Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach (born May 21, 1967) is an American musician. He is the singer and guitarist of Jawbreaker (1986–1996; 2017–present), and was also a member of Jets to Brazil (1997–2003), The Thorns of Life (2008–2009), and forgetters (2009–2013). Although experiencing little mainstream success himself, Schwarzenbach and groups he has been a member of have influenced a variety of musical groups.

Early life and education

Schwarzenbach spent his early childhood in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, and Boulder, Colorado. Upon moving to

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

, California to live with his father, he attended the Crossroads School, a private K-12 school in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. He then attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

between 1985 and 1991, including a two-quarter stint at

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

in 1985. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU in English literature and creative writing in 1991.

Musical career

Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker formed in 1986 after Blake Schwarzenbach and drummer Adam Pfahler responded to a flyer that bassist Chris Bauermeister posted in a New York University dorm cafeteria. The band played their first show as Jawbreaker on March 16, 1989 at Club 88 in Los Angeles, CA. Jawbreaker disbanded in the summer of 1996. They had played together for ten years and released four albums. Their last show was on May 19, 1996 at the Capitol Theater in

Olympia, WA Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

. On April 19, 2017, Jawbreaker announced that they were reuniting after a 21-year hiatus, and has since performed numerous live shows. They are also considering writing new material.

Jets to Brazil

Schwarzenbach then formed the

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band Jets to Brazil in 1997 with Jeremy Chatelain of Handsome and Chris Daly of Texas is the Reason. Jets to Brazil released three albums before disbanding after their summer tour in 2003.

The Thorns of life

In October 2008, Blake revealed that he recently started writing music for a then "as-yet-unnamed group" with drummer

Aaron Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus started ...

(formerly of Crimpshrine) and bassist Daniel Sea, formerly of the Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow, but best known for their recurring role on television's ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

''. The band has since been named The Thorns of Life. As of November 2008, the group has played a couple of shows in Brooklyn, with videos and reviews available online. Blake informed via Facebook: In early 2009, Cometbus left the band quietly. Although there has been no official announcement, many assume that The Thorns of Life are no more. Their break-up was announced on punknews.org as an official break-up.

forgetters

On August 23, 2009, Blake announced via Facebook information on his new band, forgetters.

Musical influence

Schwarzenbach largely remains an influential figure in the punk/emo/indie music

scene Scene (from Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers * The Scene who reco ...

. He is known as "one of the godfathers of

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

".Artists of the Year
, a December 29, 2004 article in City Pages He has a devoted following from musicians in the genre, particularly for his songs while playing in Jawbreaker, as shown by the variety of groups who paid tribute to the band on the 2003 Jawbreaker tribute album '' Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault''. Blake was a character in the online game '' Emogame 2''. The main character, "Blake", in '' Nothing Nice To Say'', a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be c ...

, is named after him and bears a resemblance to the singer. The folk punk band Defiance, Ohio's song "I'm Just Going To Leave..." refers to listening to Jawbreaker, as does the song "I Must Be Hateful" by

Lagwagon Lagwagon is an American punk rock band originally from Goleta, California, just outside Santa Barbara. They formed in 1989, went on hiatus in 2000, and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the band's tour van, which ca ...

. The Get Up Kids song "I'll Catch You" refers to the Jawbreaker song "Jinx Removing". The

Smoking Popes Smoking Popes is an American pop punk band from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. They are composed of brothers Matt Caterer (bass), Josh Caterer (lead vocals/guitar) and Eli Caterer (guitar/backing vocals) and Mike Felumlee (drums). History ...

song "You Spoke To Me" is a tribute to Schwarzenbach's influence on the life of lead singer Josh Caterer. The Pootie song "What Will They Think?" has a few Jawbreaker references as well. He is also mentioned in an Eve 6 song, "Friend of Mine"; with the lyric, " remember that Blake said to 'make sure you wake and help save your generation'". "Without Eyes Still Seeing" by Rocky Votolato is another song that references Schwarzenbach in the line, "Dylan, Drake, even Schwarzenbach How you became heroes I'll never forget." Post-punk band 'Count Florida', from Scotland, released a digital single in February 2021 with an entire song devoted to him; "Blake".

Non-musical activities

Video game reviews

During the summer of 1997, Schwarzenbach worked as a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and contributed several reviews of video games for

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

. Games reviewed included ''Independence Day'', ''HeliCOPS'', and ''Pandemonium''.

Politics

Blake was involved in some efforts of

Punk Voter Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture su ...

leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In October 2004, he wrote a "guest column" called ''"Empires"'' on Punk Voter's website. Additionally, Blake was peripherally involved with the New York University antiwar protests of late 2002-early 2003. On March 27, 2003, Blake gave an antiwar speech, entitled "See How We Are", to a crowd assembled in

Washington Square Park Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...

following a student walkout.

Writing and art

In 2004,

Samantha Gillison Samantha Gillison (born 1967) is an Australian-born American writer who frequently contributes to Salon.com and Condé Nast Traveler. Gillison was born in Australia, of an Australian father and Canadian mother, but has lived overseas since she ...

commented on Blake's literary and artistic endeavors in City Pages:

Teaching

As of June 2022, Schwarzenbach teaches

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

as a member of the

Adjunct Faculty An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

in the Department of English at Hunter College, which is part of the CUNY public university system in New York City.

References

External links

*Collection of Jawbreaker lyrics
Complete Jawbreaker Page: Lyrics and Songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzenbach, Blake 1967 births 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers Alternative rock guitarists Alternative rock pianists Alternative rock singers American academics of English literature American indie rock musicians American lyricists American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American punk rock guitarists American punk rock singers American rock pianists American male pianists American rock songwriters Hunter College faculty Living people Musicians from Berkeley, California New York University alumni Singer-songwriters from California Singers from New York City University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Crossroads School alumni 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists Guitarists from California Guitarists from New York City American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state)