With tours scheduled for europe later this year, and a recording contract with the british label raucous planned at the same time, the cockroaches continue to develop their sound, a mixture of various high energy rock and roll and roots influences. “the typical rockabilly crowd is underground and totally wicked,” says blake. “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. It’s just like a big crazy family.” When asked to name his favourite rockabilly bands he immediately lists several home-grown acts like the canadians, bloodshot bill, ronnie Hayward (calgary) and slim sandy (formerly of montréal and now in Victoria).
ble bass, writing some songs and finding his country voice. after high school, he spent several years jamming in bluegrass bands in edmonton before moving to montréal to study at mcgill’s music school. between playing in a 100 piece orchestra, blake discovered some of the city’s chief bluegrass hauntsthe Wheel club, l’esco, Quai des brumes and Barfly (where Blake met Cockroaches band member Dale as well as his fiancée and muse, tara).
“but I’ve been to a few weekenders” he says, “and also seen some mind blowing acts from around the world, like the Wild records gang from la, and guys like Dusty chance or Omar romero are super cool. also, you’ve got to hand it to the nerd-a-billy stylings of Deke Dickerson, it’s boss. some of the old timers still sound real good, too. I really dig art adams, the guy who sang ‘Dancing Doll’.“
the cockroaches spent several years just having fun and honing their collective skills doing selected covers by buddy Holly, chuck berry or Joe clay. each member tried his hand at writing and each developed solo careers. However the cockroaches plugged on and slowly defined their sound- reaching for influences ranging from rockabilly, 60’s garage, country, rhythm and blues and the early brit invasion. Their first album was released in February of this year and the second –titled ‘the cockroaches… Have a baby’ - is set to be released late this year.
blake has managed to encounter this many musical acts over the years due in part to his ability to juggle multiple bands and projects. right now blake is cultivating a number of solo projects, a burgeoning husband-wife style duet, the Dishwater Duo, and an urban country album long in the making titled saskatchewan. “I get inspired from day to day life, conversations with friends, and those things can’t be limited to one genre. If I’m just shooting the shit and something clever comes out, it may become a song. also, I take a lot of inspiration from old country songs.”
While frontman blake brings energy and charisma to the mostly-love-song rock style of the cockroaches, he has long been keen to develop slower more acoustic song-stories and to explore his different narratives. We asked him what is the one thing that ties together his musical range. “I’ve gotta say the people I play with. I admire them. I find it amazing that I get the chance to play with so many great artists in montréal. I consider them all my friends and learn so much from them. they are how I get better and often where I get the inspiration to try new things.”
born in a one-radio-town in rural saskatchewan, blake eaton grew up a country boy. and while you can take the man out of the country, you can’t take the country out of the man. even still, in his teens Blake cites various influences, in particular classic punk rock bands like the ramones and Nomeansno. From farm to city, blake continued to experiment with music, playing the first bass in his school band and dabbling in guitar. struck by Willy Dixon, Blake finally started playing the dou-
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