Today we’d like to introduce you to Blake Fultz.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up with a musician in my house. My dad is an amazing guitarist and played in bands through the 70s and 80s. Naturally, he put a guitar in my hands at a young age. But I was much more interested in being a drummer at the time. I played drums in my first 2 bands A440 and Hangman Yellow. But I was always playing guitar and writing songs behind the scenes. June of 2022, my friends and I started The Grand Arson. After years behind the kit, I’m happy to be sharing my music up front as lead singer.
My family was always really supportive of my music growing up. And they continue to be. That encouragement was really important to help get me to where I am.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to get here has been relatively smooth. I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot, but I still feel the same hunger that I did when I was 17 in my first band. Right now, the hardest part is being in a band. Being in a band with 4 other people is like having 4 girlfriends. Luckily for me, The Grand Arson consists of 4 of my best friends, and we all get along really well.
I will say that teaching yourself to sing, play guitar, and drum is something you have to really love if you want to be any good. I like to think I’m decent at all three, but you’re always gonna be able to walk into a divebar and be absolutely blown away by the talent of others. Music is an art though, so it’s important to remind yourself not to compare against others.
A major challenge of mine was attending college courses while trying to get a music career off the ground. I went to SIUE for Computer Management and Information Systems. I’ve been playing solo acoustic shows for the past 5 months now, and I’m loving it, but I’ll never forget how tough it was to get here. But there’s so much more to come.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Currently, I’m the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Grand Arson. We started in June of 2022, and it’s been a really fun road so far. We released our first single in March 2023 called ‘Chasing’ and just put out a new single called ”Scarlet.” We even managed to get ‘Chasing’ on WLCA 89.9. The band is some of the most fun I’ve had. We play lots of covers as well. We do anything from Audioslave to Glen Campbell.
I also play solo acoustic shows around the STL area. You can catch me at places like The Over Under in STL, The Cabin in Glen Carbon, Big Daddy’s in Edwardsville, etc. It’s been great to have so much support from other musicians in this area, and I’m happy to be a part of the community around here. If you’re interested in hanging out and playing tunes, I like to attend the Open Mics at The Stagger Inn in Edwardsville IL. They do those every Wednesday and Sunday evening starting around 7 pm.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Here’s my full story; it’s a bit of a read.
Both my father and grandfather were musicians. My father is a guitarist and always kept instruments around the house. I remember having a guitar in my hands as far back as 1st grade. But I didn’t end up sticking to it.
My grandfather was a jazz drummer. He passed when I was a baby, so I was always really interested in what he was like. Around 10 years old, my parents bought a drum set for me. I immediately fell in love with the physicality of percussion. I took a few drum lessons in town before I realized that I would be forced to learn rudiments and songs I had no interest in playing.
I remember specifically coming to a drum lesson just to learn “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas, and being completely shut down by my teacher. But I will now say that I find it very important to learn the right way. I missed out on so many fundamentals by having that attitude. Anyway, that moment inspired a ‘just do it yourself’ attitude. But eventually, playing music took a backseat in my life for a while.
Until I got to my junior year of high school, where I met my friend Joey Wehner. Him and I had a class together, and we loved the Foo Fighters. Joey wanted to start a band with his friend Alec Stephens who played bass. So being probably one of the only kids with a drum set, I was in. We called ourselves “A440”. Though I played drums for A440, I was really interested in writing my own songs. One night my mom overheard me writing a song through my bedroom door, and she peeked her head in once she thought I was done. She had tears in her eyes and told me something that sticks with me to this day. She said, “What you just wrote evoked real emotion in me.” So, I kept writing.
A440 needed a lead guitarist, and I knew exactly who to call. My buddy Garret Wehking from my second-grade band. We began to practice at his place a lot, writing songs and learning covers as well. That was the summer between junior and senior year. We never played a show and had no idea what we were getting into, but we knew we loved it. Senior year came, and we signed up for talent show. Our high school was huge. The talent show was held in this massive auditorium at Edwardsville High School. Naturally, we were all pretty nervous. We pitched our song to the talent show committee with a crappy recording of a song I wrote called “Unwanted.” They liked it enough to let us play.
Weeks passed as the day of the talent show got closer and closer. Hours of practicing one song had made us more and more confident of our abilities. But the day of the show brought a wave of stress and uncertainty none of us had expected. As the final bell rang, I was making my rounds with the rest of the band to make sure everyone was in good spirits. The majority of us were nervous but excited. But when I had met up with one of the guys by their locker, I could tell something was off. He was getting cold feet. So, I did my best to muster up an inspirational speech. I realize now that what I was saying to him was what I needed to hear as well. Getting through that first big performance in front of hundreds of people would make everything else we went up against feel as easy as teaching Snoop Dogg how to garden. Anyway, we played the show. It went really well, and for the rest of senior year, it felt like people in school knew who we were.
A440 went on to play lots of shows thanks to the great Jimmy Galbierz. That man books so many shows for young musicians, and he’s just one of the best people in music that I’ve ever met. Every once in a while, we’ll get together and have a little reunion show when our old bass player Alec comes to town.
But good things came from it. Garret had written a bunch of really cool grunge-funk songs, and we wanted to keep doing the band thing. So, we found a bass player. Which most times is just a really good guitar player who wants to make something cool happen. That was the case here. We recruited Jimmy Barr for our new band Hangman Yellow. Garret fronted the 3-piece band, and we had a lot of fun recording music at Bird Cloud Studios with Ryan Wasoba. Ryan is a really cool guy; I recommend checking out his TikTok page. Hangman Yellow has a few songs out on Spotify and Apple Music if you’d like to check those out.
After Hangman Yellow ran its course, I had moved away for a while and wasn’t playing any music at all. After a year of that, I was fed up and moved back to Edwardsville with intention to start a band. Miraculously, it came together quickly. I met back up with Jimmy Barr, and we got to work forming a new band lineup. Jimmy’s childhood friend Brady Logan happened to be a great drummer. Which I was so happy to find out because I was getting a little tired of being the only drummer we knew. Matt Heaton, who we knew from a local band “Right Quick,” was band-less and ready to get back in the game, so we grabbed him too. Garret was in, too so all we had to do was decide who played bass this time. Funnily enough, Garret (Probably the best guitar player out of us) took the stand to play bass. And Thus, The Grand Arson was born.
It’s been really cool to see so much support for the band, considering it’s been a lot of ups and downs over the years for all of us. But nothing comes easy in the world of music, and we’re becoming no stranger to that fact.
Pricing:
- The Grand Arson – $200/hr
- Solo Acoustic – $75/hr
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegrandarsonofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialgrandarson
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thegrandarsonofficial
- Other: linktr.ee/thegrandarson
Image Credits
Sarah Hancock
