After some difficulties with the Glaswegian-American language barrier, the interview got started.
T. – So my first question is: How did you guys get started and form the band?
JB - I think it was 2005. I had just got out of a punk/crossover band I was in. I just started looking for other musicians around town. The first one I found was Alex, our guitarist. He was looking to start an old school Heavy Metal band, not necessarily thrash, and we just decided to get together and see what happened. Then it was just sort of a year or so of us writing music. Then finally we found our drummer, he had been kicked out of a Metallica cover band. All the other guys were older and told him that he was too young to be in the band being only 13 or 14 at the time. We took the chance and we asked him and he was the first guy we tried out. We talked to some other guys, but they wanted to do hardcore or deathcore and stuff like that. He actually knew our old bassist Ruben from some sort of girl band. So he said “I know this bassist, you wanna try him out”. So we said, “Yeah, sure,” and we tried him out and he was good. He was a happy guy and we got along with him, he played bass really well. So we got him into the band. We had this line-up with just one guitarist for one year until we found Juan. We had been looking for another guitarist to fill out our sound and stuff. He had been kicked out of a death metal band, basically for being too good, y’know, doing solos and stuff and they didn’t want that. That was my chance to get him and say “Come and join us, you can put in as many solos as you want”. He came in and tried out and we got him in and we’ve had that line since 2005 up until Ruben left last year. He left for family things, and joined up to the army. Now we have Jerry. Jerry was our merch guy and our roadie, and knew most of our songs anyway so it was an easy transition.
T. – I read that you guys got a record deal through winning a battle of the bands competition. Had you been handing out demos to record companies and stuff or did the battle of the bands just happen?
JB – The battle of the bands thing was something that we never thought we would have won. We entered it being a band that didn’t even have any music together or complete songs or anything. That was the point where we became a serious band; we had just been a sort of jam band up until then. So we entered it and got some songs together, and we won $3000 and a recording... not a deal, but time in a recording studio. That’s when we recorded our first demo, Four Pints of Blood, it was just a bunch of songs we made up in the studio. We didn’t get a record deal until we made our second demo. We got a message from a rep at Earache asking us all these questions and we weren’t sure about it because it wasn’t from an official Earache email or website or nothing, just a random guy on Myspace, why’s he asking so many questions. But then eventually he contacted us on the official Earache email and was being serious which was just like... wow. We had never thought about being on a record label or anything like that we were just releasing our music by ourselves. At the same time a dude from another label was emailing us too but by that time Earache had already been treating us like family rather than just business, business, business.
T. – You guys have a new album coming out soon. Is it a concept album?
JB – Mhm, yeah. It’s based 600 years in the future and a cybernetic alien race have taken over the world and there’s a few humans trying to fight to win it back. That’s basically the story and you get to hear it all on Exiled to Earth, and I think we did a pretty good job.
T. – Cool, can we expect pretty much more of the same from the first album, or are there big changes?
JB- I think it’s a little bit different from the first album. It’s a bit of a step up, we still have the same main elements from the first one but we try to be a bit better on the second I guess. Better lyrics, better musically and it’s a bit more grown up but it still has that BBB sound.
T. – Yeah, the artwork looks really good, I was looking at it earlier.
JB – Yeah, the guy hasn’t done an album cover before. He’s more of a concept artist. He does a lot of things for movies and video games and comics. But when we saw his work we decided he had to do the album artwork. He’s really into the stuff we’re into, he’s done sci fi and video games and s**t like that. So we were like, “Hell yeah, he has to do the album artwork.” And he came up with a good one.
T. – How was the recording process for this album. Was it better/worse, more serious maybe?
JB – I think it was better. We came in more prepared than with the first album. We knew exactly what we wanted and the music was obviously a little more rehearsed. Our producer Ralph made us feel really comfortable with everything and I think he brought out the best in us.
T. – I’m just looking at your touring schedule, and it’s pretty busy. When was the last time you had a break?
JB – I think this is the longest break we’ve had, right now. I actually kinda happy, when August comes it’s just gonna be tour, tour, tour and probably no breaks until 2011. We’ll have a week or two off at home, but after that week it’s going back into touring and even on that week we might have to be somewhere else in the states and not even at home. So it’s gonna be kinda mayhem. But it’s cool man, it’s part of being in the band and we love to be there. Some bands hate being on the road, but I love it.
