Although it’s common to find comfortability in a single artform, Blake Saint David continues to prove their versatility and persistence by consistently releasing everything from new music to visuals to even more recently a podcast. In sharing this range of expression with the world, Blake introduces themselves as not only a remarkable musician, but also as a lover of film and screenwriting.

In their most recent EP, Be Your Own Shooter, and single, “Empathy,” Blake touches on an array of subjects ranging from sharing about their relationship, parents, and the racism and exploitation within our current state of the world. Paired with engrossing beats and experimental vocal effects, Blake assures that their message is made loud and clear.

Read our Q&A with Blake Saint David below, and listen to their new single Empathy on streaming services.

Between the title of your recent EP, Be Your Own Shooter, and your upcoming project, Be Your Own Parent, you seem to emphasize the necessity of self-reliance. Is this a message you found truth in over time through personal experience?

Dude, yes. You gotta constantly keep yourself in check or you’ll act up and look dumb. I didn’t really spend my teenage years with much of a parent around, so I had to learn that the hard way. Always thinking, always giving myself advice, just like Spider-Man’s thought bubbles in the comics.

You mentioned you’ve been playing around with more analog production. Do you have a preference between analog and digital?

Analog is soooooo much better. It feels better. I love turning knobs and playing til I get blisters. Pretty fun stuff, jamming out.

Do you find that your decision to use either production method is determined by the tone of the project you’re working on?

Yeah for sure. When I want epic I go digital, when I want grit and warmth I go analog. My wife got me a bass so I've been playing that a ton.

Recently you’ve been releasing content beyond music such as a web series and podcast. Do you see yourself continuing to experiment with other art forms in the future?

Yes! I’ve been filmmaking my entire life. I only got into music because I needed music for my movies. Me and my wife are actually working on the BYOP side scroller, those are simple to make, and will look super sick. It’ll cost money but could easily be free on PlayStation and Xbox but that’s just me talking. The game is real though.

In your podcast, you expressed frustration with people on the internet who are just now realizing the struggles involved with the black experience. Do you often use art as an outlet to express this frustration? If so, do you create art more so for yourself or do you purposely make it to share a message with your audience?

I don’t ever consciously think to express the frustration, I just naturally do. I always make art for myself but every thought I’ve had I know someone else has had so it’s bound to catch with some people.

Considering you opened your new EP with the song “I Love U,” do you think being married now has changed your approach to writing love songs?

Not even. Never really wrote love songs until I met my wife! She’s super tight and super talented.

You share a lot of visuals online to accompany your music. Do you find it important to pair visuals with your music?

I honestly hate visuals and showing my face… but since I already started, I can’t stop. Also a video is super helpful metrics wise and it just makes sense. I like narrative filmmaking much more. I also would rather animate all of my music videos, and that takes a ton of time or money, and I want the credit so I’d have to animate it myself.

You introduce your father on the song “Get It.” Do you find that your parents have had an impact on your writing?

Of course. While most of my songs refer to Gerry Conway’s run of Spider-Man, the bars like that are usually referring to the Reagan/Nixon/Clinton administration disaster that was the war on drugs. My dad used to be an activist before being afflicted by drug addiction, and my mom as well. My dad is clean and now a full-time social worker, but CPD gave him 10 years after finding him in a hospital critically wounded for a crime he didn’t commit.

Tell us a little bit about your new single “Empathy”

Empathy is about a couple things. The first verse: the war on drugs that ravaged black communities in the 70’s through the early 2000’s, and how it’s still ravaging them today. The second verse is a Spider-Man 2 reference. It’s me elaborating on the quote “Am I not supposed to have what I want?” It’s from Peter's perspective.

Catching up with Blake Saint David