Ron Blake is one of my favourite musicians from Los Angeles. Most people know him as the trumpeter from Green Day (playing with them on their American Idiot tour and appearing on their Bullet In A Bible album) but he also performed and worked with many artists like Aaliyah, Ben Harper, Dr.Dre, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Ziggy Marley, Busta Rhymes, Spoon, Poncho Sanchez and The All-American Rejects. He is influenced by great names like Miles Davis and Sex Pistols and he continues to influence people by performing with amazing, talented artists from different genres. A wonderful friend of mine, Ron talks about his solo project, collaborations and more in this great interview. Enjoy it.


Thank you once again for taking time and accepting this interview. How are you and how is 2015 going for you so far?

No problem! glad to do the interview!:) 2015 is going well! A busy one so far! Playing and recording more than usual. And gearing up for travel again. Playing all over the U.S. and South America with Poncho Sanchez and his Latin jazz band.

Most people know you as the trumpeter from Green Day and your recent collaboration with Poncho Sanchez but let's start with the early days. What made you decide to start making music and be a trumpeter?

My parents were musicians. And my mom's side of the family were all musicians pretty much. So I ended up following suit. In 1981, my brother and I were bored one summer and we saw an old cornet at a yard sale for $25. All I wanted to do was play them to the movie "Rocky" and put it away. But my dad and his $25 had other intentions. Enter the lessons, school, etc.


You studied at Cal State Northridge. You won the International Trumpet Guild's Mock Orchestra Audition in 1992 as well as the local Dolo Coker Jazz Scholarship and Outstanding Trumpet Player in the Pacific Coast Jazz Festival, then went on to study at the California Institute of the Arts and achieved your Masters Degree in Music. Which bands were you favourites back then? Did you play other instruments or were you in any bands in those days?

Wow! I am amazed by some of those things you found! I pretty much had the same patterns in music that I do now. I listen to a lot of things. Basically whatever inspires me sonically. I listened to a lot of jazz, which was my favorite. But I like many genres. I started getting into a lot of world music as well which led me to the love of Latin jazz. As for other instruments , my dad actually started me out with drums but I only played trumpet in school.

You established the www.hispeedhorns.com. The website which allows musicians, producers, and songwriters from all over the world to have a simple way of getting horn parts arranged and recorded for their songs without the headaches associated with finding musicians, arrangers, and costly studios. Please tell us more about it.

It's basically a bio website. But it has the added content to allow musicians to add my services to their projects as well as other musicians they may need. In these times, it's pretty obvious that home/project studios are slowly overlapping the commercial studios. The quality of products for the home studio market are getting really good and affordable. While its great to have a studio space like Capitol or Ocean Way to record your project in ,they are pretty much becoming luxury spaces. But if you have a good engineer and mixer, you can make great recordings at home.

As far as we know, you are working for a solo album. Please tell us a bit about it. Are there any release dates scheduled?

Yes I am working on one and ,as of now ,still no release date. I'm hoping to be done with it by 2016. For me , it's been a slow process. As a side musician, you are always playing for other projects. After traveling everywhere and recording for them, you have to find the time and inspiration to work on your own stuff. I also have a recording studio which can be a blessing and a curse because you know it's always going to be there. So you can get scattered or distracted and start something and say "I'm not feeling this today. I'll go back in tomorrow and try again". The next thing you know , it's five years later and you only have five songs done LOL!

You are from San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. As a trumpeter, who are some of your biggest influences or inspirations? Are there any other musicians in your family too?

I had many inspirations mostly starting from my parents and my brothers and sister. Thus the variety of music that I like. My parents listened to a lot of jazz and my brothers and sister listened to a lot of classic rock and punk rock. So my influences went from Miles Davis to the Sex Pistols.

You played with Green Day on their famous American Idiot tour. How did you meet them? What was like playing especially in Milton Keynes National Bowl in United Kingdom in front of over 130.000 people? Are there any funny memories from those days that maybe few people know and you would like to share with us? And, are there any plans to play with them again in the future?

It all fell into place perfect actually! I was playing with a swing band called Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. After 5 years with them, I was ready to leave. I wanted something different. So I told my friend Jason Freese that if he heard of anything to let me know. I got a call from him in late 2004 saying he was playing with Green Day and they needed to to replace their trumpet player to continue their American Idiot tour. Their trumpet player was leaving for personal reasons. Next thing I remember , I was flying to London to meet up with them.

I don't think there will ever be an experience like that in my career again. I jumped on the tour when American Idiot started catching fire in early 2005. They had already been touring for about a year. I went from playing clubs and jazz festivals to playing arenas and stadiums. It was pretty surreal. Even a movie couldn't capture it. I would say Milton Keynes was the peak of the tour. It built up to those two nights and then we all went together to Greece for a much needed break. So many great stories I could tell! pre concert wiffle ball games, the private screenings of movies, golfing with Tre and Mike, the catering, playing jazz with Tre Cool, experiencing what it's like to fly on private jets, playing all the award shows. There were so many! I was just amazed at how Green Day treated us like family. Like we were one of them. There wasn't really much for me to do on stage. I barely played trumpet so I had to maintain it on the tour everyday pretty much to keep my endurance on it. I think Billie saw that and discontinued using trumpet after the tour. So I don't know if I will ever play with them again. Probably not.


Ron, you also performed alongside numerous artists such as Aaliyah, Ben Harper, Dr. Dre, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy... Which one can you say was the most special and the challenging for you?

They were all special and challenging in their own way. Dr. Dre was my first big call as a musician. I worked with him for about 10 years. I would say the biggest challenge of recording with Dr. Dre was the late hours they worked. I would get a lot of calls from his MGMT asking me to get together a horn section for recording sessions at his house....at 2am lol! He was great to work with. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was my first experience with bus tours and being gone long stretches of time. That was a challenge for me to always keep my health and sanity being away from home so long. But those were great times as well.

Here's a funny question:) You played with many musicians in your career as mentioned above, but if you were the create you all time dream band, who would you choose to be the members of this heroic army?:) (Dead ones can be included too.)

I like it!! John Bonham would definitely have to be in there. Jimmy Hendrix. Ben Harper is one of my favs. Jaco Pastorius on bass. Paul McCartney would have to be in there too. Oh and Michael Brecker would have to be in there on sax! Damn , ok , and James brown and Michael Jackson lol!

What are the plans for the rest of 2015 and 2016 and are there any other names/artists that you would like to collaborate in new future projects?

Mostly just the same. Traveling with Poncho Sanchez is going to fill up most of 2015. Definitely want to finish up some more tunes for my own project and hopefully start to mix and master it by the middle of 2016. I usually get calls to play or record with different artistS so that's always nice to change gears. I do like Alabama Shakes. Think they would be great to collaborate with.

Which bands are you listening to nowadays? Are there any names that you would recommend us to check out?

I become fans with some of the artistS I record with. Red Gold Green is a good band. We recorded with Pharell Williams and Dave Grohl on their project. Raury is a new artist out of Atlanta. He is going to turn some heads for sure. I like Alabama Shakes' latest as well. So many I can't list them all!


Last question... When you were a kid growing up, who did you imitate when you stood in front of the mirror?

Any bad guy in the movies.

Any last words for Punk Globe Readers?

Thanks for having me and keep music alive. Don't put up with bad music and people that can't play live!

www.hispeedhorns.com


PUNK GLOBE WOULD LIKE TO THANK RON BLAKE FOR THIS GREAT INTERVIEW

(September 2015 - Ozgur Cokyuce)