Brothers Blake Jones and Miles Jones Prove Creativity Can Be Both Inherent and Nurtured
Band of brothers.
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CategoryArts + Culture
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Written byTanya Monaghan
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Photographed byMichael Costa
Blake Jones and Miles Jones were not raised in a traditional environment. Both brothers were homeschooled in a co-op, driven by an out-of-the-box way of learning. Blake believes this greatly influenced their creativity.
“Our main teacher would let us just pick what to do sometimes,” he says. “She would give us creative reign. I think that allowed our imaginations to be the driving force going forward.” The curriculum placed a heavy emphasis on creative writing, poetry and the arts, and music was always playing as they learned.
Although Blake and Miles, now 25 and 21 respectively, are a few years apart, their classes were not separated by age. “We were always together but would be given different things to focus on,” explains Blake.
As they grew up, they chose different paths. “Blake was always very music-based, and that has been his thing ever since,” says Miles. “I was more focused on athletics when I was younger. So we kind of came from the same seed of creativity and had the same schooling experience, but then as we got older we went with our own interests.”
After their homeschooling years, Miles attended El Segundo High School, where he invested further in sports—specifically basketball. Blake attended DaVinci Science High School, where he took guitar as an elective and remained fully immersed in music.
Blake played for the church band at Bridge South Bay church in El Segundo from middle school age on and fell in love with music as a whole. Miles is self-taught in music, learning to mix and produce as well as play guitar, bass, drums and piano.
Later in high school, the brothers’ paths merged. “Whenever I’d come home from school, I’d hear Blake making music in the garage. That’s what he did,” shares Miles. “And so one time, I was like, ‘Yo, let me rap, let me get on a beat that you’re making. And he was kinda like, ‘Whatever, shut up, go play basketball.’ Eventually we decided to try it out and collaborate.”
What started as a joke and having fun turned into something much bigger than they ever imagined. Blake had friends and connections with people who were in the music industry from DaVinci High. The brothers showed their first song to them and were pleasantly surprised by how much they loved it.
In Miles’ senior year of high school in 2019, their first single started to gain some attention. With the help of their older brother, local surfer Hunter Jones, and a bunch of their friends, they shot a music video. They came up with an entire marketing plan for their first single—a grassroots effort of tapping into their community for support, blasting on social media and reaching out to connections through friends and school.
And it worked. People loved the song, and they started to create a bit of a buzz. The tipping point came with TikTok, where their youthful soundtracks, fresh beats and mad style have accumulated more than 150 million views and millions of followers—growing every day.
Going simply by Blake and Miles, the music duo says growing up in the South Bay has a great influence on their music—a nostalgic soundtrack to their coming of age. They want you to feel that release of freedom when you hear it, inspired by the infinite promise and potential of youth.
Miles paints the picture perfectly: “A lot of our music will sound like cruising down PCH by the beach with the windows down. When we’re trying to make an upbeat song, that’s where our minds are because the South Bay has such a place in our hearts.”
They operate from their home garage, where they work on a little bit of everything—creating, marketing, promoting. Hunter and the brothers’ childhood friend Easton Jones play a huge part in their success, creating content for their social accounts and collaborating on their music videos.
“We go in together and start from nothing,” says Miles. “Our style and process of creating have definitely evolved from when we started. And I think that’s important too, just to keep things fresh and interesting.”
“When we were younger, we hated each other … there was no Blake and Miles,” shares Blake. “I think it was age and the dynamic of three boys. Hunter and I are older than Miles, and we are much closer in age—like about a year. Miles and I are 3½ years apart, so there’s a gap.”
Miles adds, “But as we’ve gotten older, all three of us have become involved in each other’s career paths and lives. I mean, it’s beautiful. Like a mastermind group. We’re blessed to have it. I think it’s one of our greatest advantages. We are on the same page, have the same goals and are willing to drop everything and do whatever it takes to help each other. And on a musical level—on a creative level—there are times when Blake can finish the sentence that I’m trying to say and vice versa. We have such a bond, which is really helpful for our process.”
Their authenticity is perhaps their X factor and key to their success. Miles agrees: “Everything is so organic, and that works to our advantage because there’s something about being able to create from your home and being vulnerable while you’re making music. That’s so important. When you step into ‘studio 357-B’ in a random building in Hollywood, it’s completely foreign and you’re with people in the room who you don’t know. It’s just not a vibe—it’s hard to get inspired. For us, everything’s very organic and home-based—down to our location. We’ve been here since we learned to walk. We feel like we can open up and be completely vulnerable in our music.”
The brothers’ music is a pop/hip-hop crossover, but they revealed they are sitting on a trove of unreleased material that touches on every genre from rap to rock and even country. They didn’t grow up listening to hip-hop; it was something they appreciated later in life.
“The music we were listening to was beachy and alternative. And that is now bleeding into our music a lot more,” says Blake.
The brothers attribute a lot of their success to their parents, who have always offered unconditional support and kept them musically cultured. “They raised us all to dream without limits,” says Miles. “As we continue to release music, I think people will see the diversity in our tastes and how that plays into our music.”
Blake and Miles have released seven singles to date, available on all major streaming platforms. They have many more songs in the bank and are excitedly working on their upcoming album.
“We are confident that this album is going to change everything for us,” says Blake. “We feel like it’s our best work.”
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