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Blake Mills

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Blake Mills
Background information
Birth nameBlake Mathew Simon Mills
Born (1986-09-21) September 21, 1986 (age 38)[1]
Santa Monica, California, United States
Occupation(s)Songwriter, guitarist, solo artist, composer, producer
InstrumentGuitar
Labels
Websiteblakemillsonline.com

Blake Mathew Simon Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California.[2] He is known for production and guitar work on albums and singles by many artists, including Fiona Apple, Perfume Genius, Bob Dylan, Feist, Jack Johnson, Marcus Mumford, Laura Marling, Weyes Blood, John Legend, Alabama Shakes, Beck, Conor Oberst, and Bruce Hornsby; as a touring musician with artists such as Lucinda Williams, Band of Horses and Jenny Lewis; and his four solo albums.

Biography

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Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California,[1] and grew up in Malibu, California. He attended Malibu High School with Taylor Goldsmith. Mills and Goldsmith began their musical careers in a band they co-founded called Simon Dawes. Simon Dawes released its debut EP What No One Hears in 2005, and its first LP Carnivore in September 2006 via Record Collection.[3][4] After the band broke up in 2007, Goldsmith and his younger brother, Griffin, formed the band Dawes with Simon Dawes bassist Wylie Gelber, and Mills went on to serve as a touring guitarist for Jenny Lewis.[5] He went on to tour with Band of Horses,[6] Cass McCombs,[7] Julian Casablancas[8][9] and Lucinda Williams.[10][11] As a session musician, Mills has collaborated with Conor Oberst, Kid Rock,[12] Weezer, The Avett Brothers, Paulo Nutini,[13] Norah Jones, Carlene Carter, Jesca Hoop, Dixie Chicks, Zucchero, Pink, Lana Del Rey, Dangermouse, Vulfpeck, Fiona Apple,[14] Beck,[15] Marcus Mumford,[16] Ethan Gruska, Randy Newman,[17] Diana Krall,[18] Johnathan Rice, Bruce Hornsby, Julian Casablancas, Jason Boesel, Benmont Tench, Ed Sheeran,[19] Cass McCombs, Foy Vance, The Killers,[20] Andrew Bird, John Legend, Rufus Wainwright,[21] Phoebe Bridgers, and other performers.

In 2010, Mills released his first solo LP via Record Collection. The original intent for the self-titled[22] album was to serve as a calling card for Mills to get session work.[23] It was touted as the album of the year by many websites and fellow musicians, despite its limited release.[24][25] After spending back-to-back years on tour and in the studio playing on other people's records, Mills made the decision to begin producing in order to explore musical concepts beyond guitar in late 2011.[26] Analog Edition Records released a Blake Mills double A side 7" in 2011, featuring the songs "Hey Lover" and "Wintersong" in 2011;[27] the former track would go on to feature in the first season of the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley in 2014.[28]

In January 2012, Mills appeared on Conan O'Brien for his first national televised performance as a solo artist. He covered Bob Dylan's "Heart of Mine", which he had recently recorded for an Amnesty International benefit CD.[29] Later that year, he went on to co-produce Jesca Hoop's album The House that Jack Built,[30][31] produced Sara Watkins' album Sun Midnight Sun,[32] wrote and produced "Sad Dream" on Sky Ferreira's EP Ghost. Mills was featured on electric slide guitar on the track '"Go Home" from the 2013 debut album from the group Lucius.[33] For the compilation album Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac, he co-produced and played with Billy Gibbons and Matt Sweeney on the track "Oh Well".[34] Mills also served as the opening act and guitarist for Fiona Apple during her 2012 tour through North America.[35][36] Mills co-produced the track "Artifact 1" on Conor Oberst's album, Upside Down Mountain, which was released in May 2014.

Mills released his second full-length album, Heigh Ho, on September 16, 2014. This self-produced album combines a range of genres. Along with friends and inspirations including Fiona Apple, Jim Keltner, Don Was, Benmont Tench, Jon Brion, and Mike Elizondo, Mills recorded Heigh Ho at the legendary Ocean Way Recording studios in a room built for Frank Sinatra.[37] He also produced the sophomore release from Alabama Shakes. Recording took place at Sound Emporium in Nashville, a studio originally built for Sun Records house producer "Cowboy" Jack Clement.

