Page 52 - WATCH IT! - FW MAGAZINE 2018

FOLLOW: Born in Montreal and raised by his mother, Forest where his girlfriend was meant to join him. Only
@forestblakk Blakk had his share of hardships through his she didn’t… she sent him an email explaining why
- adolescence. In his teenage years he struggled she wouldn’t make the move. He recalls spending
PHOTOGRAPHY: with addiction, which was encouraged by having three days on a random stranger’s floor, crying.
JACK MCKAIN an infamous drug dealer as a stepfather. His Blakk felt as if his world had shattered, nothing
- parents were not equipped to be parents at made any sense, and the world he was building
LOCATION: all. His childhood memories are not of playing was suddenly gone.
MONTREAL, QC. outside with friends, riding bikes, or even being
able to simply be a child. He lived short-term in He again turned to music to soothe his soul. He
Jamaica and Florida—his family moved to evade began performing his songs at open mic nights
child services when Blakk’s teachers in Canada at the Ironwood. The stage enabled him to reform
discovered the physical abuse that his father from gangster to musician, singing love songs to
inflicted on him. a packed crowd. He started to see success with
a band he created, and he earned his first Juno
His love for escaping through music started at nomination. He struggled to live a normal life
a young age, but he was not allowed to listen but, suffering from anxiety and depression, he
to popular music. He was only allowed to listen became increasingly aggressive and angry.
to music his father liked, which was classic rock
like Guns N’ Roses and The Eagles. Submersed in Blakk almost took his life one night after a
Jamaican culture, he remembers loving reggae. show. “We played for 8,000 people and had this
When Blakk was 13, his father was sent to prison 13-minute encore where people were singing and
and his mother became unstable and unable to crying. It was incredible. But during the whole
care for him; Blakk left and spent the next few show I was internally depressed.” Blakk pulled
years of his early teenage life homeless. At 15, himself back from the brink. He sought help from
his grandmother took him and finally gave him a professionals, started eating better, and lost 100
long-needed sense of security and a place to rest pounds—the dramatic physical transformation
and breathe for the first time in his life. enabled him to reconnect with himself.

His grandmother supported his dreams and He went to Germany to meet up with his friend
purchased his first guitar: a cheap knock-off Christoph Stiller, the touring keyboardist in his
Fender electric. former band and now his production partner, and
visited the Black Forest. After returning home, he
“I remember sitting in her basement and hitting the read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, about a man’s
guitar strings for the first time,” he says. “It was so spiritual journey of self-discovery, and adopted
overwhelming that I started bawling my eyes out. the name Forest Blakk.
I wasn’t a singer, but I started making these awful
sounds, these awful crying sounds and trying to “It hit me so hard, the whole world stopped,” he
sing. It was the first time I could empty something says. “I hadn’t known who I was, but suddenly I
into something. That was the moment.” was like, ‘That’s me. That’s my name. That’s who
I will be from now on. I will live by those rules.’”
Unfortunately old habits die hard, and Blakk
found himself back on the streets roaming with Blakk’s metamorphosis also found him embracing
gangs. He learned quickly how to connect with a new musical direction that he calls “urban folk”
FOREST BLAKK people to survive. At 17, he went back to his because it blends his identity as a city kid (the first
grandmother’s and enrolled in high school in cassette tape he ever bought was Bone Thugs N
Montreal. Trying to change his life around yet Harmony) with his attraction to artists like Don
IT HIT ME SO HARD, THE WHOLE again, he found his outlet in music. He met twin Henley and Joe Cocker, whose soulfulness and
emotionality strongly resonate with him. A true
brothers and formed a rock band. Blakk joined
WORLD STOPPED. I HADN’T KNOWN as the singer. He performed in the school’s talent Renaissance man who writes poetry and spoken-
word pieces (the upcoming “Swipe Right”) in
show and, while up on stage, he first realized that
WHO I WAS BUT SUDDENLY I WAS that this is where he wanted to be. addition to songs, Blakk is deeply invested in
making honest connections and empowering
LIKE, “THAT’S ME. THAT’S MY NAME. Again dialling back into his old ways, he left others—especially those who feel invisible, as he
school and spent the next four years “hanging
did as a kid—to be visible. “Making others visible
THAT’S WHO I WILL BE FROM NOW with the wrong crowd and doing things he is what makes me visible,” he says. “I want people
I interact with to feel. That’s it. I just want them to
wasn’t proud of” before falling in love for the
ON. I WILL LIVE BY THOSE RULES.” first time. Blakk finally felt a sense of purpose. feel deeply. I want them to laugh if they need to
laugh. I want them to get angry if they need to get
“She made me not want to die and live my life,”
he explained. At 21, he decided to wipe his slate angry. I want them to cry. But I want them to sit
clean and move across the country to Calgary, inside my songs and know that they’re not alone.”

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