in PERSONAS
– adrian blake enscoe –
is a person with whimsical sparks, well at least in my eyes, but he is also a talented musician and actor. Currently, Adrian is a part of an eclectic trio @banditsontherun. When I met Adrian a few years ago, he was a solo performer, and I actually enjoyed some of his songs. One of my favorites was "Own Ghost." It's such a spiritual and dreamy song. Adrian recorded it on his iPhone (before SE version!). Below, after out photo shoot "Afternoon Stage," you will find Adrian's SoundCloud. And, for now, let him introduce himself in the video interview...
(I filmed it for my Fab Ego Magazine, which I turned into YR Journal). To follow Adrian's latest work stay tuned to his Insta @adrian.blake.enscoe
"I am in love with Echo. I follow her as much as she follows me... though as it happens we are never in the same place at the same time."
editorial: AFTERNOON STAGE
Photography, Fashion Style, Hairstyle & Art Direction by YULIA ROCK
Featured designers:
All the clothing by TUNCIN EGE
Jewelry by KRYSTALRAE
INTERVIEW
"Most often I write music as an escape from the cold hard realities of the world."
Where are you from? What are your roots?
I hail from the bucolic upstate town of Earlville, New York. My folks - thoroughbred city dwellers - moved out there for what they thought would be a couple of years and were kidnapped by the immense beauty of the place. Other than that, all I can tell you is that the faces of my ancestors have been occasionally popping up in history for some time now.
How old were you when you discovered your talent?
I was born like that. I mean -- isn't everybody? The tough part is learning to love and play with and really work through what it is you start out with. And as far as that's concerned, I'm so early on in the process I can't begin to see where the path ends.
What lead you to become a musician? And an actor?
I always had a bit of a romantic side. The music was always playing along quietly, like from some far off iconic tower in my head, and anytime I let my mind wander I could hear it. When I was neck deep in acting school, I started getting obsessed with my grandfather, who has always been some distant figure who, you know, died years before I was born but was a really talented folk guitarist whose career never quite took off. He was an epileptic, so now in my mind epilepsy is a condition of great thinkers and feelers. His life honestly could have been just a mundane example of reality, but in my dreams, he's a fearsome warrior plagued by extreme bouts of darkness. And those are the clothes I would like to wear now.
What were you doing before you started to perform?
I was always performing for people. I'm constantly seeking ways to engage now, not perform.
The interview is continued after editorial "Acting with no expectations"...
editorial: ACTING WITH NO EXPECTATIONS
Photography, Art Direction & Fashion Style by YULIA ROCK
Makeup and hairstyle by GISSE DEE
What inspires you to write music?
How do you write your songs, in what kind of mood, environment and where you usually write your lyrics?
It's not so much inspiration as the drive. My second hunger is music, is creating for joyous consumption, is building shapes in the air; and as long as I'm doing that, my appetite is assuaged. For the time being. If I don't have a snack, I get grumpy. Most often I write music as an escape from the cold hard realities of the world. I'll hole up at home and just pluck. If I like what I'm plucking (which is ALWAYS something in some way related to what I'm thinking about), I save it. As far as lyrics are concerned, I experiment a lot with just a stream of conscious singing, finding whatever words fall naturally out of my mouth. I think the challenge I face daily is to be in afraid of saying what I mean and saying it now. And in the chance moments, I do that, I get a song that has meaning to me, however cryptic it may seem at first.
Where do you record your songs?
I am in love with Echo. I follow her as much as she follows me (though as it happens we are never in the same place at the same time). I always like recording somewhere where she's lurking in the shadows. Hallways and staircases are her most common haunts, as well as the less popular metro stations, and every once and a while I'll get the chance to catch her in a Silo or an old church. Oh, Echo...
Do you have a dream place where you would love to perform as an actor or musician one day?
Funnily enough, that dream is something of a reality to me. I love impromptu, public performances, and it turns out that there is no better place for that than NYC, the center of my universe.
Who are your main supporters in your life?
I have a great and motley group of friends, people I've known my whole life, people I've worked with over and over again, people I've met just playing on the street and who grew close to me in an instant. I am in a constant state of thanks to my co-founders, friends, and sometimes lovers at In The Basement Co, Sophia Schrank and Katya Stepanova, who have shaped my life as a kind of the second family, beyond my family. Everybody that comes to one of my concerts, every person that stops for a few seconds to listen to one of my songs on the subway, all of those people are supporting me whether they know it or not. But to go back to the beginning, the hills and valleys that made me my own, I must, quite cheesily, acknowledge the fact that I wouldn't be here today without the love and encouragement of my parents, my sister my aunts and uncles, my grandmothers, my grandfathers, as well as a few childhood friends. Other than that, I'm on my own.
What moves you?
Real communication.
What is your life motto?
In pain, there is the truth. Or whatever springs to mind at the moment.
Your style is quite unique. How do you pick your outfits? Do you randomly put them together?
The way that I dress is the result of conditioned chaos. Most of my things are thrift, found, lent, given – they nearly all come with a memory of somebody or something. I love anything of odds and ends -- suspenders, ties, scarves, pins.
editorial: TRUE NATURE
Photography & Art Direction by YULIA ROCK
fashion styling ADRIAN BLAKE ENSCOE
editorial: FREEDOM
Photography, Art Direction & Retouching by YULIA ROCK
Fashion styling MADAMESECKBK
Makeup and hairstyle by TAKASHI ASHIZAWA
Featured designers:
All the clothing by NINH COLLECTION
Jewelry by ROB BACON HAUTE JEWELRY DESIGNER
editorial: SOFTEN YOUR GLARE
Photography, art direction, and retouching by YULIA ROCK
Makeup and hairstyle by TAKASHI ASHIZAWA
Fashion styling by MADAMESECKBK
Female model LOLA DECLET
Featured fashion designer:
IKAIKA D BONES-LARK
Featured jewelry designers:
AMAN THE JEWELER
TNEMNRODA
