From the UK, Blake is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He started out in a Joy Division tribute band at school, singing and playing bass. He took the name โBlakeโ after his favorite poet, William Blake, after realizing he could write his own songs.
During the months of March and April 2023, Bristolโs New Cut Studios captured Plainsongs on analog tape. All of the backing tracks were captured live in one room while Blake was recording it with his band. This gives the recordings a feeling of immediacy and captures the vigor of their live performances. Check out the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
BLAKE: I was born in Birmingham but moved to Cardiff when I was six. At fourteen I was press-ganged into singing with a Joy Division covers band at school. My family then moved to Gloucestershire and I taught myself to play the guitar and formed my own band when I was in sixth form. After I dropped out of university, I started writing songs in earnest and eventually my group Karma Truffle got signed to indie label Ecto Music in 2004. After an EP and an album, the band split and since then Iโve been writing and recording music as a solo artist.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
BLAKE: No, Iโm completely self-taught. I used Russ Shiptonโs guitar method books to learn to play the guitar and somehow picked up how to play bass, drums, keyboards and harmonica. I like to think this explains why Iโm such a mediocre musician!
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name โBLAKEโ?
BLAKE: My dad was a journalist and after John Lennon was shot in 1980, he told me he had interviewed him in the sixties. This started me off with my Beatles obsession that lasts to this day. I like loads of other bands, of course, but The Beatles have always been my primary influence. I studied English Literature at university and William Blake was my favourite poet. I related to the fact that he self-published his works and it was a bit of a struggle for him to get recognition during his lifetime. He had incredible self-belief, however; so, the name comes from him.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
BLAKE: There is a definite sixties and seventies influence on most of my music because that is what I listen to, mainly โ things like Hendrix, Badfinger, Fairport, Peter Greenโs Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Dylan, Van Morrison, Donovan. However, I also like a lot of music that influenced me as I was growing up in the late seventies and early eighties, things like The Jam, The Smiths and, dare I say it, Status Quo.

5. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
BLAKE: If anybody pays enough attention to listen to one of my songs, theyโre welcome to say what they like about it!
6. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as ROCK?
BLAKE:
Completely true. I started writing songs when I was seventeen but didnโt write a good one until I was twenty-seven. Iโm definitely a late developer, or perhaps itโs a slow learner. Anyway, the good thing about this was that when I finally released something โ my debut album โSolomonโs Tumpโ in 2003 โ I had more than ten years of writing really rubbish, derivative songs behind me. I feel that now my musical influences combine to produce something interesting. I write all types of songs as the mood takes me โ acoustic ballads, psychedelic rock numbers, pop songs โ but โRockโ is a handy catch-all genre. The Beatles are filed under โRockโ, but if you think about their catalogue, thereโs a huge range of different types of song represented.
7. Whatโs your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles โ and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
BLAKE: Well, for me, itโs important that my songs arenโt meaningless. They donโt all have to be profound or express some deep held conviction, but rock and pop music is a combination of music and lyrics, so I donโt think words should ever be meaningless or treated as an after-thought. Music lyrics are not poetry because theyโre not designed to exist on their own โ itโs the combination of music and words that has the capacity to move deeply and which makes popular song such an amazing art form. I never shy away from tackling subjects that I find interesting or which affect me emotionally, but I also see the value in art as personal expression. We relate to the situations and emotions portrayed in song because theyโre human experiences we have in common.
8. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
BLAKE: I think most musical artists would be lying if they said that they had reached the level of recognition they seek. You always want more people to hear and dig your music. I would love to have a bigger platform for my songs. As an independent musician, itโs imperative that you have self-belief because it is a very hard industry to make any headway in. These days, everybody and their dog is making music and itโs extremely hard to get noticed. On the other hand, I donโt really have a choice. I will never stop writing songs because itโs how I express myself. Itโs also the only thing Iโm any good at!
9. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
BLAKE: It can be all those things but my favourite method is when I wake up in the morning or when Iโm drifting off to sleep and I hear a song playing in my head and realise itโs not a song anyoneโs ever heard before. Sometimes these melodies you hear in that โtwilightโ state between waking and unconsciousness are really incredible. Itโs like songs somehow already exist in the universe and, when you hear them, you have to wake yourself up and try and transcribe them quickly before you forget the melody. This is very hard to do, and I can only usually remember either a verse or a chorus of a song that when you were in that semi-conscious state you heard the whole thing fully arranged. I think people like McCartney and Dylan have spoken about the fact that they canโt justify authorship of some of their best material. Theyโve just had the ability to somehow โaccessโ it.
10. Do you think it is important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
BLAKE: Oh in their own personal way, for sure. I think thatโs how art works.
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1 comment
Wow, amazing talent! Love his musical influences. How have I never heard of this guy? Followed him on Spotify.