T. – Do you prefer being on the road to recording and doing that sort of stuff, or vice versa?
JB – I think it’s a different kind of love. I love both of them, but they’re just different. Of course, when you come up with new music and new songs you always want to hear it and how it sounds in the studio, as opposed to live, cause live can sound a lot different. But I love recording the music. It’s a whole different experience from actually being on the road and playing every day. That kinda vibe is cool too, you see kids and bands happy and whatnot and once you do the recording thing it’s a whole different story. It’s more of an accomplished feeling, but they’re both cool. I love ‘em both.
T. – I was going to ask what you do on your breaks, do you spend it with the band, or apart from them?
JB – When we do have breaks it’s mostly time spent with family. When you’re on the road you see the other guys every day, so when we do have breaks we don’t see the guys till the next tour.
T. – Do you have any favourite stories from the road or favourite tours you’ve had with other bands.
JB – I think, one of our favourite tours we’ve had so far, and nobody’s topped it, and we’ve had a bunch of tours was the tour we did in Europe with Gama Bomb. Those guys are f***ing funny. They know how to drink, f***ing amazing tour, good times. Half the stuff I don’t even remember from being so drunk or just f***ing partying all night. It was just an amazing tour, and I’ll never forget that. I love those guys and I’m glad they’re coming to the US and we’re gonna do a tour with them so it’s gonna be cool.
T. – Obviously one of your big influences is Exodus. What are your other major influences?
JB – I think it’s different for every guy in the band. But for me it has to be like... I’m really into lots of hardcore punk, and I’m really into crossover so DRI, Black Flag, Cryptic Slaughter. More of the thrashy wise it’s like Vio-lence, Forbidden, a lot of the California Bay-Area bands are a big influence on me.
T. – You’re coming to Bloodstock, are you ready for it and looking forward to it?
JB – Yeah, I’m really excited, it’s our first big festival and we’re playing the main stage. Just looking at all the other bands, it’s really cool, should be a great experience for us.
T. – How’s it been in the scene of the thrash revival, Municipal Waste, Evile, and obviously you mentioned Gama Bomb too. Have you all helped each other or has there been competition between all the Earache bands?
JB – I think it’s mostly friendly competition, if any competition at all. Most of us like each other’s music or try to one up each other. It’s all fun and games. I love the guys in the other bands, from Earache and also on other labels too, like Warbringer and Merciless Death and all the other New Wave of Thrash. We’re all trying to be a big family. I know there’s always guys that don’t like other bands for personal reasons or whatever, but mostly we’re a big happy family.
T. – Are you visiting any new places on this tour that you haven’t been before?
JB – I don’t think so. When we did the European tour with Gama Bomb I think we hit like 25 countries so it’s gonna be hard to top. [laughs].
T. – Cool, coming back to the UK, seeing as this is a UK based fanzine. What do you like in the UK as opposed to other places?
JB – Oh, I love it cause every time we’ve hit the UK it’s been really great. Places like London, Leeds, we’ve done some shows in Scotland. I one day want to hit Ireland, it’d be amazing. I’ve been trying to get Bonded By Blood into Ireland for a long time now, but I don’t know what happens, we never seem to get in there. I don’t love the UK more than anywhere else, but I do love it a lot.
T. We’ve got a question from one of our readers. What would you do if someone gave you a dildo to sign?
[After much explaning of the question]
JB – [Laughs] I dunno, I’d laugh, throw it away, throw it at the fan. [Laughs] That was a funny question.
T. – OK, I think that’s me. Thanks very much for your answers, and hopefully see you on your tour.
JB – OK, thanks man. Bye.
Bonded By Blood can be found at: www.myspace.com/bondedbyblood
You can find information on the new album, Exiled to Earth, which on 10th August in the USA and 16th August in UK and Europe. Also, if you’re at Bloodstock this year, don’t forget to check them out opening the main stage on the Sunday.
Cheers and Beers.
Tank
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