Life & Work with Ian Blesse of Central CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Blesse.

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?
The two of us grew up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Toby and I went to high school together and started jamming regularly after school in Big Creek CA. It’s all we could think about and we would play for hours on end. We’d also play at parties in the mountains and foothills until the sun came up or the local sheriffs were called haha.
I played in a bunch of bands in the Fresno area. Toby was living in Japan at the time and I talked him into moving back to start a band around 2009. We started Strange Vine and have been playing wherever we can ever since! We just released our first full length record in April.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road but smooth roads aren’t very memorable in my experience anyway. The whole two-piece can be tricky to do live. Sometimes it feels a bit more like a tightrope walk than anything but I think we have discovered tons of things we never would have if we did it any other way.
One of our biggest current struggles is staying on top of all the non music side of things. All the administrative stuff can feel overwhelming at times. We’ve never had management of any kind or a booking agent or anything like that. It’s always been just us two. I feel like we’ve been able to do quite a bit on our own….but man is it tiring haha.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Well, we’re an earthy/psych/rock duo from the Sierra Nevada mountains East of Fresno, CA called Strange Vine. We play original music and have just released our first full length record call “Sleep Messenger”

We’re probably most know for our live shows. We handle a lot between the two of us.
I’d probably say I’m most proud of all the cool shows we’ve been able to play. We’ve played with Los Lobos, Cage The Elephant, B.B. King, Cold War Kids, FUZZ, Band Of Skulls, Delta Spirit, Meat Puppets, The Growlers, Matt And Kim, White Denim, Kurt Vile, Lord Huron, Robin Trower, Bob Log III….

I’m not sure what sets us apart. It’s hard to classify our style of music I guess. I can’t really think of any other band that we sound like.

How do you think about happiness?
Our families. Being in nature. A new record. A good book

Contact Info:

• Website: https://strangevinemusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strangevine
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strangevine
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@strangevineband?ra=m

Image Credits
Tudor Stanley, Joshua Asante, Mike Rosati