In our interview with Yancy Scot Schwartz, he called Guy Blakeslee "a cross between something out of Andy Warhol and David Bowie in one person—the best of both worlds." Well, after recovering from a serious accident, Guy took the time to speak to us about being reborn, his songwriting process, and The High.
Can you give us a short bio?
Well, I’ve lived many lives and been re-born many times in different ways. Strangely enough, I’ve had another rebirth between the time of the recording session and this interview… March 13 I was walking into Zebulon Cafe Concert in LA to work the soundboard, when I was hit by a car and went unconscious.. I woke up a couple days later in the hospital not remembering how I got there, and the world was on lockdown. 3 months later I’m still experiencing double vision as a result of the head injury and have experienced a significant change in the way I think about and play music… I haven’t much interest in lyrics or singing structured songs at the moment but have ventured into a new realm of instrumental exploration with the piano and keyboards… On Easter Sunday my lady and I left LA to live on her family’s farm in rural Virginia and I’ve been playing an old Steinway piano in the barn with lots of birds chirping all around me. So it feels like another chapter, a whole new life and I’ve been working on discarding old beliefs and expectations about how life should be and what kind of artist and person I am in order to open up to the unknown and embrace the change. Further back, I was born and raised in Baltimore and after moving around and touring quite a bit, living in Chicago, NYC, London.. I landed in Los Angeles in 2005 and have mostly been there until a couple months ago.. I’ve taught myself all I know about making music and that began with the guitar when I was 10 years old, so I’ve been on this musical journey for close to 30 years.