Our teen years are instrumental in the development of our individual tastes, independent of our families. Often times these interests are influenced by our friends and schoolmates. But sometimes we make the discovery ourselves.
I was a teenager spending time in Portland, Oregon when I encountered a band called the Dan Reed Network on one of the live event stages at a riverfront open-air festival. I could be wrong, but I think the name of the event was the Rose Festival.
The lead singer of the band, the aforementioned Dan Reed, put on one of the most charismatic performances I have ever witnessed. The man knew how to work the stage, as did his entire band – including Brion James on guitar, Melvin Brennon II on bass, Dan Pred on drums, and Rick DiGiarllonando on keyboards.
Keyboards weren’t present in all heavy metal bands at the time. Guns N’ Roses, for instance, didn’t add keyboard player Dizzy Reed until 1991. DiGiarllonando was a proficient player who held his own on stage with the other members of the band. However, something was missing.
The band was almost perfect, offering alternating layers of hard rock and heavy funk. Dan Reed’s animalistic sexual charm as the ultimate frontman brought the whole package home. I wasn’t sure what the band needed to be “The Next Big Thing” but I could tell they were one magical piece away.
Enter Blake Sakamoto. Blake was a keyboard player who originally hailed from Portland. He’d gone to school with a host of people who would go on to prominence in the music field including Jamie St. James who achieved fame with the band Black ‘N’ Blue; Oscar and Grammy-nominated artist Julian Raymond; Danny Kurth who became known with Wild Dogs; Ben Wolfe whose resume would include work with Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis; Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, and engineer Mark Mattson; and award-winning composer Lolita Ritmanis (“Batman: The Animated Series”).
Although Blake hailed from Portland, he had moved to Los Angeles where he was playing keyboards for Mr. President and then Jessie Galante. Dan knew of Blake and his talents from when he lived in the City of Roses and thought he’d be the magical piece to take DRN to the next level. Dan had his mother reach out to Blake’s mother, since they both worked in the same retail store.
The Network was the top draw in Portland at the time, and they’d apparently been on the scene for a few years traveling the West Coast and living in hotel rooms while paying their dues and building a rabid following. Blake was more than honored to have someone of Dan’s local notoriety want his talents for their group and made the trek to Portland to at least meet with the band.
The next time I saw the Dan Reed Network perform, Blake was rocking the house on keyboards. What a show! The band was awesome before, but with the added missing link they were now magnificent. Almost immediately, they were signed to Mercury Records.
The best way to describe the Dan Reed Network to the uninitiated is that circa 1988 they were the perfect blend of Prince and Bon Jovi. They were definitely a pop-oriented metal band, very much like Bon Jovi in terms of Brion James’s fiery guitar work and Dan Pred’s hard-driving drums. But they also had a heavy funk element thanks to Melvin Brennon III’s bass. And Dan Reed’s frontman skills clearly demonstrated an affinity for and similarity to Prince’s high-energy stage shows. Blake Sakamoto’s keyboards were the final piece to the puzzle. Together, they were the ultimate metal funk glam rock band.
I recently sat down with Blake for an interview that is featured on the podcast It’s Showtime with Rikki Lee. Prior to hitting the record button, we chatted about what it’s like to end up meeting and working with your idols. Blake had been a fan of the Dan Reed Network himself when he got the call to join the band. He almost needed to pinch himself to believe he’d landed a spot with the band he most looked up. Shortly after they recruited Blake, DRN was signed to their major label recording contract. Suddenly they were rubbing noses with the elite of the music industry they had grown up admiring.
Dan Reed Network put out three killer albums: Dan Reed Network, Slam, and The Heat. Their blazing funk-metal sound was addictive, capturing the imagination of fans in the US and especially in Europe. In terms of meeting your idols, the Network achieved just that as the opening act for both Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones.
I found it very interesting how the Bon Jovi tour came about. DRN was on Mercury Records – the same label as Bon Jovi. Not only that, DRN was signed by the same A&R representative as Bon Jovi, Derek Shulman. To hear Blake tell it, there was more than a hint of rivalry in Jon Bon Jovi’s mind when it came to upstart Dan Reed Network potentially infringing on his band’s top seat in glam metal. But Jon is also a very intelligent businessman. He knew what the Network would bring to the tour.
Bon Jovi, Blake explained to me, was expected to sell out about 80% of the seats on their tour supporting the album New Jersey (one of the band’s best albums). Dan Reed Network’s purpose was to bring in the extra 10-20% of the audience to ensure a sold-out tour. The same was true of the expectations supporting The Rolling Stones.
As one can imagine, when only 10-20% of the audience knows your band, it can result in some interesting situations. I was shocked to hear stories about the band being pelted with coins and bottles on some nights – not that their music was bad, but the crowd wanted the headliner, and they didn’t want to wait.
The backstage ongoings at these shows were everything you might imagine as well. Blake and his bandmates would regularly rub elbows backstage with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, and U2. Talk about hanging out with your idols – the true elite of the music industry.
Of course, a lot of DRN’s success has to do with Blake bringing the missing keyboard element to their sound. Blake shared with me how he learned the very specific art of playing keys in a guitar band. Remember when Blake was in L.A. prior to Dan Reed’s mother calling to get him to join her son’s band? While there, Dio keyboardist Claude Schnell took him under his wing and taught him how to focus his keyboard on notes that don’t interfere with the natural place in the octave that guitar players like to dwell. It was one of the most valuable lessons of Blake’s career.
The Dan Reed Network is still making music in Europe, where Dan Reed lives and where they had their biggest popularity. Blake, however, left the band to be with his children. They are however on great terms. Longtime friend of the band Rob Daiker now handles keyboards.
Blake is now back in the Portland, Oregon area. He runs a successful Country Financial insurance agency office and fills his creative time playing with The Nu Wavers, one of the city’s most popular cover bands. The Nu Wavers have found their success not only by playing the best music from the 80s, but also by putting a focus back on onstage showmanship. Blake and the band are great to listen to, and just as fun to watch.
I encourage you to listen to my interview with Blake on It’s Showtime with Rikki Lee – it’s a good one. I’ve been around the music business a while, and Blake is probably the nicest guy I’ve met in the industry. And, his stories are fun and engaging. In fact, our interview runs almost twice as long as normal episodes of It’s Showtime with Rikki Lee – there was just too much good stuff, we couldn’t bear to cut it.
Blake’s Country Financial office is licensed in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Illinois. So, if you’re in the market for Auto, Home, Farm, Life, Business, or Retirement policies contact Blake Sakamoto at (503) 266-7000 (voice & text) or BlakeSakamoto2@countryfinancial.com.
If you are going to be in the Pacific Northwest, I also encourage you to check out Blake’s new band The Nu Wavers. For information visit their official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheNuWavers/.
You never know if meeting your idols is going to be fulfilling or a disappointment. For the most part, I’ve found most of my idols to be good people. When they’ve proven not to be, they were no longer my idols. One guy who can claim the title of Cream of the Crop is Blake Sakamoto. He’s a world-class talent and just as much of a quality human being.
