[3] From boyhood, the quartet shared a deep and abiding love of all forms of American music, and they ventured together into Los Angeles blues clubs, learning from veterans.
(1997), Los Angeles music journalist Chris Morris described the Blasters c. 1980 and the "brute energy" that the band generated, including "the indefatigable drummer Bill 'Buster' Bateman.
"[5] Dave Alvin echoed Morris in another history of the L.A. punk scene, Under the Big Black Sun.
He noted how "Bill Bateman pounding his drums as if he were trying to kill the damn things" contributed to the band's "undeniably manic, energetic magic.
It helped "explain the Blasters' ability to infuse borrowings from blues, country and soul music with the proper accents, the right touch.
"[8] Bateman is pictured on the cover of the 1983 album Non-Fiction, clad in mechanic's coveralls and bearing a rose.
[9] After playing on the reunion tours and albums that featured the original lineup in the early 2000s, Bateman rejoined the Blasters on a regular basis in 2008, replacing Jerry Angel.
Bateman, along with fellow Blasters members Dave Alvin and Steve Berlin, performed on the 1981 album A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die by the Los Angeles punk band the Flesh Eaters.
They attracted the attention of producer Rick Rubin, who prompted them to switch names to the Red Devils.