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Press

Click on the press links below for reviews, interviews and articles about Blake. 

DRUM! Magazine, December 2012

Features by Category
Bands
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Laddio Bolocko’s Five Crazy Years | Bandcamp Daily

After recording Strange Warmings, the members of Laddio Bolocko opted to escape some of the chaos of New York City, seeking refuge in a surreal new homebase: a vacant ski lodge in the Catskills, with six bedrooms and a 2,000-square-foot ballroom…

May 2022 | Bandcamp

The Quietus | Reissue Of The Week: Laddio Bolocko’s ’97-99′ Box Set

Sean Kitching sings the praises of late ‘90s noise rock outfit, Laddio Bolocko, whose studio material is finally being reissued for the first time on vinyl by Castle Face Records, a band worthy of a much wider audience, and comparisons to Can and This Heat…

March 2022 | The Quietus

90s NYC noise band Laddio Bolocko’s albums getting first-ever vinyl releases via Castle Face

Castleface, the label co-run by Oh Sees’ John Dwyer, are reissuing those three Laddio Bolocko records as a three-LP set, Laddio Bolocko – ’97-’99, on May 20. It’s the first time any of them have been released on vinyl.

March 2022 | Brooklyn Vegan

Working Drummer Podcast Ep. 327

Blake Fleming: Quality Over Quantity, The Book of Rhythm, Speaking Honestly About the State of Music and Drumming

July 2021 | Working Drummer Podcast

Quentin Tarantino Documentary

The famous faces of Quentin Tarantino films reminisce on their time and work with the infamous director. Blake’s drumming can be heard on the very opening “Dick Dale” intro theme music, along with various parts throughout the film. All of Blake’s drumming for the film was recorded at his home studio.

2019 | QT8: The First Eight

Bruits Confus | Radio Grenouille

Billy Guidoni speaks with Blake Fleming, master drummer and trailblazer, notably with Dazzling Killmen, Laddio Bolocko and The Mars Volta.

April 2020 | Bruits Confus

Top 5 Method Books | 2020 Modern Drummer Readers Poll

Blake’s The Book of Rhythm was voted #5 in the annual Modern Drummer Readers poll.

February 2020 | Modern Drummer

Percussive Notes’ New Percussion Literature and Recordings

No one will live long enough to “finish” this book. But it would be an endless source of ideas for anyone who is willing to jump in with both feet.

September 2019 | Tom Morgan, Percussive Notes (PAS)

Blake Fleming’s The Book of Rhythm by John Colpitts

Blake Fleming is an omnivorous student of the drums, so his announcement about self-publishing The Book of Rhythm was met with keen interest by those familiar with his career…

August 2019 | Modern Drummer

Crash Bang Boom Drumming Podcast! Ep. 128

Quintessential Punk -Jazz drummer Blake Fleming talks the long road to publishing his new book; “The Book of Rhythm”, naked frisbee and the 90’s in Dumbo, Brooklyn w/ Laddio Bolocko, his time in the Mars Volta, early years in the Colonial Fife and Drum Core / Scottish bagpipe bands…

March 2019 | Crash Bang Boom Podcast!

Dazzling Killmen: Meet the Most Twisted and Punishing Math Metal Group of the 1990s

Dazzling Killmen were singer/guitarist Nick Sakes, guitarist Tim Garrigan, bassist Darin Gray, and drummer Blake Fleming. Sakes currently performs in Xaddax, and Fleming teaches drums via Skype and continues to enjoy an edifying career as a drummer for hire. Both graciously took time out of their lives to fill us in on the band’s history…

December 2016 | Dangerous Minds

The Heroically Weird, Jazz-Damaged Art Rock of Laddio Bolocko

Living in our practice was all part of the design of Laddio. There was no separation between “life” and the band—it truly was our life. We would listen to records, have philosophical discussions, and then improvise for hours being completely inspired and fueled by each other…

March 2016 | Dangerous Minds

Marc Maron on Twitter

“I’m lost in a Laddio Bolocko hole. You did this to me…How do I get out?”

