Welland bass guitarist to hit NXNE stage
Chagall playing opening night of fi ve- day festival in Toronto
What started off as a bus ride to a heavy metal concert a year ago will this month transport Welland’s Adam Blake to being on an NXNE music festival stage in Toronto.
The 28- year- old who grew up in the halls of Welland Centennial Secondary School, and who went on to earn a computer science degree in Toronto where he now resides, is bass guitarist for metal band Chagall. He picked up the four- string while at university.
His gig with the band fell into place when he was waiting to ride the Red Rocket to a Mastadon show.
“I was dressed up as a metalhead,” he says, adding that as a result he was approached at the bus stop by one of the guys from Chagall.
After some band banter, Blake learned Chagall bassist Giles Botelho had just moved on and there was an opening for someone like him.
Blake, then just a “bedroom musician,” had an audition a week later.
“I’ve worked as a cubicle monkey for a while. Th is is something different for me,” he says in a phone interview.
On June 17 he and his band mates — vocalist Luke Gallo, guitarist James Miller, second- guitarist Arnold Alaadhami and drummer Dan Clements — will be featured on the Wednesday opening night of NXNE, a five- day music festival playing out at numerous venues across Hogtown.
Chagall takes the Coalition lounge stage at 1 a. m.
“We’re really excited to be playing North- By- Northeast,” Blake says.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the other bands as well,” he adds.
“I’d like to think we’re the heaviest band playing that night.”
Chagall exhibits guttural-scream vocals, a driving bottom end and rapid- fire snare work. The band, its website suggests, gravitates to “heavy riffs, furious drumming and intense vocals.”
Blake, attempting to nail it all down, describes its style as heavy metal with a groove, with progressive infl uences.
“We’ll let the critics fi gure it out when we release an album.”
Although Blake refers to his music as a “hobby,” he’s open to going further, not ruling out touring the open road.
NXNE is one opportunity that could give the band exposure to a wider audience — or better yet, a music label.
“It’s a showcase of local and regional talent,” Blake says.
“You always have to play as if there’s a record executive in the audience.”