In 2015 Mills was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work on Alabama Shakes breakthrough album Sound & Color.[38]

Mills' producer credits in 2016 and 2017 include the albums We're All Gonna Die from former bandmates Dawes,[39] Darkness and Light by John Legend,[40] Semper Femina by Laura Marling,[41] Eternally Even by Jim James[42] and No Shape by Perfume Genius.[43] In 2016 he performed guitar and various other instruments on Andrew Bird's album Are You Serious. In 2017, Mills took part in Randy Newman's Dark Matter as a guitarist.

In November 2018, Mills quietly released an almost-entirely-instrumental EP entitled Look on his own label imprint New Deal Music.[44] The album was created almost entirely using Roland guitar synthesizers from the 1970s with collaboration from saxophonist Sam Gendel, singer Natalie Mering of Weyes Blood, and violin and string-arrangement virtuoso, Rob Moose, who has appeared on nearly every release Mills has produced. Look was the second release on New Deal Music. The first New Deal release, in September 2018, was a soundtrack by Colin Stetson, Canadian-American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal, for the short-lived dramatic television series The First.

On December 5, 2019, Mills teased a clip of "Summer All Over" via an NPR piece by Grayson Haver Currin titled "Songs in an Emergency"[45] that centers around the urgency of climate change. It is a piano-based ballad musing on the Malibu fires of 2018 and co-written with Cass McCombs. When describing the spacious sound-landscape that the song embodies and the title, Mills commented that "writing about the season of summer inherently evokes a Beach Boys vibe, maybe because I'm in Los Angeles, but the implication of the warmest season happening all over the world at the same time is an 'endless summer.'" "Summer All Over" was featured on Mills' third full-length LP titled Mutable Set released in 2020[46] on New Deal Music with management support by Record Collection and distribution by Verve Label Group, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

In 2020, Blake Mills played guitar and harmonium on Bob Dylan's album Rough and Rowdy Ways.[47]

In 2021 Blake and bassist Pino Palladino released their collaborative album Notes with Attachments on jazz label Impulse! Records. The album touched on a number of genres, including art rock, jazz and West African music, and featured 13 musicians and a wide range of instruments.[48]

Released on September 16, 2022, Mills produced and co-wrote the Marcus Mumford album, Self-Titled.[49]

Released March 3, 2023, Blake Mills composed, performed, and produced all songs on the album Aurora[50] for the North American musical drama streaming television miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six.

On June 10, 2023, Mills appeared with Joni Mitchell at her first ticketed concert in over two decades at The Gorge Amphitheatre, playing Mitchell's own guitar and accompanying her on "Amelia."[51][52] The next month, his album Jelly Road, co-written with Chris Weisman, was released on New Deal/Verve.[53]

Mollusk sessions

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From time to time Mills hosts invite-only musical performances at Mollusk Surf Shop[54] in Venice, California. In previous shows Mills has been accompanied by musicians including Jackson Browne, Billy Gibbons, Matt Sweeney, Cass McCombs, Jenny Lewis, Charlie Sexton, Benmont Tench, Dave Rawlings, Val McCallum, Tal Wilkenfeld, Mike Einziger, Danielle Haim, Smokey Hormel, Michael Elizondo, Anthony Wilson, and Xavier Mas.

