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Matthew Blake was born in 1982 and raised in Asheville, NC. His parents are Ted, a master of Volkswagen repair, and Susan, a high school foreign languages teacher (3 languages and counting). Growing up he enjoyed playing with his imaginary friend Sorky (who was a Snork, if you happen to remember those underwater creatures from the cartoons) until his younger siblings, Amy and Clark, came along to provide human companionship.
As a child, Matthew frequently entertained scores of adoring older women by singing at church. Cheek-pinching was unavoidable. In high school, he and his best friend Kristen began composing songs together, with Matthew as lyricist and Kristen providing musical accompaniment on the piano. They felt sure that their candy-happy-pop song "What Could I Ever Do" was destined for the top of the charts. That dream lives on.
Matthew first picked up a guitar in the summer of 1999, prompting him to ponder writing a sequel to Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69." (He is still waiting for inspiration.) The first song he did write on the guitar, however, is called "Good, Good Song" - which is, unfortunately, quite the misnomer.
In 2000, Matthew left Asheville, crossed the state line, and landed in Bristol, TN, the "birthplace of country music." There he attended King College, where he and a friend formed the band "Echo Chamber," a name stolen from their favorite camping spot by Holston Lake.
After simultaneously pursuing degrees in English, Theatre, Music, French, and Journalism, Matthew made the decision that he was too indecisive and headed back for Asheville in 2002, where he lived the illustrious life of a bank teller for two years. After mastering the art of counting money, he decided it was time to get down to business and record some of the songs he was writing. He received a job offer in Reno, NV, and made the cross-country move in hopes of doing that very thing.
Surprised to find that he absolutely loved living in "the West," Matthew quickly became involved with a music community where he met and became good friends with Rob Woods of Refuge Studios. Together, they recorded an unreleased album entitled "Unbound." After successfully playing matchmaker and seeing his two best friends, Adam & Becky, become married, Matthew knew his work in Reno was finished, and continued his journeys in the west by relocating to downtown San Diego in early 2006, where he lives today.
"Back As Far As We Can Go" is the result of a lifetime of dreaming, songwriting, dreaming, playing coffeehouses, dreaming, and being encouraged to pursue his music by nearly everyone close to him. In San Diego, Matthew has partnered with Thomas Alexander Gray of TAG Productions, recording the 11 songs that became this debut album during 2006.
When he is not playing shows, writing biographies about himself in the third person, or otherwise wasting valuable time, Matthew enjoys making friends in his urban community by playing beach volleyball, biking through Balboa Park, visiting Su Lin at the San Diego Zoo, watching movies, eating good Mexican food, visiting national parks, and attempting to convince his friend Stacey that extra-terrestrials do exist. His heroes are Peter Manseau, John Muir, Natalie Merchant, Andy Gullahorn, and occasionally Steve Denney. He really, really, really hates spiders. More |
