{"id":12190,"date":"2013-12-02T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12190"},"modified":"2013-11-27T09:48:37","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T14:48:37","slug":"blowin-wind-with-holy-grails-blake-mount-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12190","title":{"rendered":"Blowin\u2019 Wind with Holy Grail\u2019s Blake Mount: \u201cI really don\u2019t have a Plan B because if I\u2019m already thinking about Plan B, I\u2019m assuming Plan A isn\u2019t going to work out.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"56197_artist\"Holy Grail is a band that I have been rabidly following since first hearing and seeing them back in2013. Since their humble beginnings, Holy Grail has grown to be force to be reckoned with. The band has toured with bands such as Exodus, Blind Guardian, 3 Inches of Blood, and this past summer was a part of the Metal Alliance tour featuring Anthrax, Exodus, and Municipal Waste to name a few. Every time I see Holy Grail live they are that much better than the last time and their fan base continues to grow because of relentless touring and putting out some of the best metal music around.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On their recent stop in Atlanta with British doom legends Orange Goblin, I had the pleasure of sitting down over dinner and beers with my good buddy and Holy Grail bassist Blake Mount. Blake was totally into having a little chat with me and we bonded over our love of Jamiroquai, we talked about why playing bass with a pick really isn\u2019t weaksauce and how getting healthy and life on the road as a touring musician in general. This was a really fun chat and I hope you\u2019ll dig getting to know my buddy Blake! Enjoy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Blake, thanks for taking the time to do this brother.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No worries man.<\/p>\n

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Looks like you guys are touring with a bigger trailer than usual. Now you can finally get that double bass drum kit in there. You\u2019re moving up in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Yeah, totally. That was the issue before. We had the small trailer packed to capacity and it was just kind of dangerous having a full load in a smaller trailer with a single axel. We upgraded to the dual axel and it\u2019s a lot safer. Now we can tour with more stuff because it\u2019s got a higher capacity to carry it all.<\/p>\n

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So I\u2019ve asked the other guys this before but I\u2019m going ask you. Tell me what it\u2019s like touring in a van for six weeks or more sometimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, touring in a van for weeks at a time definitely has its ups and downs. We\u2019ve been doing this our entire career so we\u2019re used to it. We\u2019re road warriors and we\u2019re used to driving overnight to get to the next gig, sleeping in the van, and not getting hotels every night [laughs]. A lot of people don\u2019t like it. There\u2019s a lot of time where it really sucks especially if it\u2019s hot or even like now when it\u2019s cold outside and you have to sleep in the van. It\u2019s really not as bad as everyone thinks it is. We find solace and comfort in the van. Sometimes we\u2019ll feel more comfortable being in the van than we will be staying at someone\u2019s house who we don\u2019t know where you feel obligated to stay up and party with someone we don\u2019t know. That can be pretty awkward sometimes. We do get hotels sometimes so we\u2019re not always in the van.<\/p>\n

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How do you guys survive living in a van without killing each other?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] We\u2019ve all got our days where someone\u2019s in a bad mood and you just learn to deal with it. You\u2019re not going to be able to get away from any of these people for 3 or 6 weeks or for however long the tour is. You just got to deal with it and take everything with a grain of salt. You can\u2019t take it personally of someone\u2019s being an asshole because the next day you\u2019re going to be the guy acting like an asshole to everyone because you\u2019re going to be in a bad mood.<\/p>\n

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So why not a tour bus man?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Money! [laughs] We can\u2019t afford that and honestly I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re ever going to get to that point. That\u2019s a lot of money and a lot of overhead. Hell, I\u2019m glad we have a nice van and a rad trailer and we\u2019re pretty happy with that [laughs]. We don\u2019t have a big crew with us or anything. It\u2019s always been just us five and even now we\u2019ve just recently acquired a tour manager\/merch guy. It would be nice to have a bus but I\u2019m not going to hold my breath [laughs].<\/p>\n

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How many Holy Grail tours have you done?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did two tours before I had my little sabbatical but since then I think I\u2019ve done maybe 12 tours? I think I could count them all out but I don\u2019t think I want to do that right now while we\u2019re recording [laughs]. It\u2019s been a busy couple of years.<\/p>\n

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How is touring now different from when you first started? What have you learned and picked up along the way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I definitely learned how to maneuver a van with a trailer. Don\u2019t get me wrong I still have my issues with backing up and parallel parking but compared to the first tour, I\u2019ve come a long way [laughs]. Learning to drive a rig of that sort is not like driving a regular car. Also learning how to get to venue and loading in. We\u2019ve learned how to keep out of people\u2019s hair. We try to get off stage as quickly as possible. If you haven\u2019t been as seasoned at touring you might take a little more time but that time means a lot to headlining bands or bands playing right after you. Those are just a few things I\u2019ve learned along the way.<\/p>\n

