE BLACKOUTS - having been doing it for years (not because it was popular, but because it's who they were), began to pick up a little steam...

Steve Ucherek, Joe Prokop, and Mark Schroder had (unwittingly) stumbled upon a very receptive and new music scene that catered to their style of rock... It took this final piece in the puzzle to get the ball rolling... While still playing in basements (and still somewhat oblivious to the scene that was being born of MTV's "new 'super-psuedo-garage' bands") - John Isberg (The Firebird Band, & Reds) joined as their bass player. The band began to play more - and with a bass player - their sound began to take a new and fuller shape... more dirt, more rock, more depth, and more focus on their live sound and incredibly entertaining and well executed live performances. Though Isberg wouldn't last until the recording of the first full length, he did introduce the guys to Lucid Records... a few meetings and a recording date set with Matt Talbott of Hum (at Great Western Record Recorders - in Tolono, IL.) - and the boys were on their way.

THE BLACKOUTS went on to record two albums - "Everyday is a Sunday Evening" - and - "Living in Blue" - for Lucid Records before signing with Minty Fresh and changing their name to The Living Blue (named after the title of their second album) ... something to do with an old band called 'Blackouts' releasing a retrospective CD of all of their recorded material on K Records - and to avoid confusion with other bands that were using the same moniker - in some form or another... - don't be fooled or confused, this is the band that you should know