Episode 184 - Blake Fleming

After 13 years of teaching percussion as an adjunct faculty member at a nearby college in upstate New York, Blake Fleming was unceremoniously let go, common with many colleges and shrinking enrollment that is plaguing the academic world. But the loss of this relatively low-paying gig was a blessing of sorts for Blake, a ground breaking drummer who entered the collective conscious with his avant punk band of the 90's Dazzling Killmen, then Laddio Bolocko, followed directly by a stint as a founding member and drummer in The Mars Volta. He used his new-found freedom to channel his creative energies into finishing and releasing a new album of percussion-only music, one that forges an EP from 2020 called Drum Killah with new material that has become his newest release called The Beat Fantastic. It's an eclectic and powerful testament to the tones created by only percussion instruments, revealing much more nuance and melody and actual note from each drum in pieces that feature no stringed instruments or keys of any sort. Blake is also an author of note after he released his first book in 2017 called The Book Of Rhythm (Skin and Stick Publishing) an exhaustive archive of rhythms containing every possible rhythmic combination derived from a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-beat grouping as well as every combination derived from a 12-beat grouping. With The Beat Fantastic he's offering rock-solid proof of the power of percussive music.