After practicing the guitar for nine years, aspiring musician junior Blake Evans finally had the chance to pursue his dream as a guitarist. Cassis Exotic Drink and Tea is now giving students the option to not only buy the classic tropical specialty but to also showcase their seemingly unrecognized talents in a night filled with art and music. Although he has performed at a couple of talent shows, Cassis gave Evan his first opportunity to put on his own show for 45 minutes.
“It was better than I expected it to be,” Evans said. “You can sometimes psych yourself out or get nervous, and you don’t know what to expect, but once you get up there and start playing songs you get more adjusted to the environment and more comfortable.”
With the motivation of his father, who has always been there to listen to his music and provide constructive criticism, Evans has learned what it means to be a musician.
“He taught me some of the basics,” Evans said. “I remember when I was a little kid and I would never practice and he would always be there to tell me, ‘Blake you need to practice or else you’re not going to ever play guitar.’”
Musical strength runs in the Evans family. In fact, Evans’ parents met at Texas Tech, where they were in a band together. His father was a guitarist just like Evans.
“I just grew up around it,” Evans said. “He always had the guitar out. Plus, I feel like I was just born with this need to play music. I tried the whole sports thing but music was always there for me when I needed it to be. It’s almost like a natural high playing the guitar.”
Many of the songs Evans performs are masters of his own imagination. With the desire to take difficult English classes in order to accompany his passion for writing song lyrics, Evans composes many songs that are based off of experiences from his own life.
“I usually write a lot about events that I have been through or girls that I have liked or had problem with. I was motivated to write My Way Back because it’s about how you always want to be comfortable with yourself. You always want to be yourself and try not to be afraid about anything.”
Through his love for music, Evans also portrays typical high school relationships in several of his songs.
“Sometimes I write songs about things I’ve seen other people having problems with or things that are going good for them in their relationship. For example, My Door is about how words mean a lot more than material things and what you say can mean everything to somebody.”
Although Evans already considers himself a musician, he said he wants to further his career and hopes to be a solo act like John Mayer, or perhaps perform in a band to show people his music.
“I’d like to someday send one of my CD’s to a record label just to see if they are interested in picking it up,” Evans said. “Just to see if I can have that shot at fame. Music is everything to me. Listening to music brings back memories for me, and I want to create memories for other people to be able to relate to it.”
