The Blakes Announce New Album and Fall Tour
After touring the world with everyone from The Gossip to the Kills to Brian Jonestown Massacre, reaching #1 on KEXP, garnering Top 10 album of 07 on iTunes and performing at US festivals from Lollapalooza to Bumpershoot to Sasquatch, The Blakes release full length Souvenir on October 13th the long awaited follow up to the Streets EP & the recent reissue The Blakes LP.
Check out "Basket" and other songs from the upcoming release here
Tour Dates July 17 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR
July 24 - Neumos - Capitol Hill Block Party
August 3 - Crocodile - Seattle, WA
Who Loves The Blakes?
NPR
...similarly primed for success... there's no containing the primal, giddy energy that crackles through it... It's innocent and raunchy, wide-eyed and tunnel-visioned, all at once.
SPIN
Soak the Kinks in cheap booze, reignite the Stooges' strut and add some
modern Strokes of ambition, and you have the Blakes
Pitchfork
One of the pleasant surprises of the festival were the Blakes, the group blended Dandy Warhols-ish swampy guitars, twitchy Strokes rhythms, and
power-pop vocal harmonies, offering an energetic and unmannered romp through
modern rock radio. With messy arrangements and a theatrical drummer fond of
the both-sticks-in-the-air poses, their bluesy-cool rock brought a bit of
a dirty nightclub vibe to the sunny (if already very windy) afternoon.
Daytrotter The same kind of Seattle Band that takes you on with their dirty fast and
dangerous rock-n-roll. They've made Iggy Pop stop and take notice. All Music Guide ...they nevertheless, on sheer raw musical terms, have the stuff to break
into the big leagues and after hearing them tear it up live, it's hard not to
want to hear a full album of theirs.
Seattle PI
...their live shows definitely credit the band's authenticity and adoration.
Seattle Weekly
The Blakes are incredibly hard workers, earnestly committed to their craft,
and practically academic in their obsession with executing the perfect pop song.
Some good stuff that you need to know about The Blakes
--The origins of the Blakes are rooted somewhere in the backwoods of central Maine, where brothers Garnet & Snow Keim created a shared ambition to deviate from their seemingly inevitable fates as lifelong paper mill employees (or something of that nature), and try their hands at music
--In the spring of 1999, the duo found themselves in Seattle, where they ended their epic search for a drummer in Bob Husak, who was toiling away as a barista.
--From there, the trio took off for the sunny skies of LA landing at the Days Inn in Glendale and recording their first full-length album during the TV off-season at CBS studios. On the name "The Blakes:" The name came to Garnet in a dream after he¹d attended a showing of the works of William Blake. The newly formed Blakes recorded two EP's in succession. The Bottle was recorded in 2004 and another called Little Whispers in 2005. AND along with a relocation back to Seattle, The Blakes had become notable for their chaotic and highly energetic live shows.
Ever ambitious, the boys recorded over forty songs for their third full length. When it was whittled down, The Blakes personally took several copies over to KEXP, which immediately championed the band and catapulted them to #1 on their charts. They eventually signed to local indie imprint Light in the Attic Records. In the summer of 2007, the label issued an EP, Streets, which featured three album tracks and two exclusives.
In the meantime, the band played several high profile Northwest shows, including appearances at Sasquatch, Bumbershoot and Capitol Hill Block Party and started embarking on cross country national tours.
In Europe, the boys played the TV show Album de la Semaine in France and toured with the Gossip, the Kills and Pete and the Pirates as part of the Musicale en Tournee tour, which was filmed and edited into a TV special for Canal+ and supported the Wombats across the UK. Other touring partners abroad include the Brian Jonestown Massacre in England, France, and Germany.
Festival dates in the US followed including Sasquatch and Bumbershoot, and also performed at Lollapalooza, SXSW, MusicFest NorthWest, CMJ and Sunfest in Miami.
iTunes voted the Blakes album one of the Top 10 records of 2007. Garnet and Snow put out a full-length record consisting of more introspective songs as BEADS earlier in the year. The forthcoming Souvenir will be self released this fall For PR: Samantha Tillman @ Daffodil Publicity- samantha@daffodilpublity.com For All Other Band Info: Paula Gould PEG PR paula@paulagould.com