Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach (born May 21, 1967) is an American musician. He is the singer and guitarist of the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

based band Jawbreaker (1986–1996; 2017–present), and was also a member of

Jets to Brazil Jets to Brazil was an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, US. They formed in 1997 and were active until 2003. History Jets to Brazil was founded by Blake Schwarzenbach, the former frontman of Jawbreaker, and Jeremy Chatelain, ...

(1997–2003),

The Thorns of Life The Thorns of Life were a punk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. In October 2008, Blake Schwarzenbach, formerly of Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, revealed that he had started writing music for an "as-yet-unnamed group" with the drummer Aar ...

(2008–2009), and

forgetters Forgetters are a punk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. In August 2009, shortly after the breakup of the Thorns of Life, Blake Schwarzenbach (formerly of Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker) announced his involvement in a new band, 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 Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, and

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

. 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, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

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

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. He then attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

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, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

in 1985. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

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 A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

cafeteria. The band played their first

show Show or The Show may refer to: Competition, event, or artistic production * Agricultural show, associated with agriculture and animal husbandry * Animal show, a judged event in the hobby of animal fancy ** Cat show ** Dog show ** Horse 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 city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city f ...

. 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 *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

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, author, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus ...

(formerly of

Crimpshrine Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from 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 Anglo-Irish bisho ...

) and bassist

Daniel Sea Daniel Sea (born July 26, 1973) is an American filmmaker, actor and musician. They rose to prominence through their role as Max Sweeney on Showtime's drama series ''The L Word''. Sea (he/they) is a trans non-binary actor, musician and artist who ...

, formerly of the Gr'ups and

Cypher in the Snow Cypher in the Snow were an American all women queercore band from San Francisco, California, United States. History One of the band's first appearances was at the ''Dirtybird'' Queercore Festival in San Francisco in 1996. This historic festival ...

, but best known for their recurring role on television's ''

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

''. The band has since been named

. 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 ') may refer to: General * Scene (performing arts), a part of the story held in a single location * Scene (perception), a set of information that can flow from a physical environment into a perceptual system via sensory tran ...

. He is known as "one of the godfathers of

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

".Artists of the Year
, a December 29, 2004, article in

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...

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 the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

, 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, California, Santa Barbara. They formed in 1989, went on hiatus in 2000, and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the ba ...

. 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). Histo ...

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". Alternative Punk band 'Dead You', from Los Angeles, released a song called "Jawbreaker" as a tribute to the band.

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 leading up to the

2004 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney, were re-elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated ...

. 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. It is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. The park is operated by the New York City Department o ...

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 w ...

commented on Blake's literary and artistic endeavors in

Teaching

As of June 2022, Schwarzenbach teaches

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

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, but the term is ge ...

in the Department of English at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

, which is part of the

CUNY The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

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 singer-songwriters 21st-century American singer-songwriters American alternative rock guitarists Alternative rock pianists American 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)