Blake Fleming - Studio Work & Collaborations

Studio Work & Collaborations

After the Chili Peppers tour, Fleming returned to New York City, devoting his time to teaching and session work, with artists including Evan Dando (Lemonheads) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), The Ropes (Fleming drummed on their 2008 L.P. What They Do For Fun, which was #15 in the ABC News Top 50 Albums of 2008), Kim Taylor (NPR Artist of the Month), Israel Nash Gripka, Chris Riffle, The Rollo Treadway, Father Divine, Martin Walker, Jimi Zhivago, Underground River, and Vajra.

Fleming drummed on Kim Taylor's 2006 album I Feel Like A Fading Light, which was an NPR World Cafe “Album of The Week,” featured on the CW’s Smallville, and was one of Performing Songwriter’s “Top Records of 2007”.

In 2009, Fleming worked with singer/songwriter Israel Nash Gripka, drumming on New York Town and The Gold Mine is Flooding. Together, they toured Holland and England (where the record New York Town was in the top 10 Americana charts for both countries), playing prestigious Americana festivals (including the Take Root and Roepaen festivals in Holland), and recording TV and radio shows in Amsterdam and London. Their BBC Radio 2 taping was with the legendary Bob Harris, who started The Old Grey Whistle Test (a famous British music TV show from the 70's) and who has hosted everyone from John Lennon to Bob Marley. Also with Israel, Fleming appeared on Uncut Magazine's CD compilation (April 2010 issue) and on the Best of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame New Writers CD (2010).

Fleming played on New York City singer/songwriter Chris Riffle’s 2010 debut album, Introducing..., which placed Chris on the 2011 Grammy nominee ballot for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Fleming has since drummed on Chris' two subsequent EPs, I Am Not From Here and Another Dream.

In April 2011, Fleming gave a solo drum concert alongside live painters and a VJ in a multi-media performance at St. Peter’s Church in New York City.

Since 2006, Fleming has worked extensively with video artist Janet Biggs, composing soundtracks and performing live at art festivals and other installations. Their collaborations have been featured at the Art Basel Festival in Miami (where he performed solo drumset poolside with Olympic synchronized swimmers); The Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, SC); Solomon Projects (Atlanta, GA); Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NY); The Johnson Museum (at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY); The Mint Museum of Art Permanent Collection (Charlotte, NC); International Video Art Fair (Barcelona, Spain); The European Media Art Festival (Osnabrueck, Germany); North Sea Film Festival for Underwater Movies (the Hague, Netherlands); and the Claire Oliver Gallery (New York, NY). Blake composed the soundtrack to Biggs’ In The Cold Edge, which appeared at the 2010 Pulse Contemporary Art Festival, and, in September 2011 performed in Biggs’ multi-media installation, Wet Exit, on the banks of New York City’s East River, along with the New York Kayak Polo team, as part of the DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn, NY.

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