THE UNABRIDGED HISTORY OF
THE BLIND SHAKE

The Blind Shake are trio of detuned, garage-stomp, noisy punk rock music makers from Minneapois, MN. Known for ferocious live shows & home recorded albums, the band released Rizzograph (2005), Carmel (2007), & a split 7" with Birthday Suits (2008) all on Learning Curve Records. Their first 7", Old Lines, Sore Bones, was released by Fort Gezzepi in 2004. In 2007, they recorded the critically acclaimed collaboration Carbohydrates, Hydrocarbons with noise legend Michael Yonkers as Michael Yonkers with the Blind Shake (Nero’s Neptune 2007) as well as Cold Town/Soft Zodiac split EP featuring Michael Yonkers with The Blind Shake on one side and The Blind Shake on the other (Learning Curve 2009). Two brothers, Mike & Jim Blaha, front the band and play baritone & regular guitar respectively. Longtime chum Dave Roper plays drums.

Follow Highway 61 south from the east side of St. Paul along the Mississippi River, just as the Blaha family did back in 1986, & you will find yourself on the shores of Lake Pepin, the Birthplace of Water-skiing & the conception of The Blind Shake.  Dave Roper fled the crime & disease of San Jose, California and met with Jim and Mike in Lincoln High School, where they spent time together in Letterman jackets as Lake City Tigers. Personal conversations took place. Friendships were made. High School died out. The relationships did not.

Now take that river north, towards its source, and you'll find a little town the locals call Bovey. It is the Home of the Picture Grace and became the new home of the Blaha clan in the late 1990's. The fetus of The Blind Shake entered a gestation period. The drum set stayed in Bovey with Mike, who enrolled in Tae Kwon Do & became a football player for the State Runner Up, Northern Division Champion, Itasca Community College Vikings. Dave pursued degrees in Biochemistry & Criminology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, & also trained himself in the "way of hands & feet."  On the weekends, Dave would drive west to Bovey to spar, feast, & compose music with Mike.

While the two renaissance men of the north collected trophies & learned the ways of the cassette 4-track, Jim explored the heated parking garages & virgin skate spots of Minneapolis. He became an actor, a painter, a speaker, a thinker.  His hair, gelled & dynamic. His ideas, obsessive, yet composed.  He scoured the record stores for the truth as it changed from song to song.  He played no instrument but the telephone, as he relayed his new learnings to his friend & brother. But a man can only sit on the beach for so long before he must plunge into the water.

Planes crashed into the World Trade Centers.  By this time, all three members had moved to Minneapolis and St. Paul. By this time, they could all play each other's instruments. By this time, college had left an empty hole in the expectations of all three men. By this time, the hair began to fall & the hour glass turned upside down. By this time, a baritone guitar seemed like a good idea.  By this time, the creditors began to call. By this time, three men made up their minds. On this day, The Blind Shake was born.