The Australian heavyweight known as Blanke (the “e” is silent) returns to center stage with a massive flex on the drum and bass tip that’s sure to drop jaws across the board.
Having been tapped to tour with artists like Illenium and Black Tiger Sex Machine when he was on the come up only two short years ago, it’s obvious that the time has come for Blanke to elevate the game once again as he sets out on his own North American tour with stops at Electric Zoo and EDC Las Vegas along the way.
His latest single for Zeds Dead’s Deadbeats imprint comes on the heels of launching his drum and bass focused brand ÆON:MODE while continuing to knock out hit after hit on the bass music tip with collabs, remixes, and singles for the likes of REZZ, Illenium, Bipolar Sunshine, and Ophelia Records.
Able to crush across the entire bass music spectrum, “Breathe” is a welcome return to Blanke’s untouchable ability to deliver dancefloor anthems in the 170+ bpm range. An uplifting high energy vocal-driven romp that’s already been going down on the festival and club circuit every time it drops, “Breathe” has us more than hyped for the full ÆON:ONE EP Blanke is set to drop in early 2022.
To celebrate the first single from the EP and to just show some love to one of the hottest artists to emerge from Australia in recent memory, we thought we’d pop in for a quick chat with the man of the hour to get a glimpse of the past, present, and future of all things Blanke.
Blanke’s “Breathe” is out now on all digital platforms via Deadbeats so lock yours in here.
This tune is massive! We love it when you flex on that drum and bass tip. Give us a sense of your own history with dnb and how it speaks to you differently than other tempos.
Drum n Bass was actually one of my first loves when it came to crossing over into electronic music! I was heavily into the rock and metal vibes as a teenager, and had been influenced by a big stack of my brothers old CD’s which had all the classic albums from bands like Nirvana, Metallica, Pantera, Tool (all of which has really shaped my whole music taste now that I think of it). And amongst those CD’s was Pendulum’s album, Hold Your Colour. It fit super well into the raw band sound I loved but also had this super fresh electronic aspect. Totally fell in love with it and everything Pendulum did from then on. Musically as a whole the band and the music inspire the hell out of me. Their music feels so creative and ingenious. Whenever I’m stuck I look to them and what they would do.
This track in particular has an epic vocal that elevates the energy of the tune proper! Tell us how that vocal came to be and if we can expect more cameos from you in the future.
Thanks! Well funnily enough it is the first tune I’ve sung on. The song just needed something else. I didn’t want it to be just vocal chops like “Alchemy“. I’m definitely inspired by Rob Swire’s vocals, and more recently Metrik as well. So I decided to take it on myself to try and add my own vocals. It was daunting as hell initially and I didnt think they would be the final vocals either, it was kind of just for fun to see how they would turn out. I didn’t think anyone I showed it to would really react the way they did! I’m really happy with how they came out and I think I’ll be turning to myself for more features in the future for sure!
Speaking of hearing more from you – where are you at in the world now? We know you’re about to drop heat all across the U.S. in the coming months and are extra-excited to catch you at Electric Zoo and EDC Vegas. Give us a taste of how the tour is going, what you’re looking forward to, and what it feels like to have an endless summer (coming from Australia right into our own late-summer heat).
So currently as of writing this I’m back in LA! I was back home in Australia for about 9 months just waiting out the pandemic, playing shows while they were open down there and spending time with my family which was amazing. Now I’ve got shows and festivals lined up in the U.S. all the way through till early next year so I’ll be all over the place! Really excited for EDC and a couple of others that are yet to be announced! Also the big tour with Sullivan King! Feels great to be back on the road properly again after Covid cut short the tour I was on with BTSM in early 2020. That bus tour was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Every show and every city has its own little memory and experience. So I’m excited to be back in full swing again.
Of course, this new single is only one piece of your forthcoming ÆON:ONE EP – give us a glimpse into what other vibes, collabs, etc. we can be expecting on the release.
So, without giving too much away, the ÆON EP series will consist of a handful of tunes in each, varying in vibes from heavy to melodic records, but leaning a lot on the dancefloor DnB sound. I’m focusing mainly on original records but collabs aren’t out of the question at all. But these are very much a reflection of self expression right now. You’ll have to wait and see when the full EP is on its way early 2022.
Speaking of which, give us the story of how your connection to Deadbeats came about. So far, the results seem to have really given you the confidence to push your own boundaries and elevate your production game!
Deadbeats have been such a vital piece of the Blanke puzzle. They’ve been so supportive and really pushed my music and given me a platform to be really creative. They had always been on my radar initially and when I got to sign my Alt. Colour/Voice in the Machine EP with them I was VERY hyped. From there they supported all the sounds I wanted to create and the shows they’ve put me on have been some of the most fun experiences. Big ups to my Deadbeats fam I love you guys!