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Right now, Brooke Blair is learning how to play the ocarina.
“It’s not going too well,” Blair, of 20th and Bainbridge streets, said. “It’s always been an interesting sound so it seemed like a fun little challenge. There are sounds on a keyboard that are like it, but they sound false and corny, so I felt like doing the real thing.”
The ancient flute-like instrument is just the latest in line that Blair, who has taught himself every instrument he plays, has looked to conquer.
“My dad always had instruments around. It was more of a hobby. He was never a musician,” Blair said. “He would make instruments, like banjos and acoustic guitars, percussion instruments [that were] laying around the house. I played piano, drums and played in a high school band.”
Now, Blair and his younger brother, Will, are members of East Hundred, a locally based indie rock group founded in 2004. Working with his brother is a blessing and a challenge — but no more so than making all five band members happy.
“Usually [Will and I] always end up spending enough time on every issue that we compromise and it’s usually better because of it,” Blair said. “More so than being brothers, it’s hard enough if you get five people in a room long enough and try and get them to agree on anything, it’s difficult.
“We have a democratic way of doing things but ultimately we get five people to play and we are all equally happy or agree on it.”
The band has toured in the past and played many local shows, with the next coming up April 5 at North Star Bar. However, recently, Blair has spent a lot of time working on his newest venture.
“Things have been slowing down so I have been spending more time [on a solo album]. Hopefully in six months it’ll be done,” the South of South resident said. “It’s originals. They are kind of background, cinematic music. A lot of guitar work and keyboard … I have 13 songs right now and I need to stop and complete those and then move on to something else.”
Blair self-recorded the album in East Hundred’s small studio in Port Richmond. The process was an escape from the dynamic of being in a multiple-member group.
“It’s a lot of, just actually the exact opposite of what the band is, how democratic the band is,” Blair said. “The band is great, how it works, and sometimes it’s frustrating. But working on my own and playing everything, it’s solitary and it’s as exciting. I like it equally, but it has a different kind of payoff.”
The Blair brothers grew up in Roanoke, Va., where the youngest got an earlier start than his older brother.
“Will started his first band with buddies in elementary school,” Blair said. “I’m one-and-a-half years older than him, but I didn’t start my first band till I was in fifth grade. By college, we thought, ‘Why don’t we just team up and start working together?’ But it was healthy competition growing up.”
As undergraduates at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond — where Blair studied mass communications — the two brothers began making music together. They would eventually form the live hip-hop group Infectious Organism, which, Blair said, “is the worst band name in the history of band names.”
“We were doing pretty well in the southeast, drawing decent numbers in,” Blair said. “When groups would come to town and need a local opener, we were the go-to live hip-hop band. It was a blessing to be a bigger band in a smaller city.”
After a successful run on the college circuit, the group wanted to make a move and Philadelphia, where they had pulled in a strong influence from The Roots and played the venue South Street Blues, formerly at 21st and South, was a good fit.
“That whole kind of neo-soul thing was big at the time. What The Roots were doing, also with producing other artists, was pretty intriguing,” Blair, who moved locally in ’01, said. “We felt it was not as overwhelming as New York. It was a huge move and we felt like we could get our roots set up here and start playing in New York, which we did quite a bit.”
Shortly after moving, the trio disbanded, only to reform a few years later with two additional members as East Hundred, which had a very different sound.
“It was definitely more electronic influenced [at the founding]. There is a mix of programming, electronic keyboard, live instrumentation, we were heavily into it at that time,” he said. “Then we started to grow more into a live rock band, straightforward rock.”
Through success with both groups, Blair has been lucky enough to play with headliners such as OutKast, Run-DMC, The Deers and Jane’s Addiction.
“We played with Jane’s Addiction in Atlantic City and that was another band we grew up listening to,” he said. “It was one of those things where you are just like, ‘How the hell did this happen?’”
By 34, Blair has already lived through multiple musical lives. As he pushes forward to put the finishing touches on his solo album, there is no telling where the next wave of inspiration will take him.
“It seems like it’s always an evolution. [My music] tends to go in phases, when I’m digesting that and loaning that musical style,” Blair said. “The biggest dream all of us, pretty much the majority of musicians, have is never really to be a superstar, but to get up everyday and do it as a career — to be able to make a living doing it.
“I haven’t given up on that idea.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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