Blake Rose Explores Love and Addiction in New Track ‘Use Me’
Photography by Gemma Warren
Australian artist Blake Rose is back with his first musical offering of 2023, ‘Use Me’. The track is the latest from his upcoming EP, ‘You’ll Get It When You’re Older’, set to be released via AWAL Recordings on February 24. With its luminous guitars, keys and handclap-fueled chant, ‘Use Me’ is an instant earworm and a must-listen for anyone looking for something fresh and exciting.
We caught up with Blake to talk about his recent tour, sold out headline shows and plans for 2023.
Marvin: It’s super clear at your shows that you have a very close relationship with your fans, can you talk a little more about that?
That side of it is so cool to me cuz it’s so, it’s so casual, weirdly. It just sort of feels like we’re all friends. That’s A big thing for me. It’s something that I’m really striving for with the audiences that I’m bringing to my shows. It feels like we’re in a massive community in those rooms and that’s how I hope to keep it.
Marvin : You’re very vulnerable in your songs,and the honesty and vulnerability in your songs, I think is partly why fans connect with you in such an emotional way. Do you find it difficult to be on stage sharing things that do come from a deeply personal place?
I don’t find it, I don’t find it difficult in terms of singing the songs usually. To be honest, like the stories that I choose to tell, are usually stories that I’m used to telling, so I’m not really emotionally triggered by them so much. t I’ve also gotten really good at, at detaching from my emotions lately anyways, <laugh>. So it’s kind of a symbiotic relationship between the stories that I’m telling and how connected I am to them. I try to be as vulnerable as I am, I try to be relatable. The deep, the deeper stuff like my sister battling like addiction, stuff like that. I haven’t, I haven’t really dived into that world of exploring those topics, on stage yet. So I couldn’t really tell you how that would go down, but I usually just stick to the like, heartbreak stories at the moment.
Your new Track Use Me, is a departure from this in that it does reference your sister’s story, can you tell us more about it?
On a surface level, ‘Use Me’ is about being attracted to somebody and lust creeping in to the point where you would let this person do anything to you. You’re so obsessed you don’t care. However, upon a closer look, one might realize the song is actually about addiction, resembling the relationship between a drug and its abuser, so the substance is personified.
You write a lot of love songs and I noticed on stage that you kind of said to the crowd that you had two rules and one of them was if they saw someone they liked that you wanted them to talk to them. Do you like playing matchmaker or do you just have a romantic nature?
I mean, I definitely have a romantic nature. But also on stage I just think it breaks the ice super quickly and everyone kind of just looks at each other and laughs and then you’ve sort of got this like, ongoing joke throughout the whole show. I’ve just noticed that, as soon as I say that, the energy just shifts. It’s really hard to explain, but it’s, it just does something. And it was a pure accident that I even tried that in the first place. I was literally saying it as a joke. I think the first time I ever said that, I just kind of slipped out. But it worked really well.
Do you have any love stories of friends coming to you saying they met at your shows? Have you had any of those yet?
I’ve had people, uh, DM me saying that they’ve got a person’s number because of being at my show, but I haven’t heard of any relationships that have formed yet from that. But I’m hoping I get some of those messages soon.
Do you think it’s fair to say that songwriting for you is a way to navigate your own emotions and also help your fans to do the same?
Yeah, a hundred percent. It’s definitely, it’s definitely served as therapy, for me in certain moments. The first thing I do when I’m feeling emotional is to sit down and write. For my fans it’s like the, the cool thing about music is you can just like take it in so many different ways. So really, like a song could be about anything, but it relates to a certain part of their life that they’re struggling with. If the song can help them through that, then that’s amazing and often it does, it just works in weird mystical ways. It’s like you just tell someone what they’re going through and it helps and lets them feel they’re not alone in their emotions. It’s crazy how that happens.
As an artist you seem incredibly accomplished and comfortable on stage. How do you get to that place, is it somewhere you feel very much at home?
I don’t think I’m that different day to day to how I am on stage, but there’s definitely a little bit of a switch to get flicked as soon as I step on stage and I kind of just like become, become somewhat of a different person and just feel so like energized and excited and obviously ready to perform for people, but like it’s’ crazy that shift can happen.
You’ve been touring a lot with lots of different acts.How has that experience been for you and do you have any fun tour stories?
Touring is amazing! Honestly. I feel way more at home on tour than I do at home, which has been something I’ve learned that’s kind of interesting and I really, so I’m really stoked about that to be honest. Cause I’m choosing this career, and there’s gonna be a lot of traveling but I love it. I love it so much. I haven’t had any crazy tour stories yet. I haven’t had the rock and roll tour stories, <laugh> <laugh>, but um, hopefully, you know, I’m sure, I’m sure they’re around the corner, but it’s just been a lot of like, just a lot of joking around really. It’s just fun. The people I’ve brought out on the road with me so far have been so great. Uh, we’ve just had a lot of laughs and, uh, a lot of adventures, which has been awesome.
What were the highlights of 2022 for you and what are you most excited for in 2023?
I mean the touring has been the biggest highlight for sure. Like the Ashe tour was insane. That was such a fun experience. And there was like one moment on that tour that really kind of got me, because it was actually the last show of the tour in Atlanta and after the show, like I usually do, we’ll go out to take photos of people and,, everyone kind of started crowding around me and like rushing me and it was amazing. Like, it was an exhilarating experience, but I also just had a moment of feeling what it might feel to be like super successful kind of in the future. It was like a really crazy moment for me and it was like a huge highlight just, just to experience what that might feel like. It was kinda like getting a taste without actually being in that world properly.
What are you most excited for in 2023?
I mean, so I’m kind of starting to make my album, it’s not really been announced or sort of anything like that, but I’m working towards that. I have a few songs done for it already and it’s shaping out so far to be something I’m really, really proud of. And I’m just really excited to dive as deep into that creative space as I can. And hopefully by like the end of next year or or whenever I have to have it done byI, I have a project that I’m really proud of that I can say I’ve put everything intSo pretty, pretty excited for that and also just like very excited to stay on the road and play some more shows.
Blake Rose has been on a steady rise in the music industry, having supported acts like Dean Lewis, girl in red, Noah Kahan and Ashe. He played two sold-out headline shows in Los Angeles and New York last Fall and is next scheduled to hit the stage this Spring, joining UK artist Mimi Webb on her sold-out EU/UK tour. His debut EP, ‘A World Gone By’ was released in 2021 and has amassed more than 300 million streams across all releases. His upcoming EP, ‘You’ll Get It When You’re Older’ is highly anticipated by fans and music lovers alike, and it’s expected to be another hit for Blake Rose.
Listen to Use Me here