March 2016 | Marc Maron

Laddio Bolocko – Live & Unreleased

Hypnotic power-drumming of Blake Fleming leads bass, sax, guitar and organ through far-out rituals of mega-heavy jazz-frone exultation. Incredible.

February 2016 | MOJO

Laddio Bolocko Live and Unreleased: 1997-2000

The 20-minute “43 Minutes of (Excerpt)” is drawn from this time and captures the trio finding its stylistic footing. They trance out big-time here, with Armstrong and St. Ivany plugging away at car alarm-style riffs on bass and keyboard while Fleming goes wild on the kit…

December 2015 | Pitchfork

Not On Spotify: 10 Great Off-The-Grid, Unofficial, Or Self-Released Albums Of 2015

…but everyone who did hear them started a band. Hell, if you wandered wasted into a rock ‘n’ roll club only to hear a band that sounded like Can and Sonic Youth got into a knife fight and lit each other on fire and then lit you on fire, wouldn’t you?

December 2015 | Stereogum

Times Music Critics Survey Boxed Sets of 2015

“…the indefatigable drummer Blake Fleming helped start the Mars Volta. During the band’s life it rehearsed where it lived, jamming for hours, collapsing the space between free jazz and prog-rock…”

December 2015 | The New York Times

ON THE OCCASION OF LADDIO BOLOCKO — LIVE AND UNRELEASED 1997 – 2000

“And they were amazing: pounding, odd meter rhythms that would be the envy of any prog band, but with a brutal sense of sex and violence that very few prog bands ever attain. Savage and brainy, they grooved so hard that you could dance to even the craziest rhythms.”

December 2015 | Michael Azerrad

Laddio Bolocko, ‘Nurser (Live in Jönköping, Sweden 2000)’

“We just lost our minds and we never got them back.” In so few words, guitarist Drew St. Ivany encapsulates the colossal mind-screw that was Laddio Bolocko, a late ’90s NYC noise-rock band before being a NYC band was even remotely cool again…

November 2015 | NPR

Seven That Spells (Omega)

Rolling Stone Croatia – Seven That Spells (Omega)

December 2014 | Rolling Stone

Macy’s Fashion Week Commercial

Macy’s Fashion Week – Blake Fleming “The Funky Komodenu”

November 2014 | Macy’s Fashion Week

DRUM! Magazine Column “P.O.V.”

“What’s the most recent improvement to your technique?”

June 2014 | DRUM! Magazine

Top 10 Heaviest Records of the 90’s Decade

1. Dazzling Killmen: Face Of Collapse (Skin Graft, 1993)

Alternative Press

THE 100 GREATEST DRUMMERS OF ALTERNATIVE MUSIC

Jon Theodore was the first drummer to appear on a Mars Volta record, but the band’s percussive blueprint came courtesy of another player: Blake Fleming, who co-founded the band in 2001… 

May 2013 | Spin Magazine

Time’s Up Review

Blake Fleming’s stated intention here was to record short pieces that would include hooks not normally associated with such music. And he succeeds, with a dazzling collection of beat-centered compositions featuring first-rate technical execution…

March 2013 | Modern Drummer

Time’s Up Review

“…a truly pioneering record composed entirely of intricate drum rhythms: no electronics, no guitars, literally nothing but drums and percussion. Yet somehow the tunes come across as pop songs with hooks that might very well worm their way into your head and make ya shake your extremities.”  

Free Music Archive

Interview by Dave Jones

SIGHT/SOUND/RHYTHM spoke to Blake about his influences, his drumming background and the path that has led him to recording and releasing his new album Time’s Up...

February 2013 | Sight/Sound/Rhythm

Interview: Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta

Blake is the father of most of the Mars Volta songs. He’s the one that came up with a lot of beats for us. Even on Frances the Mute, “L’Via L’Viaquez” and certain parts [of the songs on the album] Blake Fleming beats [that were taught to] Jon Theodore…

November 2006 | Verbicide

The Life & Times of Laddio Bolocko

As a group, they effortlessly converged at the service of drive and trance, occasionally jutting out unpredictably into harsher realms. Live, they were a powerhouse (perhaps drummer Blake Fleming learned a few things during his tenure with Zeni Geva), and though their recorded history is brief…

March 2003 | Pitchfork