The Haunted Troubadour - Facts, Myths, & Rumors:
I was born and raised in Singapore, the melting pot of Southeast Asia.
For most of the '90s, I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a typical college town in the US. There I dabbled in many forms of expression, including film, theatre, poetry, and music. This period of my life was crucial to my creative development. For anyone who wants to figure out what they do best, my suggestion is - try everything first!
I'm basically a storyteller. When I'm not busy touring, or writing and recording new songs, I indulge in various other writing projects. Having grown up on comic books (does this explain my penchant for capes, masks, and double identities?), I’m fascinated with the idea of an individual with multiple faces. We wear masks throughout our lives, even when we’re baring our souls. Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men - I love those characters. The songs I play deal with similar themes - alienation being one of them. I identify with the mutants in X-Men. I’ve always identified with outcasts. To be called a weirdo or a freak is a compliment to me. My favorite character of them all is The Incredible Hulk, that MPD-stricken, ultimate outcast. Heck, I even owe my musical influences to comic books. I was introduced to Bob Dylan by Alan Moore, who quoted some Dylan lyrics in Watchmen. The words really grabbed me. That started me on the meandering path that I’m still on.
I began by writing provocative songs in the singer/songwriter tradition. That's when I recorded the first Blake Chen album, Old Ghosts, at Woodshed studios in Oak Park, Michigan. The all-acoustic album was originally titled An Immigrant Song and was released in 1997. It had a limited press run and there are only a few copies left.
My second album, SHADOW, was conceived and recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area where I spent a year performing and writing. Around that time I started getting into trippier bands like Portishead and artists like Beck and Moby, and that's when I really found my sound. The CD was released in 1999.