Blood on the Saddle began as a musical idea in 1981 while Greg Davis was playing guitar in a Hollywood punk rock band called Dead Hippie.
He met Annette Zilinskas at a Blasters gig and they began singing Johnny Cash-June Carter style duets together.
[3] In early 1983, Davis began rehearsing at Hully Gully studio with Ron Botelho on upright bass and Hermann Senac on drums and vocals.
In summer 1983, the Bangles signed to CBS, while Zilinskas chose to sing and also play guitar and harmonica in Blood on the Saddle.
Davis and Zilinskas signed a publishing deal with Peer/Southern and the band spent the rest of the year touring America and Canada.
[6] Davis continued to perform with Blood on the Saddle, bringing in varying lineups of musicians, including former Stains/DC3 bassist Ceasar Viscarra and drummer Dave Shollenbarger (Steve Jones), with the band splitting in late 1988.
[3] Blood on the Saddle was on hiatus in 1989 and 1990 while Davis played as a tour guitar player for So Cal punk rock band The Vandals, then a run with country-swing singer, Candye Kane.
In 1993, with drummer Eric Davis and bassist Billy Koepke (Legal Weapon, Tex and the Horseheads) the band recorded their fourth album More Blood.
In 1994, bassist John Stephenson and drummer Dave Frappier rejoined the band and they spent several months touring in Europe.
In 1997, bassist Ed Marshall joined the band and they contributed four songs to the German label One Million Dollar Records compilation album entitled It Came From the Barn.
In 2007 bassist Al Garcia joined the band and in 2008 they toured the West Coast to Canada and back and in 2008 they recorded an album The Mud, the Blood and the Beer, but it was unreleased at the time.
[7] In 2012, new drummer Keith Comey joined the band and, in 2013, they recorded their ninth album, True Blood, in Oceanside California with Thomas Yearsley (the Paladins) producing.