Blake Mills interviewed by Pablo Held

[@ry.albert]

It’s funny listening to this now, knowing that Blake and Chris would go on to create the beautiful Jelly Road. Thanks for documenting this beautiful journey Pablo!

[@zackschiavetta5817]

Pablo, it was Chris Weisman's interview that grabbed me of your series. I've been listening to that fellow since undergrad. Read whatever I could of him. Plagiarize whatever I could of him lol. (You can even see me way in the front of one of his Brooklyn shows in 2018, studying intensely at his fretboard). If I could issue a request, I would LOVE for you to talk to Van Dyke Parks, producer, string arranger, all around pop and polyphonic wizard. He was interviewed once on KZbin before like 3 years ago but not much since. Would really love for you to listen to his work like Song Cycle, Jump!, or what he did with Brain Wilson's SMiLE. Looking at Park's social media (in particular his twitter) he seems like an easy fellow to get in touch with. Regardless. this Mills interview and everything else before it have been pure gold. Keep it up!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

wow Zack. thanks for this note. I'll definitely check out Van Dyke Parks music, sounds very interesting. I'm glad your digging the interviews! If you'd like to help me to continue doing this please consider supporting me on patreon.com/pabloheld thank you so much!

[@UNKLEelephant]

Wow. Another great interview. Yet another artist I’m just discovering from this amazing series. The content is so rich and engaging. It makes me do my homework and I’m just so thrilled to be turning over new musical stones and expanding musical horizons. I think it’s great, Pablo, that your investigations are not necessarily focused on strictly jazz or classical styles. Genuine curiosity seems to be the driving force. As I dig deeper into Blake’s material I can’t help but think of Jim O’Rourke’s work. Maybe it has to do with the similarities in the the timbre of their voices, but more than anything, I just hear another shining example of the good things that can happen when someone loves to tinker with sound, instrumentation, layering and production techniques. My hats off to you for another deep dive into a beautiful musical mind and a timely promotion of a killer new record that I’m enjoying very much!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thanks for your nice replay Stephen!! I really appreciate it.

[@Joseph-ns1ik]

Thank you for all of your incredible interviews man

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thank you Joseph! If you feel like supporting this work please head over to patreon.com/pabloheld Every kind of support helps me to continue this.

[@joaopedromarri6410]

this is great, Pablo. Thank you

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thanks for checking out the interview, João!

[@theodorwadorno]

I admit I´m addicted . Congrats for another great one

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thank you. A great place for all addicts is patreon.com/pabloheld - we can help each other ;-)

[@earmaster1959]

Super spannend. Ich habe vor ein paar Wochen Blake und Pino interviewt. Auch mich hat interessiert, wie z.B. 'Ekouté' entstanden ist, und auch ich habe nach der Eins gesucht und sie dann wohl auch gefunden. LOL! Ich habe ein paar Sachen transkribiert, die dann in der nächsten Ausgabe von Gitarre & Bass mit dem Interview veröffentlicht werden. Interessant auch, dass Sheet Music bei dieser Produktion und generell wohl bei Blake und Pino keine Rolle spielt. So macht es auch Michael League bei Snarky Puppy. Er macht Audio-Demos, die dann an die Sections gehen. Transkriptionen, Stimmen und Arrangements werden erst geschrieben, wenn die Songs längst aufgenommen sind. Ich habe auch Robin Mullarkey, den Bassisten von Jacob Collier, interviewt. Er hat bei einem einzigen Stück noch ein Leadsheet bekommen, ansonsten notiert Jacob gar nichts. Er castet Musiker, von denen er weiß, dass sie alles über Gehör und Gedächtnis erfassen und abspeichern. Für das Tiny Desk Konzert mit Robin und Becca Stevens hatte die Band einen Tag Zeit, um das komplette Set zu lernen. Alle Songs waren brandneu.

[@tiesergrote]

Danke Pablo - Blake Mills ist großartig!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Find ich auch!

[@zeekus_maximus]

Would love to see you talk with Blake and Chris about Jelly Road. Big fan from San Francisco 🤘

[@PabloHeldmusic]

It’s gonna happen!!! Early July ;-))

[@hphillipsmusic]

this is so great, im so grateful to you for doing this and for asking such thoughtful and insightful questions

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thanks Harry!!

[@junhosong4285]

You are doing amazing things Pablo.. thank you so much for your dedication and your work! Much love from South Korea

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thanks for the kind words!!

[@junhosong4285]

@@PabloHeldmusic another thing I would like to add is that I love the fact that you did your research and that you genuinely love the musician (I mean how can you not..?) and his music. Man I love the hunger and the thirst that you have and all of your questions are in the likes of what I would ask him as well and I deeply appreciate that you are giving us this gift. Thank you.

[@PabloHeldmusic]

@@junhosong4285 Hey Junho - thank you, that means a lot. If you feel like supporting my efforts to bring you these interviews head over to patreon.com/pabloheld ... any contribution helps me to continue this.

[@armsfullofronan]

Brilliant Pablo! Thank you

[@PabloHeldmusic]

thanks for checking out this interview Ronan!!

[@colejackson6132]

this is just great stuff. thank you

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thank you Cole

[@CarstenGoeke]

Voll interessant. Danke!

[@rustyp69]

this rocks

[@omniversal7]

So interesting!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

🤌

[@TheKhakiSlacks]

Pablo, excellent interview as always. What's the title of the Claudio Arrau book you mention around 2 hours 13 minutes? I see a few different ones when I'm searching his name.

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thank you Max!! The Book is called "Arrau On Music And Performance" - it's excellent!

[@music_works]

Gems: Get rid of expectations. Throw out all your records. Always play to the ideal listener.

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thanks for catching those, Michael!

[@music_works]

@@PabloHeldmusic thanks for the interviews!!!

[@tylermbussey]

woohoo!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Yeah!

[@residentginger]

Uh ohhhhhh

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Sure!