Bleeding Through

The Orange County hardcore sextet Bleeding Through knows what The O.C.'s really like and it's not what people see on TV. The region is on the verge of becoming the next hardcore hotbed with Bleeding Through joining the ranks of such similar Southern Californian outfits as Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold in revolutionizing the heavy metal and hard rock world. Formed in 2000, the band has toured in support of its full-length debut, This Is Love, This Is Murderous, for just over a year now and has gained strong support nationwide from its second stage slot on this summer's Ozzfest. Now out on the MTV2 Headbanger's Ball Tour with Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy and Himsa, Bleeding Through hopes to infuse its type of death metal in the hearts of an even wider audience. Recoil got a feel for the true pulse of hardcore in the O.C. by speaking with Bleeding Through vocalist Brandan Schieppati via telephone last month.

Recoil: Bleeding Through spent last summer on the second stage of Ozzfest. What was that whole experience like?
Brandan Schieppati: It was cool. It was a really good opportunity for us to play in front of a large group of different types of people. It was boring as fuck because you sit in a parking lot on your bus all day. And the first couple of weeks you watch like every set of every band, but after that, you're like, 'What do I do now?' So, it was a really good opportunity and it was really cool for us to do it and see a lot of new people at our shows since then. There's a definite payoff.

R: Would you like to play another outing with Ozzfest?
BS: Yeah, definitely. I don't think we could afford to do it again. If we got like a pay spot or something, we would do it. But I don't think we could afford to do the whole thing again because it was a lot of money and I think we're never going to see a royalty check because of it.

R: How has the MTV2 Headbanger's Ball Tour been going so far?
BS: It's been going really cool. We've only played like a week of shows. I think the response that we're getting is pretty good and everything's just really cool. The bands are getting along really well. So it's been a good time so far.

R: Were any of you all big fans of the show growing up?
BS: Oh, definitely. It's definitely an honor to be on the tour and be part of it.

R: What do you think about the show now on MTV2 and what do you think it's done to help the hardcore scene?
BS: It's definitely helped out a lot because there are a lot of new different faces that come out to these shows that wouldn't normally be there. It helps get your music out to a wider array or group of people.

R: Being a straight edge band, is it difficult playing at shows with a wide range of bands that live more of a rock 'n roll lifestyle?
BS: No, not all. It's something that we choose for ourselves and we don't judge anybody or do anything like that. We don't really care what other people do. It's just something that we decided that for our lives, to stay away from it. Like most of our friends drink and do stuff like that. It doesn't matter, it doesn't affect us at all.

R: Considering that you've been touring for over a year now in support of your last album, This Is Love, This Is Murderous, have you written any new material while you've been on the road or during the downtime between tours?
BS: We've written a few songs. We really haven't had much time off, but when we did we wrote about three new songs, I think we're going to keep one the way it is. We definitely have an idea of what our next stuff is going to sound like.

R: When do you think you will be heading back into the studio?
BS: We're going to go back into the studio around March or April. And hopefully record around like March, April and May and have a recording done by like June and promotions started for our next record. We have a tentative release date set for September 6, 2005 for our next record.

R: What sort of insights can you give your fans, at this point, about what the next record will sound like?
BS: It's more of the same – a blunt, shorter version, more to the point, more cut the shit. Just that type of shit.

R: What is it about Orange County, or maybe just Southern California in general, that has created so many good, but really heavy and pissed off bands lately?
BS: I think that there's a lot of people, like the scene there is really fucking big. It's the sort of thing where the kids get behind local bands, and so these bands get out there and get on the road and tour and play and have the confidence to get their music out there, which is unfortunate for a lot of different scenes [where] people don't like to get behind local bands or once they start touring they turn their back on them. So I think there's a lot of scenes like that everywhere, but I think in Orange County, we have such good local support that we're more heard because we got out there and we go on tour and stuff like that.

R: Do you think kids out here in the Midwest who only know about the pop-punk bands and the Fox TV show The O.C. will be surprised to know what it's really like to be from there?
BS: Definitely. I mean the scene is fucking huge out here. The past few years, I don't think there's a scene that's bigger. You go to a local show and there are five hundred kids. It's just so big out there. I think they'd be surprised. There are lots of different people out there. Everybody goes to hardcore shows and punk shows. It's really cool.

R: Lastly, I've got to ask, what's your favorite part of the movie The Boondock Saints?
BS: Probably when they go in that porn place and shoot all those people. [Laughs] It's kind of funny when Rocco starts shooting people.

R: For those who don't know, I had to ask because you guys opened "Love Lost In A Hail of Gunfire," the first track on the This Is Love CD, with a sample from that flick. Why did you add that as the intro to the album?
BS: I don't know. It's a movie that we all like and it was just something that we thought it would fit pretty cool, so we just used it.

R: Do you hope that they will come out with a sequel and if they do, will you try to be on the soundtrack?
BS: It would be awesome. They're supposed to have a sequel, they just haven't been working on it. It's called 'All Saints Day.' It's supposed to still come out, so we'll see.

December 2004