By Mike Palshaw
Daily Beacon Staff Writer
February 13, 1997

    The band once known as Blind Melon has finally ceased to exist, and its surviving members are ready to separate themselves from the tragedy that caused their sudden fall from fame.

    Coming out of a period of hushed mourning, former Blind Melon guitarist Rogers Stevens spoke with selected college journalists Monday, shedding some light on the untimely death of singer Shannon Hoon, the group's illustrious past and the band's uncertain future.

    At the moment, the four remaining members of Blind Melon are enduring the painstaking process of weeding through 2,000 demo tapes to select a new lead singer. Their intent is to stay together as a band, under a new name, while leaving all remnants of Blind Melon behind.

    "At this point, I'm very skeptical," Stevens said about the chances the four will keep playing together in the wake of Hoon's cocaine overdose. After playing with Hoon for seven years, he wondered if a new singer could join the group, crack their code
and allow the band to progress naturally.

    Of course, one of Blind Melon's greatest attributes was always its ability to improvise and have fun on stage.

    "When you start thinking about things too much, you squash the spontaneity," Stevens said.

    Stevens also discussed Hoon's energetic, passionate and dangerous approach to everything from cocaine to rock 'n' roll, stressing that he could enjoy himself in any situation.

    "If he drank, he would get in a lot of fights. Actually, he was quite prolific at it. He was skilled at it," Stevens said with a humorous and reflective tone.

    After Hoon made two trips to rehab for cocaine dependency, he overdosed on what Stevens called "a one-night slip-up."

    After his death, the remaining members released Nico , an album honoring Hoon's life and talents. Stevens said they wanted togive his daughter, Nico, something to remember him by.

    The "instant" success of Blind Melon's single "No Rain" took Stevens and his bandmates by surprise since it came a year after their record's release.

    "By that point, our hopes had fizzled," Stevens said. "We were pretty naive about the whole thing."

    Nonetheless, Stevens quickly fell in love with touring places like Paris and Tokyo and living the fast-paced rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

    "When I was 14 or 15, my fascination went straight from comic books to rock stars, from super heroes to rock heroes," Stevens said.

    At the moment, the guitarist is experimenting with oil paintings, and a New York showing of his work is scheduled for the near future.

    On his first explanation of his work, Stevens called the genre "caricaturistic realism," but on second thought he said, "It's bullshit.  That's what I'm doing."

Taken from Here