Blake Lee, also known as Blake Stranathan, may not exactly be one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of modern guitar players. However, his work breaks into mainstream pop as he’s playing with Lana Del Rey. And not only that — according to what he said in a recent chat with Guitar World, he kind of got Lana into one of his guitar pedals.
The talk about the singer’s guitar pedal preferences came up when Blake was asked to share a few words about the extent of his creative collaboration on the 2014 album “Ultraviolence” and its opening song “Cruel World.” After all, he’s one of the co-writers of this piece, as well as another track on the record called “Pretty When You Cry.”
“We were at Electric Lady Studios working on the ‘Ultraviolence’ record,” Blake recalled, adding that it was “a dream come true and still one of the highlights of my life.”
“She was like, ‘Oh, we need that'”
And what helped spark the writing sessions for “Cruel World” was a reverb pedal. Blake added:
“I had recently bought a reverb pedal, and I showed it to Lana in the studio, and she was like, ‘Oh, we need that.'”
“There was magic in those studio walls, though,” he recalled. “And when it came to the ‘Cruel World’ riff, I plugged into the 100-watt Marshall that was there, and the riff just came out within 10 seconds.”
The rest simply came naturally. And it seems that it was all thanks to his reverb pedal. Going more into the song that came right then and there on the spot, Blake continued:
“I was drawn to it, and Lana began freestyling over it. And luckily, everything was still hooked up to record as we’d been packing up. We ended up doing it in one or two takes, and then Dan Auerbach went on to produce that song.”
“We also recorded ‘Guns and Roses’ there and ended up recording ‘Flipside’ back in L.A..”
“Guns and Roses,” of course, is a song title, and so is “Flipside.” Both were added to “Ultraviolence” as bonus tracks for different versions of the record.
Guitar Pedal That Lana Del Rey Loved
But let’s go back to that reverb pedal. Which one was it? Well, when asked to clarify, Blake replied:
“It was a BigSky, which I still use to this day.”
BigSky is a pretty popular piece of gear among guitar players of various genres. Made by Strymon, it’s famous for its unique reverb textures. And knowing what it’s like, we’re not surprised at all that Lana enjoyed the sounds it made.
But, of course, it’s not just the pedal that makes the magic. One needs to know how to use it, as well as how to combine it with other gear. And Blake certainly knew what he was doing. He continued:
“As for the guitar, I believe that it was an old vintage Telecaster that was at Electric Lady [Studios]. It was like an in-house guitar. It wasn’t my own personal one.”
“I was drawn to the atmosphere and the textures”
During the chat, Blake was also asked about what he thought about Lana’s musical style initially and what appealed to him in the first place. He offered:
“I was drawn to the atmosphere and the textures within her music. I sensed and could feel a retro quality, and my parents raised me on ’60s music, which holds a dear place in my heart.”
“So, from the jump, I felt connected to her because she seemed like a real-deal artist and songwriter. That was very attractive to me.”
Of course, Blake has a solid background as a musician. With some Berklee experience behind him, he was set to conquer the world. When asked about how having this background affected his approach as a member of Lana’s band, he had an interesting answer to offer:
“I wasn’t there long enough to pick anything up and apply it theory-wise. I still can’t, and never could, sightread music, even while I was there. But I got the most out of playing with and being around an assortment of high-level musicians, whether that was bluegrass players, gospel players, or other players on your dorm room floor.”
“My approach has always come from a feel-based place”
Blake spent about few semesters on famed Berklee College of Music. But instead of being obsessed with rules and theory, he’s more of a “feel” kind of guy.
“My approach has always come from a feel-based place,” he added. “I try to come from an absence of thought, and the goal is always to be free from thought.”
Asked about other pedals he’s into, Blake said:
“I have a few ’60s Fuzz Face pedals, and I also have a silver Klon that I leave on for most shows. The Klon hasn’t left my ‘board, even when I’ve tried to remove it. It does something that can’t be replicated with something else.”
“And then there’s the [Strymon] TimeLine [Multi-Delay], which is very versatile and has been on my ‘board since around 2015. And I have another Strymon pedal, the Flint Tremolo & Reverb, which is great for ’60s-type sounds.”
Photos: Ashley Pomeroy (Strymon BigSky DSCF3842), Justin Higuchi (LDR2019-cr)
