Quick News
Block @ Webester Hall
NYC
Wednesday May 5th
Block @ the
Legendary Turning Point
Piermont NY
Friday June 11 @ 9pm
(two sets)To call Block a singer-songwriter is to underestimate the importance of storytelling in his songs. Influenced by the Beat poets, he tells stories of Village gentrification, fake punk rockers and the illusion of an easy marriage — songs with lyrics that ring true because of Block's own life experience.
He emerged from the anti-folk scene in New York's East Village. His first album, 1996's Lead Me Not Into Penn Station, met with acclaim at college radio and in the indie music community. Producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill) chose Block to be the first artist released on Java Records’ joint venture with Capitol Records in 1998. That album, 2000s Timing Is Everything, featured the tune “Catch A Falling Star” — the opening credit song for Drew Barrymore's film Never Been Kissed. When Block’s major label debut sold a “paltry” 100,000 copies he was unceremoniously dropped by Java, having successfully demonstrated that he would not be their “next big thing.”
Without a record label and beyond his 20s, Block had a decision to make: continue to plug away on his own dime as an indie artist or quit music altogether. He chose the latter. "I quit because I reached the place where all of your dreams are supposed to come true. When Java dumped me I was 32 years old with a wife and two kids. I had to make money. The music business had vampired the life out of me. I left, thinking that I'd never return."