Some kids are just born with it, whatever “it” may be?! Blake Mobley is no exception. This ‘freaker by the speaker’ has been grinding up and down the mid Atlantic for the past couple years. He hails out of Baltimore, aka Charm City, home of F5F and Berger Cookies. Blake currently is a feature member of 3 bands: The Psycho Killers (Talking Heads cover band), Basshound (funk-rock band) and my personal favorite Damn Right!(an electro improv collective).
Damn Right! and Basshound have been entertaining my brain for sometime now. Although completely different styles of music both have a special place in my heart. We formed Fortune5Fifty with a mission to sling the freshest music out there and to support the Baltimore music scene in anyway we can. Both of these bands fall right into our mission of keeping our content current while showing some ‘Charm City’ love. The common denominator to this whole equation is Blake’s versatility on the keys.
I was lucky enough to catch up with Blake and Damn Right! last Saturday June 25th at the 8×10 for WTMD’s live recording of ‘Baltimore Unsigned’. This was a very intimate (only about 20 people) show which mixed live tracks with interviews. It was a great experience to get to know the people behind the music. So nice to know WTMD is so actively involved with up and coming bands in the Baltimore community. ”Conscious Music for Music People” that’s their slogan and I am 100% behind it.
Damn Right! is four piece group known for blending positive electronic, break-beat, hip hop & funk (aka “the discustaFUNK”) all into one ball of fuel for a sweaty dance party. Their high energy ‘get-up-and-dance’ vibe reminds me of early Sound Tribe Sector 9 accompanied by a strong to quite strong dose of The New Deal. Their sound montage is centered around bass player Johnny Fissinger and drummer Tommy Bradel both of which hail out of ‘ill’adelphia. Once these two lay down the track, percussionist Colin Stodd and Blake begin the layering process adding both color and depth. Recent tracks have even included sampling and looping of vocal tracks. Personally I love a concious MC/rap sample mixed in. I find that if the lyrics reflect a message or have a conscious point then the song establishes a connection with its audience. Damn Right! has mastered this art and inspired F5F in the process. 
Without further adue, F5F’s exclusive interview with Blake Mobley:
1. When did you and music start dating? Give us a lil’ insight into how you got to where you are now musically…
Hah, I guess music and I got together in High School but didn’t really start seriously dating until College. Through high school I had played some guitar and trombone but believe it or not, I majored in the Tuba at St.Mary’s College of MD. By the time I graduated, I figured out that I probably never wanted to play that instrument again…so I sold that beast and put that money toward a car, ha. The one thing I did learn from that instrument was if you can make music with a tuba, you can probably make music with anything. It was around the same time I started losing interest in this brass monstrousity that I started playing more piano. So after college, the transition to just keyboards was an easy decision.
2. Managing 3 band’s schedule’s must be overwhelming. Where do each of them fit into your musical future?
Wait, I play in the 3 bands?! Just kidding. Yeah, it can get hectic but I wouldn’t call it overwhelming.
I think it’s exactly what I want to be doing right now. Each group is so different that it pushes me musically in different ways. I get to funk it up with Basshound and get to be a little darker with Damn Right!. The Talking Heads have always been one of my favorite bands and I think the Psycho Killers really do the music justice. I really feel blessed to get to play music on a regular basis with so many incredible musicians and hope to have all 3 groups in my musical future!
3. Obviously your hands are full these days. What events are you looking forward to playing this summer?
Basshound will be playing Floyd, VA’s Fandango Beer and Wine Festival, Artscape and Camp Barefoot this summer. I have been going to Artscape for as long as I can remember so to finally get to play one is pretty exciting!
Damn Right! will be playing the Muddy River Jam Festival just north of Philly at the end of July and I am thinking that is going to get pretty wild.
