Blake Fleming (Alton, IL, 1972) started drumming at age eight, spending several years in fife and drumming corps, bagpipe bands, jazz bands, marching bands and orchestras. While in the Alton Colonial Fife and Drum Corps, Blake studied under Jerry Whitaker, the East Coast Rudimental Snare Drum Champion from West Point. He co-founded his first band, Dazzling Killmen, at the age of fifteen.



The Killmen toured the US extensively, recording four 7” singles in addition to two full-length studio albums and one live album (Skin Graft/Touch and Go Records). They worked closely with Jeff Tweedy (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo) and Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, PJ Harvey) and shared the stage with Fugazi, The Jesus Lizard, Neurosis, Helmet, Uncle Tupelo, Sleep, Shellac, Agent Orange, The Bad Livers and Jim O'Rourke.



Blake Fleming traversed the US with the Japanese progressive punk band Zeni Geva on their 1996 Freedom Bondage tour.



Later that year, he moved from St. Louis to New York City and formed the influential instrumental quartet Laddio Bolocko.



Laddio Bolocko independently recorded and produced three studio albums, and toured the US and Europe numerous times between 1998 and 2000, earning Blake Fleming the reputation of being a master drummer both in the US and Europe.



After Laddio Bolocko disbanded the previous fall, Blake Fleming moved to Long Beach, CA in March 2001 to co-found The Mars Volta, and recorded their very first demo recordings (“The Haunt of Roulette Dares” and “Cicatriz ESP”) for record label Grand Royal.



Blake also drummed on two of guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's solo albums, A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume 1 and Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus. Fleming then returned to New York City and, in 2002, formed Electric Turn To Me, who toured the US and Europe extensively before splitting up in 2005.



Blake Fleming briefly rejoined The Mars Volta after drummer Jon Theodore's departure in June 2006, playing a sold-out arena tour opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers throughout the US and Canada. He also appeared with the band on the Henry Rollins Show on the Independent Film Channel.



After the Chili Peppers tour, Blake Fleming returned to New York City, devoting his time to teaching and session work, with artists including Evan Dando (Lemonheads) and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), The Ropes (Fleming drummed on their 2008 L.P. What They Do For Fun, which was #15 in the ABC News Top 50 Albums of 2008), Kim Taylor (NPR Artist of the Month), Israel Nash Gripka, Chris Riffle, The Rollo Treadway, Father Divine, Martin Walker, Jimi Zhivago, Underground River, and Vajra.



Blake drummed on Kim Taylor's 2006 album I Feel Like A Fading Light, which was an NPR World Cafe “Album of The Week,” featured on the CW’s Smallville, and was one of Performing Songwriter’s “Top Records of 2007”.



In 2009, Blake Fleming worked with singer/songwriter Israel Nash Gripka, drumming on New York Town and The Gold Mine is Flooding.



Fleming played on New York City singer/songwriter Chris Riffle’s 2010 debut album, Introducing..., which placed Chris on the 2011 Grammy nominee ballot for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Blake Fleming has since drummed on Chris' two subsequent EPs, I Am Not From Here and Another Dream.



In April 2011, Blake Fleming gave a solo drum concert alongside live painters and a VJ in a multi-media performance at St. Peter’s Church in New York City.



Since 2006, Blake Fleming has worked extensively with video artist Janet Biggs, composing soundtracks and performing live at art festivals and other installations.



Blake Fleming composed the soundtrack to Biggs’ In The Cold Edge, which appeared at the 2010 Pulse Contemporary Art Festival, and, in September 2011 performed in Biggs’ multi-media installation, Wet Exit, on the banks of New York City’s East River, along with the New York Kayak Polo team, as part of the DUMBO Arts Festival in Brooklyn, NY.



Blake Fleming has been an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Oneonta since 2008, teaching private lessons and running a number of rock-based ensembles.



Blake Fleming recorded drums for the debut album by the India-influenced band, Vajra, which was mixed by engineer/producer Sylvia Massy (Tool, System of a Down, Prince, Johnny Cash), released in June, 2012.



In addition to freelance work and teaching, Fleming is one half of the experimental group Future By Now, along with engineer/musician Andris Balins (Sean Lennon, Nels Cline)