Photo: Virginia Lai
Since their debut album Prayer of Death in 2006, The Entrance Band has taken a firm hold of the lo-fi, psychedelic scene. With their self-titled sophomore album released in 2009, the band has toured around the country twice and traveled across borders to spread their undeniably blues-driven, soul sounds.
You might have even caught The Entrance Band’s set as they opened up Bonnaroo this past June in Tennessee. The super-trio consisting of Guy Blakeslee, guitar and vocals, Paz Lenchantin, former bass guitarist for A Perfect Circle and Zwan and Derek James, drums, finished their summer tour with The Growlers, (and their psychedelic school bus named Brandy), at the beginning of July. Then the band traveled overseas to play at The Fuji Rock Festival at the Naeba Ski Resort in Yuzawa-Machi, Japan. Blakeslee, brainchild of The Entrance Band, agreed to interview with us before he left for the festival and talked about his childhood, his guitar collection and being a civil rights advocate.
DV - Hey Guy, so where’d you grow up? What kind of school did you go to as a kid?
GB - I was born in 1981 in Baltimore City, Maryland. I grew up there and was a scholarship student at a couple of private schools. One of them was called The Park School. It was founded by radical quakers in the 50's to become the first integrated private school in the Baltimore area and was based on the principles of progressive education. There were no grades and technically there were no rules. A few of my teachers were very influential on my life path, especially the librarian, John Roemer, who was a major part of the Civil Rights Movement in Maryland as early as the 1950's.
DV - And did your parents support your musical aspirations?
GB - I moved away from Baltimore for good when I was 19 or 20 to tour, and ended up living in New York City, Chicago and England before landing in California to play with Paz about six years ago. My parents have always been very supportive of my musical path and both of them are still huge music fans. They turned me on to a lot of the music of their generation that has stayed with me and grown with me over the years, like The Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Love, Leonard Cohen, Bob Marley, Tim Buckley and Woody Guthrie.
Both my parents were at Woodstock before they ever met each other. I feel fortunate to have been raised with their generation's consciousness as my starting point, as they were a part of a massive shift in the way people in this country perceive reality, politics and art, a shift which I feel is still taking place and accelerating today.
DV - Well, your song M.L.K. is an inspiring civil rights anthem that received negative online attention from Pitchfork’s Stephen M. Deusner on Dr. King’s anniversary this year, describing the song as having, “all the gravity of a grade school book report…”
GB- People's reactions to the song have been quite different. While many people find it inspiring or affirming, many others, the more cynical of us music folk in my opinion, think it is 'dumb' or 'over-simplified' or redundant. I think this shows something about our subculture. The song, and M.L.K's ultimate message, is very simple: love is the only way and the only way to bring about change even when engaging a violent opponent. Love is the vibration that heals, that unites, that brings peace. Someday humanity will reach a vibrational state where love is the basic frequency of all reality.
DV - Word! So it’s easy to miss, but you play your guitar backward, correct? Are you left-handed?
GB - I don't consider myself left-handed or right-handed..I do a lot of things each way. I can only play guitar the way that I do, though, because I taught myself. No one around me knew I wasn't holding it correctly. The way that I play is not totally uncommon. Dick Dale, Albert King and Elizabeth Cotten all played and play "upside down.” It's also how Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain both started out. When Jimi would play the bass, he played upside-down, like me.
DV - Is there a different sound aesthetic to playing the instrument backward?
GB - I know there's a different sonic quality to playing this way in that the treble-strings are dominant, so I try to reign in the treble as much as I can.
DV - What kind of guitars do you play and what are the stories behind them?
GB - I play three guitars currently. One is a Stratocaster that once belonged to Robbie Robertson of The Band. I bought it from a friend who received it from Robertson as a gift. I think my friend was dating Robbie's daughter at some point. Another guitar I play is a Telecaster and was given to me as a gift by Nadav Eisenman who produced 'The Entrance Band” album. The third guitar, and most special to me, is a Fender Jaguar, which belonged to Paz's late brother, Luciano. I take extra special care of this guitar, as it is not mine. It has a most special energy to it. I feel spirits and supernatural energies in the Jaguar and I play it with great respect and am honored to be holding it. The other two guitars, I don't treat so well, throwing them around quite a bit. But they are wonderful instruments that can handle a love-induced smashing every show.
DV - Your fans seem to react positively to the band’s overall message. What and who are you trying to reach with your music?
GB - We have no intended audience or particular message. We all view music and rock concerts as a collective experience with the ultimate goal of liberating the mind and body. Music is a unifier and a liberator. There's nothing better that bringing people together in freedom of expression through sound and movement.
DV - Being that your music has been genre-ed under psychedelic rock, how much do and have psychedelics played a role in your musical process?
GB - I find musical genres to be limiting and usually inaccurate. However, I would consider myself a "psychedelic person.”
DV - So what have been your favorite places to tour so far?
GB - I love touring, as touring has been my lifestyle and my true education for so many years. I love any chance to go to New Orleans or to leave the United States. And within the states I am particularly fond of places like Denver, Colorado, Lawrence, Kansas, and Austin, Texas. Towns that feel like a light in the middle of darkness, where people really appreciate music and have gathered with others who think and live differently from most of their surrounding neighbors.
DV - Ok so, you just finished touring with The Growlers. What was it like touring on their psychedelic school bus? And how did Paz deal with all the dudes?
GB - Our journeys on The Growler's bus have been epic and mind-altering! I can't speak for Paz, but I don't think we would have made it without her. She was always keeping the music good, keeping the driver awake, finding hoses for us to wash down with. Touring the country in a converted, psychedelic bus with ten friends, stopping to play music in different towns, kind of seems like a modern tripped-out version of The American Dream to me. The Growlers sure do love fireworks!
DV - Sounds like a blast, pun intended. When you’re not touring, you live in a secluded rural part of California with Paz right? What is it like there?
GB - We live in a beautiful, tranquil mountain vortex, the location of which must remain secret. We moved there to work on new music and recharge our spirits and bodies after some intense touring and major life changes. We record our new ideas and work on writing songs there and then bring the ideas down the mountain to collaborate with Derek. I enjoy the isolation of where we live and the peace and quiet. It makes me really appreciate being around people and sound and activity because we have a sanctuary to get away from it all.
DV - Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth regarded your most recent, self-titled album as “a soundtrack for the new groove.” Are you guys working on a new album?
GB - We are indeed writing a new record! But everything about it must remain a secret for now, and we don't even know who is going to put it out.
DV - I’ve seen some impressive collages you’ve made online. Have you always been interested and participated in all forms of art?
GB - I've always made collages and used to make a lot of zines when I was younger but music is my true form of expression and the language I'm most fluent in.
The Entrance Band’s next tour starts this October with Dungen. Keep an eye out for tickets and news about their upcoming album at TheEntranceBand.com, and of course swing by our store to pick up their killer self-titled double vinyl from our store!
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