4. Give us a taste of your ipod. What music inspires you? Any bands or tracks we should check out?
I am obsessed with music. I will rock pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I have a hard time with people that only like a certain type of music. There is so much good stuff out there! When I was younger I was wayyy into The Beatles and classic rock. These days I’m more about the groove. Jamiraquai, Beck, Brazilian Girls, MMW, Antibalas & Budos Band(afro-beat) to DJ Collectives like The Avalanches and Orchard Lounge. But getting away from the groove, I’ve also been heavily influenced by Ben Folds Five, Marco Benevento, Arcade Fire, Feist, etc. Right now I’m listening to Bonobo, “Days to Come”. The title track is hot.
5. I know that the 8×10has a significant sentimental value to you & Damn Right!…I was lucky enough to witness the first ever Damn Right! accidental concert at the 8×10. How exactly did Damn Right! form? How do you all know eachother?
Are you freaking serious? You must have been 1 of what, 20 people in the room? Hopefully you missed the 2nd one where Johnny was yelling “BUSH 08″ into the microphone as a joke. The problem was I’m not sure anyone else in the room got it. Even Tommy looked at me like, “who is this guy?”, haha.
For almost a year I had talked to Tommy & Johnny about putting together a New Deal-esque electronic trio, so when I got the call from the 8×10 asking if I could put something together for that night, they were the first people I called. I went to college with Johnny Fissinger(bass guitar) and knew Tommy Bradel(drums) from Basshound making friends withhis band, Earthtone. I always thought(and still do) that he understood beats better than most drummers out there.
6. WTMD “music for music people” truly has gone out of their way to keep their content both conscious and fresh. Just this passed weekend Damn Right! had the privilege of headlining ‘Baltimore Unsigned’ which airs “TBD DATE”. How did you all get involved?
WTMD generally rocks my world. They pretty much called us up and asked if we wanted to be on their Unsigned program. When they said it was going to be recorded at the 8×10 we could not turn them down. Unfortunately, none of us are endowed with the gift of gab so I hope you enjoy the music but get ready for a super-awkward interview…haha.
7. If you could collaborate withany band living or dead, who would you go out of your way to work with?
I certainly can’t speak for the rest of the guys but it’s always been a dream of mine to get to play on stage with Les Claypool. I could wear a silly mask and kick ass at the same time!
If I had to guess, I think Johnny would say O.A.R. and Tommy would say the Jonas Brothers.
8. Being on the road, although a neccassary evil, isn’t always the most comfortable mode of transportation…packed 5 deep in a van crammed in the back with all your gear. What is the one thing you cannot live without on the road?
Oh man, touring is the fun part! Meeting people in new cities is just about the best. However, I gotta say that travelling around would not nearly be so easy without an iphone. It’s seriously one of the greatest inventions in our lifetime.
9. Any studio plans in the near future? When can we expect your first album?
As I type, Johnny and Tommy are working up in Philly on some tracks. Lately, those guys have been coming up with these great hooks, they record them and just e-mail them to me since I’m down in Baltimore. Since we never practice, all I have to do is learn the hook and we have ourself some new material at shows. I am willing to bet we release an E.P. by the end of 2009. If I’m lucky, I’ll actually get to record some keyboards for it!
10. If you could buy any new piece of gear what would it be and why?
After a few years, it’s definitely time to get a new synthesizer. To be honest, I am waiting for that new design that just blows people out of the water. It needs to be a hybrid of that warmer analog tone with the dirtiness and elasticity of the digital synths. I’d like to go Moog if they ever went polyphonic but I’m probably looking at you, Korg.
If that is not in my price range, I would definitely want one of those creepy mechanical arm waving cats that you see in Asian places of business…
I want to give a big shout out to the 8×10, Damn Right!, Blake Mobley, Jolene Mattison, Ryan ‘BUG’ Glazer and the whole WTMD family. You all inspire me daily…keep up the good work!
For more info on tour dates check out:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:53 am
My nephew is awesome!
July 14th, 2009 at 11:35 am
My grand grandson is something else–