Armed with his acoustic guitar and gritty yet candid lyrics plus a voice that pierces the heart, Sydney songwriter Blake Cateris has just taken the covers off his first solo release.
The frontman for punk band Molly And The Krells, Blake has been active in the music industry since he was 15. As he navigates a solo path as an artist, Blake is allowing more of his personality to shine through.A delicate yet powerfully moving debut offering, Blake has covered Duran Duran's 1981 single 'Careless Memories', melding folk and punk tones to a bubbling angst the lyrics detailing a bitter break-up.
Inspired by songwriters including Frank Turner, Butch Walker, Dave Hause and Laura Jane Grace, Blake has spent the past couple of years honing his craft including regular appearances at Sydney's Get Folked Punk nights/ livestreams.
"Through the lockdowns in 2020, I started up a requests system where I'd learn anything and everything people threw at me in return for a fee to help cover expenses since I couldn't work," Blake says.
"I discovered some amazing new music this way and one of the songs that came my way was Duran Duran's 'Careless Memories'.
"While I was reading through the lyrics, I discovered how beautifully brilliant and well-crafted they were – like I was reading poetry. Only to then be thrust on top of an upbeat '80s pop-rock song.
"I could hear it almost instantly; how good of an opportunity it was to put these lyrics to a more sombre and exposed arrangement. There's a beautiful element of truth in this song for me as it constantly throws me back into the thralls of my last relationship and the grieving process thereafter."
Who is Blake Cateris... Hello there, my name is Blake Cateris and I'm a songwriter from Sydney, Australia.
I sound like... Some of my favourite artists are Rancid, Social D, Amends, Laura Jane Grace, Frank Turner, Ruby Fields, Chasing Ghosts, Jordan Merrick, Vetty Vials, Gabrielle Aplin, Dave Hause, Peter Bradley Adams, Jethro Morris and all my friends writing and performing in bands. It's hard to just name a few.
My first gig was... A band competition with my high school band Kill Appeal when I was 14 or 15. I was the bass player and absolutely petrified and nervous about the entire ordeal.
To make matters worse, the band before us was some kind of metal band reminiscent of something like Immolation – who make Slipknot sound like easy listening. Needless to say it was an intense crash course of character building following them getting up there and playing those 15 minutes of shame – I kid, it was fun to be on stage with my mates.
When did you settle on your artistic name, and was it a unanimous decision... I didn't really get a say in this one, Mum and Dad get the credit.
In the studio I usually... I, uh, record the songs? I find the entire process fascinating, watching the producer listening to takes, fiddling with pre-amps to colour the sound and EQing everything to make sure we're getting the right vibe. It's a rabbit hole of knowledge and really is an art in itself.
Anyone who's ever gone 'I have a SM58 and stock Logic plugins', only to then compare theirs to a producer's work and go 'why doesn't mine sound like that?' should really have a newfound appreciation for what producers and engineers do.
If I could tour with anyone... Well obviously Frank Turner, but locally, Ruby Fields would be cool. I should hit up Jethro and see if he wants to go for a drive to Melbourne and Brisbane, that would be mad.
Social media is... Toxic! Oh the irony. Just like money, social media doesn't make you a bad, it amplifies who you already are as a person.
Slowly but surely I'm filtering out the negativity in my feeds and friend lists. I'd much rather follow artists and innovators, people inspired by life, people who want to share wisdom or challenge the way you think, I need more of all of this in my life.
Definitely that over an influx of influencers and models who basically project a 'look how awesome my life is' or 'I'm so much better than you, can I have your money?' – I find the latter really detrimental to one's self-esteem and worldview.
I often walk a fine line with wanting to keep up with what's going on in the world and not getting pissed off with the idiocracy and blatant corruption. I digress.
My favourite app at the moment is... Duolingo. I'm learning German at the moment so I'm constantly on the app going through exercises trying to immerse myself in the language to get a decent grip of it.
Don't get me wrong, I couldn't hold a conversation yet – I'm only on unit 2 but I'm enjoying the process. My Mum speaks German fluently and I went over there when I was 16 and there was this guilt that crept in that these people all knew how to speak my language but I could only muster a couple of words in theirs.
It's a real eye opener going over to Europe and everyone speaks two or three languages, then there's you who can barely even speak one.
Life on the road can be... Not for everyone! I love it but haven't really had a decent chance to do it recently – no one has!
In my experience of touring, it's this golden opportunity to get the hell out of your home town and see a bit of the country or the world, meet new people and make new friends – and play your music for them.
The past few years have unfortunately robbed all of us of any chance to do any of these things, and I've gone and got myself into a homey groove that I'm gonna have to break myself out of. I'm looking forward to doing some travelling.
If you'll have me on your bill, all I ask is that the rider contains... A communal bottle of whisky for obligatory pre-show shots – to be enjoyed by everyone on the bill. It's a ritual.
If you had to live in a city abroad, where would you choose and why? London, Berlin or somewhere in the US. LA was an experience for sure, I met a lot of great people there; they're built different.
Three people you'd like to invite around for a dinner party? Beans On Toast had a song about this where the first thing anyone thinks of is they'd invite celebrities because 'it'd be cool' but then goes on to point out the 'why' in how we immediately think of them and not our friends or family?
The people that have a direct and personal impact on our lives? I'd have my girlfriend, Luke, Carleigh, Jase, Marcus, Odin, Chip, Ian, Dan, Hayden, Ando out at some fine establishment eating food we wouldn't normally eat and just talking sh.t.
This is basically how my last birthday party went – minus the fine dining. Getting older robs us of being able to do this on a regular basis, so it would be f...ing special I reckon.
When it comes to pets are you a lover or hater of our furry friends? I love, love, love them. For a very long time I was convinced I was a dog person because of how complementing they are to the human ego. As a result, I assumed there was a dichotomy of safety between cats and dogs.
I was very cautious and even scared when I'd have to walk past a cat on the street, I didn't trust them. Was it gonna staunch me? Hiss? They're so unpredictable. But I found that a lot of that fear was coming from a lack of knowledge and education towards cats and their personalities.
Their indifference is part of their charm. There's this ragged old cat in my neighbourhood that you'd take one look at and go 'this guy definitely has a disease or two and I'm not going anywhere near him', but he'll trot up to you a purr, rub himself against your leg.
Turns out he's just a glutton for food and preys on the passersby to feed him extras. Either that or his owners don't feed him. Now that I own a cat, it didn't take long for me to realise that my personality is very much like there's. I like my own space, I'm independent and really don't need a lot of friends, just the right ones.
No matter the expense, send me a case of... Reissdorf Kölsch direct from Cologne. Can we make it two?
The last time I saw the inside of a gym was... Before Sydney's latest lockdown. Then I realised I didn't need a gym to exercise. Basically saving $720 a year that I can spend recording new music.
What's the one chore you dislike the most? There's something about hanging the washing that I absolutely detest, I can't extrapolate for you though. I'm working this idea into a song at the moment believe it or not! Stay tuned.
Do you have any phobias... When I was eight I stepped on a paper wasp's nest out in the Hawkesbury. I still have scars on my face and body from their attacks, that made for a very traumatic experience. I still get a little dizzy if a bee or wasp start to loiter around me so there's still a bit of PTSD there.
Would you ever partake in a reality show? I could honestly not think of anything worse.
If you could prank any of your friends, who's your target, and how are you bringing them down? Not the best or coolest prank, but I thoroughly enjoyed how successful it was.
I once changed the privacy settings on my mate's Facebook posts so that it was visible to only himself. It was over a year before I finally said: "hey man, you know how when you post things, no one cares? Yeah, sorry man, let me help you with that."
