So why did we even bother? Why go back 17 years to finish up demoes of music that no one was really asking to hear, for a band that relatively few people even heard about? I guess it's because we had some unfinished business...Not in the action hero revenge "I'll be back" sort of way, more in the, ah man I wish we did things a little differently sort of way.

I think if you pulled each one of us aside and asked what we wished we could have a redo on, we'd all 4 have a unique response, but I believe we'd all agree that we wished we could have released more music with the original lineup and I believe we fully intended to do that, but it wasn't our intention to wait 17 years to do so.

So what happened?

It's just that after The Blakes, Paul and I moved on to Readymade Breakup and Thumann moved down to Florida and quit the drums to join a motor cycle club, thus ruling out any full scale reunion...Side note, Thumann has been voted most likely to lose an eye in a knife fight in his club's annual motor cycle awards 8 years in a row!!! Congrats buddy, we're proud of you! But I digress…

So Paul, Pete and I would talk about different projects over the years, we even took a stab at a new band (“FIGBAR” — story for another time), but unlike a stab to one of Thumann’s eyes, it didn't quite hit the mark. And the more years that passed, the more life junk got in the way, making any sort of redo pretty improbable.

But we could still do something…We could still have a Blakes reunion without the actual reunion.

How?

What many people don’t know is in 2003, after Pete had left the band, we’d started a new recording...Six songs, slated to be the follow-up to New Tattoo ...But the band imploded before we could finish them. Since then, the basic tracks to those songs have been sitting trapped on a CDR in a plastic bin under my bed until now...17 years later, when miraculously things lined up where we all had a little time.

Not too much time, mind you. Not enough to commit to any full band, but enough time for a day in the studio here and there. Enough time for a Blakes reunion without having an actual reunion...A way to release more material with the original line up and finish up some unfinished business....We're back!!! But not in the action hero kinda way...In the Van Halen, I heard you missed us, we're back...kinda way.

Or were we? We got to work on the songs, but studio sessions were adding up one after the other with no sign of Pete...Life junk...That damn life junk got in the way again and while Pete was assuring me that he was in and it was going to happen...I wasn't feeling quite so confident. So as we were getting toward the end of the year and it was looking like these songs were destined to go back in the bin under my bed...I had to make another plan.

I called Jim and Matty from Readymade.... Unlike The Blakes, Readymade had more run its course than imploded, but when it was over I was pretty sure that I'd never be making music with Jim again. I think he even said as much...Something like he was done playing guitar, which I always took as, I hate you GE, but I'm insecure like that...And also people don't like me, but when I asked and he said yes I couldn't be happier. So maybe this wouldn't be The Blakes reunion we'd hoped for, but a Readymade reunion of sorts instead.

And naturally when I’d finally counted Pete out...That’s when he proved me wrong. He showed up. So what the fuck was this now? A Readymade reunion? A Blakes reunion? Well...As Montgomery Brewster said...None of the above. This project became less about finishing unfinished business or redos or reunions or even the music itself for that matter and more about spending time with old friends...and time...something we seemingly have so little of now and something we took for granted then. I was happy to have just a little more time with all of them.

Ok...that's a little schmaltzy I know and it wasn't NOT about the music... I'm also proud of what we were able to accomplish by making these old songs new...I think this project proved to our old ass selves that we still have something to offer and hopefully this experience will serve as a springboard for future projects that no one asked for and very few will ever hear.

Sincerely,
Gay Elvis-