SHREDnews

Ashley: Can you start off by saying your name and your role in the band?

Adam:  My name is Adam Blake and I am the bass player in H20

Ashley: What’s the origin or story of the band name?

Adam: The origin of the band name is…well it’s actually before I was in the band that the name was chosen, but basically, essentially totally kind of spoofing on purity, you know. Water being pure and he was straight edge. It’s kind of that kind of a reference I guess. That was the image it was meant to evoke in people.

Ashley: Oh, cool! How did the formation of H20 actually come about?

Adam: Toby was a roadie for Sick Of It All, and then at the end of some of their sets he would get on stage with Pete and I think a couple of random bass players and random drummers just to do a song. From then on he would just ask Rusty who was a friend of his to play guitar and then kind of just formed the band organically after that, and then a few lineup changes and then Todd and Todd joined and then finally I came in. Then that was it.

Ashley: Awesome!

Adam: Yeah, we’ve been a family ever since.

Ashley: So who are some of your musical influences?

Adam: It’s pretty easy to categorize. Obviously New York hardcore is a huge influence., some California punk rock for some of the other guys. DC hardcore is an influence that doesn’t get a lot of credit in the band but four of the guys are around there so…and English punk rock, some of the 80s new wave stuff, The Police, The Ramones, U2, and stuff like that.

Ashley: Very cool! I’m not sure if you do the writing, but if you have, do you have a favorite song that you’ve written?

Adam: I’ve written music for songs. My personal favorite is, well, that I did, is “Nothing To Prove”, because it’s the first time I ever gave the band something that was complete from start to finish, with the exception of vocals, and they liked it and we put it on the record.

Ashley: That actually leads right into my next question. What’s your favorite song to play live?

Adam: “Nothing To Prove”. Actually, I like Nothing To Prove a lot, I like “Still Here” a lot, but I also like a lot of the newer songs,  well none of the older ones feel stale, because they don’t , but you can only play a song so many times before you’re like “alright”.

Ashley: What do you think your profession would be if music didn’t work out for you?

Adam: Well everyone in the band has other jobs now, but in an ideal world, I don’t know. I’d own a hotel maybe, something like that or something cool. Maybe I’d just live on a beach.

Ashley: That would be nice! What’s your craziest story from touring?

Adam: I can’t tell you. It involves shame.  I don’t want to talk about it. No, I mean there are tons, I mean sex, violence, guns, car crashes, and it depends where you want to go. There are so many stories.

Ashley: Oh wow! Okay! Well is there anything else you’d like to add?

Adam: um…no! That was it. We’ll be touring a lot this year and come see us.

Ashley: Alright, thank you very much!

Adam: Thank you.

Check out their myspace for some of their music and when you can catch them in a town near you next: www.myspace.com/h20family!