RS: Was this year your first time at the Winter Music Conference?
Blake Lewis: Yes, it was, you don't know how excited I was. I've I
wanted to go for ten years but I'm just a broke-ass musician from
Seattle, beatboxing. I could never afford to like go to Florida and
didn't even have a booking agent to book. I didn't know what to do
down
there and KJ is my roommate and I was like 'dude, guess what, I get to
open IDMA,' and I was so stoked and it was crazy.
RS: Well you worked with BT, is there anyone you'd like to work
with that you've not worked with yet?
Blake Lewis: Oh man, there's a thousand others. I'd love to work
with EdiT and Richard Divine. I'm really into IDM and people that
really take noise seriously, the beauty of the dirty and the funky.
I'd love to work with Jamie Lidell as a singer songwriter and he's an
amazing electronic producer. God, there's so many! I mean as far as
electronic, I talked to Crystal Method a long time ago because I've
played with them a couple of times and they watched the show and they
were like 'dude, we voted for you the whole time.' I gave them a copy
of my accapella ProTools session for "How Many Words," so maybe
they'll get on that. Definitely, you know, Hybrid as well, I talked
to them and they owe me a remix because of like when they took my
title they were like 'we owe you a track.' There's so many people and
I could work with any electronic producer just making beats and have a
good time.
RS: Do you think as an American Idol you'll be able to get more
of the next generation in to electronic dance music?
Blake Lewis: I don't know, I tried to promote it as much as could on
the show. American Idol is definitely more of an incentive for
people to work with me just because everyone knows who I am. But the
fact that they enjoy my music and they believe in it is the main
reason why I've been working with these people. I'm actually working
with Darude for what might become the Dance For Life track.
RS: You mentioned before how the BT was a breakthrough artist for
you. If you had to give ever kid who watched American Idol one CD to
get them in to dance music, what CD would it be?
Blake Lewis: Probably Movements in Still Life. It really opened my
eyes to so many different things and there's so many different tracks
on it. That's why I enjoy BT so much because he's so good at trance
but he's so good just in general, his production is so good. The
European or Japanese version of Movements in Still Life has this track
with Paul Van Dyk (Namaste) and Mike Truman of Hybrid (Running Down
the Way Up.) The breakdown on Hip-Hop Phenomenon changed my idea of
what I could do live with my voice and I studied that track.
RS: How much pressure was there on you to make the album more pop
and less electronic dance?
Blake Lewis: There wasn't really pressure. I definitely wanted to
work with BT a little bit more but we're doing that already
regardless, so I kind of wanted him as the executive producer of the
project and the label wasn't having. I couldn't get exactly
everything what I wanted to do but I got eighty percent of my ideas
out on this record. Definitely the more danceable tracks are more of
my favorite, the more electro tracks like my single How Many Words,
gets compared to Andy Bell which is great. That's very flattering.
RS: Are you a dance artist?
Blake Lewis: I would like to say yes, I definitely am a dance artist.
RS: Very cool. You mentioned M-Audio a bunch of times, are they
sponsoring you yet?
Blake Lewis: No, I want to talk to them though. I mean I'll
definitely talk to them, I have contacts. I went to the Remix Hotel
down in Miami and I met a bunch of people and developed a lot of
relationships when I was down there, which is great. I just set up my
studio finally back again and I just bought some M-audio stuff, so.
RS: What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Blake Lewis: Oh man, to everyone out there, just thank you for the
support. That's like the first thing and that amazing, thank you for
the belief in my music. The fact that they enjoy it and love it as
much as I do, means a lot to me. People out there that enjoy making
sound and want to make sound in this area, I want to thank you for
listening to my noise.
