PARTS UNKNOWN ADJACENT, USA – Sometimes, lost loves can turn into catchy choruses. At least that was the case nearly a decade ago when music industry titan Butch Vig wandered into a high desert watering hole and overheard a thirsty stranger holding court on the matter of heartbreak and ex-girlfriends. His name? Zeke Bleek.
“All the regulars were egging him on, like this was some kind of ongoing saga,” Vig said with a smile. “So I pulled up a stool, and bought him a round or two. As I listened to Zeke’s break-up stories, I jotted notes on a wet coaster. Suddenly, I noticed something remarkable about his growing list of exes.”
Annabelle, Bev, Cookie, Diane, Elizabeth… the list went on alphabetically, all the way up to Zoe!
Just as Vig was on the verge of asking his new companion if he had any kind of musical background, Bleek leapt on top of the bar’s foosball table and shushed the paying customers in what was apparently a weekly ritual.
He belted out “What’s life’s biggest mystery? I say the opposite sex is,” in a serviceable baritone… Next, as the mysterious Bleek recalls, “Butch stares dead in my eye, and hollers, ‘There’s 26 letters in the alphabet, and you got 26 eXes!’ The fellas all busted out laughing, and we got free mezcal from the house! So I said, ‘Hell, that’s pretty damn good, partner. Let’s do us a song.’”
It took nearly 10 years to come to life. In between, Vig used Bleek as the cover model for his own personal line of sauvignon blanc wine, called “Bad Boyfriend.” Vig says Bleek’s rocky romantic past and brushes with the law made him the perfect face for the label.
“26 eXes” is the debut single from Zeke Bleek, who refuses to divulge personal information. He would neither confirm nor deny that he may be Ezekiel Bleektepski, a critically-acclaimed Eastern European auto-commercial jingle singer in the late 90’s.
Vig, a founding member of Garbage, has notably produced acts such as Foo Fighters, Green Day, Freedy Johnston, Against Me! and Silversun Pickups. So, why take a chance on an unknown like Zeke Bleek?
“Zeke Bleek is the outlaw country hangdog king of eternal bachelors, and his voice must be heard,” Vig said. “So we threw him in the studio with an ace backing band, the Mighty Weak, and the rest is heartbreak history.”
“26 eXes” is the first single from a forthcoming EP, tentatively titled “The Wounded Romantic.”