Discography

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Solo

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Simon Dawes

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Compilation

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Production credits

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Jambase". Jambase.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  2. ^ "IFC". Ifc.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Sugar and spice". Los Angeles Times. 31 August 2006. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Prefixmag.com". Prefixmag. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Paste". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  6. ^ "The Owl". The Owl Mag. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Spin". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  8. ^ "Spin". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  9. ^ "The Strokes' Julian Casablancas Performs Solo Set in Tokyo". Rolling Stone. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Voiceproject.org". Voice Project. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Fretboardjournal.com". The Fretboard Journal: Keepsake magazine for guitar collectors. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Huffington Post". HuffPost. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  14. ^ Jenn Pelly (25 September 2014). "Fiona Apple Performing With Blake Mills on Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  15. ^ Evan Minsker (17 February 2023). "Watch Beck Perform "Thinking About You" With Blake Mills and Pino Palladino on Kimmel". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  16. ^ Rob Arcand (12 July 2022). "Marcus Mumford's Debut Solo Album Features Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Blake Mills, and More". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Randy Newman". NPR. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  18. ^ "Wallflower" at AllMusic
  19. ^ Jonathan Bernstein (9 June 2020). "Blake Mills Became a Modern-Day Guitar Hero. That Wasn't Enough". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  20. ^ Calum Slingerland (16 July 2020). "The Killers Roll Out New Video for "My Own Soul's Warning"". Exclaim. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  21. ^ Gary Graff (30 January 2019). "Rufus Wainwright Is Putting the 'Finishing Touches' on His Next Pop Album". Billboard. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Blake Mils". Spotify. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  23. ^ "Ticket Giveaway – Blake Mills w/ Fiona Apple – 10.21.12 – Stage AE – Show Preview – Concert Preview". Pittsburgh Music Report. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  24. ^ "Everybodytaste.com". Everybodytaste.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  25. ^ "Willsheff.com". Willshelff.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  26. ^ "Blake Mils". Off Camera. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  27. ^ "Analog Edition". Analogedition.bigcartel.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  28. ^ "Closing Credits Song: Silicon Valley - Season 1".
  29. ^ "Blake Mills". Playback STL. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  30. ^ "Thequietus.com". The Quietus. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  31. ^ "Audiophilesound.com". Audiophilesound.com. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  32. ^ "Nonesuch.com". Nonesuch Records Official Website. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  33. ^ Lucius [@ilovelucius] (7 February 2012). "ruv the slide work of Mister @BreakMirrors in our song "Go Home" – video premier here @FILTERmagazine" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ^ a b "Song Premiere: Billy Gibbons and Co., 'Oh Well'". Rolling Stone. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  35. ^ "Laist.com". LAist. Archived from the original on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  36. ^ "Fuse.tv". Fuse. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  37. ^ "Blake Mills' 'Heigh Ho' To Be Release 9/16 on Verve Records". Broadway World. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  38. ^ "Grammy Nominations 2016: See the Full List of Nominees". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  39. ^ Duncan Cooper (6 September 2016). "Dawes Debut "We're All Gonna Die"". Fader. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  40. ^ Gail Mitchell (17 November 2016). "John Legend & Blake Mills on Recording 'Darkness and Light': There Will Be No 'Songs About Nothing'". Billboard. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  41. ^ Jon Pareles (8 March 2017). "Review: Laura Marling's 'Semper Femina' Seeks the Cryptic in the Plainspoken". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  42. ^ Hal Horowitz (28 June 2016). "Jim James: Eternally Even". American Songwriter. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  43. ^ Kitty Empire (7 May 2017). "Perfume Genius: No Shape review – scents and a new sensibility". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  44. ^ "New Deal Music". Newdealmusic.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  45. ^ "Songs in an Emergency: How Music Is Approaching The Climate Crisis". NPR. 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  46. ^ Kitty Empire (31 May 2020). "Blake Mills: Mutable Set review – an exercise in humid world creation". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  47. ^ Murray, Robin (June 22, 2020). "Learn To Play Bob Dylan's 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' with guitarist Blake Mills." clashmusic.com. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  48. ^ Chris May (12 March 2021). "Pino Palladino And Blake Mills: Notes With Attachments". All About Jazz. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  49. ^ "Marcus Mumford – '(self-titled)' review: Well-crafted catharsis and collaborations". NME. 13 September 2022.
  50. ^ "AURORA by Daisy Jones & the Six".
  51. ^ Lindsay Zoladz (13 June 2023). "Meet Joni Mitchell's Joni Jam Crew". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  52. ^ Jon Blistein (6 July 2023). "Blake Mills Has Played Tasteful Guitar for Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. He's Ready to Shred". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  53. ^ Allison Hussey (14 July 2023). "Jelly Road". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  54. ^ "Take It Easy – Blake Mills, Dawes, Jackson Browne (Live)". 3 March 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2014 – via YouTube.
  55. ^ "Blake Mills Announces New Album Jelly Road, Shares Song". Pitchfork. June 2023.
  56. ^ "Laura Marling announces new album, Semper Femina, shares video for lead single "Soothing" — watch". Consequence.net. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
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