The Blakes’ garage rock is aggressive and dirty. The Blakes’ band members are also dirty. You ask, “why dirty?” Dirty, because of their dirty hair, clothes, smiles, jeans and t-shirts. They play the music they want to play. There’s something to be said for a band that’s comfortable in their own sound. The Blakes make catchy, near-danceable songs while maintaining a strong rock quality. It was the Seattle band’s first foray into Boston, and they most certainly rocked.
Garage music is good live music. Lead singer Garnet Keim is charismatic and uncouth. Without his screaming they would be a normal band; with him they are better than normal. He is mobile, not planted, the bassist (Snow Keim) can’t resist the twist, and the drummer (Bob Husak) left his stool to do a monkey hop tambourine shake. [Bob’s fluffy locks really made this a sight to behold. –jjb] The Blakes were in constant thrash-motion.
Near the end of the [much much too short –jjb] set, Snow led a song. When he sang, the band got disjointed. The Blakes shouldn’t let the bassist lead songs any more than necessary to stave off mutiny. But, as a backup quasi-harmony guy he is good. Both Snow and Garnet position themselves up front, parallel to the front of the stage. They scream in unison, shouting out things like: “cocaine and drugs and alcohol.”
Go see the Blakes if you like rock that doesn’t care whether you like it or not. But makes you like it.
Check out: The Blakes (Myspace)
