Blake Schwarzenbach

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Blake Schwarzenbach


Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|1967|5|20|mf=y
Origin = Berkeley, California, United States
Instrument = Guitar, vocals
Genre = Punk, alternative, indie
Years_active = 1988–present
Label = Shredder Records
Tupelo/Communion Records
Geffen Records
Blackball Records
Jade Tree Records
Associated_acts = Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Hunter College

Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach (born May 20 1967) is an American musician. He was the singer and left-handed guitarist of Jawbreaker (1988–1996) and Jets to Brazil (1997–2003).

Education

Schwarzenbach attended the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, a private K-12 school in Santa Monica, California. He then attended New York University between 1985 and 1991, including a one-year stint at UC Santa Cruz in 1988. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU in English literature and creative writing in 1991.

Musical career

Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker formed in 1988 after Blake Schwarzenbach and drummer Adam Pfahler responded to a flyer that bassist Chris Bauermeister posted in a New York University dorm cafeteria. The band played their first show as "Jawbreaker" on March 16, 1989 at Club 88 in Los Angeles, CA. After eight years and four albums, Jawbreaker played their last show on May 19, 1996 at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, WA, as the trio officially disbanded that summer. [ [http://www.loosecharm.org/history.html History of Jawbreaker] from loosecharm.org]

Jets to Brazil

Schwarzenbach then formed the indie band Jets to Brazil in 1997 with Jeremy Chatelain of Handsome and Chris Daly of Texas is the Reason. Jets to Brazil released three albums before disbanding after their summer tour in 2003.

Influence

Schwarzenbach largely remains an influential figure in the punk/emo/indie music scene. [ [http://www.meshsf.com/issue1/blake.html An interview with Blake] from Mesh magazine Issue 1 (Sept 2003)] He is known as "one of the godfathers of emo". [http://www.citypages.com/databank/25/1256/article12818.asp#Blake%20Schwarzenbach Artists of the Year] , a Dec. 29, 2004 article in City Pages] As such, a devoted cult of musicians have much respect for his efforts, particularly for his work in Jawbreaker. Empirical evidence of this includes the release of a Jawbreaker tribute album -- "" -- in 2003.

Further influence can be indicated from cultural references. For instance, Blake has been appropriated into a character featured in "Emogame 2", an online flash game . In addition, the main character "Blake" in "Nothing Nice To Say", a webcomic, is named after him and bears some resemblance.

GameSpot reviews

During the summer of 1997, Schwarzenbach worked as a freelance writer and contributed several reviews of video games for GameSpot. Games reviewed included "Independence Day" [ [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/independenceday/review.html "Indepedance Day" review by Blake] posted April 3, 1997 on GameSpot] , "HeliCOPS" [ [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/helicops/review.html "HeliCOPS" review by Blake] posted May 2, 1997 on GameSpot] , and "Pandemonium" [ [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/pandemonium/review.html "Pandemonium" review by Blake] posted August 6, 1997 on GameSpot.]

Recent activities

Politics

Blake was involved in some efforts of Punk Voter leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In October 2004, he wrote a "guest column" called "Empires" on Punk Voter's website. [ [http://www.punkvoter.com/guest/guest_detail.php?GuestColumnID=19 "Empires"] guest column posted October 7, 2004 on Punk Voter] Additionally, Blake was peripherally involved with the New York University antiwar protests of late 2002-early 2003. On March 27, 2003, Blake gave an antiwar speech, entitled "See How We Are", to a crowd assembled in Washington Square Park following a student walkout. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030726041822/http://jetstobrazilonline.com Transcript of Blake's "See How We Are" speech] - retrieved from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine as a record of "Blake's" original 3-31-2003 posting on the Jets to Brazil website.] Some have reported that he "burst into tears" during this speech. Fact|date=February 2007

Literary and other artistic efforts

In 2004, Samantha Gillison commented on Blake's more recent literary and artistic endeavors in City Pages:

Teaching

Currently, Schwarzenbach teaches undergraduates as a member of the Adjunct Faculty in the Department of English at Hunter College, which is part of the CUNY public university system in New York City. [http://registrar.hunter.cuny.edu/pdf_folders/spring08sched.pdf]

Miscellanea

*In October 1992, during the "Hell is on the Way" tour, Schwarzenbach underwent throat surgery in London in order to remove polyps after a spout of coughing up blood. The song "Outpatient" on the album "24 Hour Revenge Therapy" concerns this experience. [ [http://www.loosecharm.org/word/outpat.html Lyrics to "Outpatient"] from loosecharm.org]

*In 1999, Blake auctioned off his Gibson Les Paul guitar on ebay for $1,275. [ [http://www.loosecharm.org/blakesguit.html Screen shot of guitar at auction on eBay] from loosecharm.org]

*He is known to be a fan of 'beat' author Jack Kerouac, and during the song "Condition Oakland" off of the album "24 Hour Revenge Therapy", samples of Kerouac can be heard of him reading the poem "October in the Railroad Earth". Kerouac is also referenced in the lyrics of the Jawbreaker song "Boxcar". [ [http://www.loosecharm.org/word/boxcar.html Lyrics to "Boxcar"] from loosecharm.org]

*He is a twice removed cousin of Swiss author Annemarie Schwarzenbach.

*He has been referenced multiple times in the online comic series Nothing Nice to Say as both a standout musician [ [http://mitchclem.com/nothingnice/41/ "Blake Schwarzenbach"] at Nothing Nice to Say] and as a breakfast cereal [ [http://mitchclem.com/nothingnice/394/ "Frosted Blakes"] at Nothing Nice to Say]

References

External links

*Collection of Jawbreaker lyrics: http://www.loosecharm.org/song.html