Blake Schwarzenbach
Overview
Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach (born May 21, 1967) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician. He was the singer and left-handed
Left-handed
Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...

 guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 of Jawbreaker
Jawbreaker (band)
Jawbreaker was an American punk rock band active from 1986 to 1996 and considered one of the most influential acts of the early-1990s emo movement...

 (1988–1996), Jets to Brazil
Jets to Brazil
Jets to Brazil was an American rock band formed in 1997. It was founded by Blake Schwarzenbach, former frontman of Jawbreaker. When Schwarzenbach relocated to Brooklyn, New York, after Jawbreaker had disbanded, he reunited with friend Jeremy Chatelain and the two began working on four-track...

 (1997–2003), The Thorns of Life
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 a then "as-yet-unnamed group" with drummer Aaron Cometbus and bassist Daniela Sea, formerly of the Gr'ups...

 (2008–2009), and forgetters
Forgetters
forgetters is a punk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. In August 2009 shortly after the breakup of The Thorns of Life, Blake Schwarzenbach announced his involvement in a new band, Forgetters...

 (2009- )
Schwarzenbach attended the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences
Crossroads School (Santa Monica, California)
Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences is a K-12 independent, college preparatory school in Santa Monica, California, United States. The school is a member of the G20 Schools Group.-History:...

, a private
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

 K-12 school in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

. He then attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 between 1985 and 1991, including a two-quarter stint at UC Santa Cruz in 1985. He received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from NYU in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

 and creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

 in 1991.
Jawbreaker formed in 1988 after Blake Schwarzenbach and drummer Adam Pfahler responded to a flyer
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....

 that bassist Chris Bauermeister posted in a New York University dorm cafeteria.
Quotations

The trees creak with their arthritic arms / brittle in thier powederd bark / this year took ten years to / tell me that I'm alone again

"Further North"

If it's sad / you know it's true / God is glad on bluer moons / When your room is all you do / it comes to you

"Psalm"

We put a monkey up in space / and I know exactly how he felt / looking at a lattice work of stars / missing his brothers back home too much for a postcard

"Disgrace" : with Jets to Brazil

Turtle on its back in the desert sea / and you look like a cool drink / just slightly out of reach / Draw myself into the shell / waiting on a sign from God / or a nod from hell

"Sea Anemone"

Be a believer / Believe everything / You'll be right half the time

"Chinatown" : with Jawbreaker

Everyone tells me they're crazy / Crazy people aren't so fucking boring / Wake me when you're through being cool 'cause I'm snoring

"Unlisted Track" : with Jawbreaker

You don't know what I'm all about / Like killing cops and reading Kerouac

"Boxcar"

Put my ear to the door / I just heard gunshots and hot rods and sirensPeople kill me these days / There's keys in their eyes but they lock from the inside

"Condition Oakland"

The records I end up liking I don't like right off the bat. I want to call our next record Tenth Listen. That's the test.

 
x
OK