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How about taking care of yourself on the road? That must be hard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, learning how to eat on the road. That first tour you might be eating fast food every day because it\u2019s cheap and readily available. As you get older and you tour more often you feel like shit if you eat shitty food every day. Learning how to balance being frugal and eating as well as we can. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve learned since that first tour when I would just eat hamburgers and shit everyday [laughs].<\/p>\n

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You really took a turn for the better by getting healthy and losing a lot of weight. From one former big dude to another, how hard was it being a bigger guy living on the road like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s something I\u2019ve really struggled with my whole life but being on the road where I\u2019m in a more strenuous situation and being cramped in a van, I would wake up with aches and pains and feeling sluggish because I had like 75 to 100lbs on almost everyone in the band. Now that I\u2019ve slimmed down a bit, I\u2019m still a big dude but I\u2019m 50lbs lighter. I feel better, I feel like I perform better, I feel like I\u2019m more energetic and less winded when I get off stage. A lot of times I\u2019d be read in the face and huffing and puffing and now I feel like I\u2019m not as worried about that anymore. Now I feel like I can focus more on playing well as opposed to getting winded or being off balance. It\u2019s made things a lot better for me.<\/p>\n

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I hear a lot of bands talk about how life on the road is this huge rush but then getting home can be a huge downer. How do you cope with that down time and not falling into some of those really bad habits that some artists do to maintain that high?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can completely relate. On a long tour, especially like this one where we\u2019ve been out for two months by the time we\u2019re done, the first few days you\u2019re home it\u2019s nice to be home because you have your room, your bed, your house, friends, family, and girlfriend, whatever. It\u2019s awesome but then after a few days you realize that you try to live life and act as you did while on the road. We\u2019re pretty much living a lifestyle every night that is different from someone that has a regular job. I get home and I want to party with my friends and go on a little bit of bender the first few days but then after a few days I say, \u201cOk, I\u2019m not on tour anymore. I need to get back into the routine of everyday life.\u201d Sometimes it\u2019s a downer and I do get that post tour depression sometimes but knowing that there\u2019s another tour usually coming up afterwards it\u2019s not that big of a deal. It\u2019s a balance just keeping it in check and I can understand why a lot of people go into rehab or even die. It\u2019s a different lifestyle and if you continue that lifestyle at home that you do on the road it\u2019s really hard. When I get home, I try to get back to healthy living and that grounds me.<\/p>\n

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Alright man, let\u2019s get to know Blake! When did you start playing bass guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dad bought me a bass when I was 15. I kind of fucked around with it in high school but I didn\u2019t really play in any bands. I didn\u2019t really get serious about playing until I was about 22. That\u2019s when I felt like I was in a rut as to what I wanted to do with my life. I started taking lessons and started learning jazz theory and started really trying to get my chops up. Shortly after that was when I was asked by Tyler to audition for Holy Grail. I\u2019ve been playing for about 12 years but only really seriously for about 5 \u00bd or so.<\/p>\n

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So I have a friend who says that playing bass with a pick is weaksauce. Care to weigh in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Well, I totally thought the same thing at first [laughs]. My first few gigs w\/ Holy Grail, well before it was Holy Grail (the band used to be called Sorcerer) I used to play my fingers. I mean, c\u2019mon man. Fucking Steve Harris. I want to play with my fingers [laughs]. You think of all the classic bass players and they\u2019re shredding with their fingers. I was actually asked to play with a pick but it\u2019s a different style. You get a different kind of sound when you play with a pick and it\u2019s a lot more attack and a bit more consistency. People who say its weaksauce are close minded I\u2019d say. You\u2019ve got to be able to embrace any style and me being a musician I can respect any style of playing whether it\u2019s playing with your fingers or with a pick or slap bass or whatever.<\/p>\n

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Who are some bassists that you really look up to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh man, there\u2019s a whole laundry list of bassists that I respect and look up to. Dave Ellefson. Rex Brown.<\/p>\n

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Rex\u2019s work with Kill Devil Hill is so fucking good. I actually really loved his stuff with them even more so than Pantera.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s an amazing musician. He played the piano parts in \u201cCemetery Gates.\u201d He\u2019s not just a bass player. I read that he was a jazz player before he was even into metal.<\/p>\n