My Interview with Bleed From Within
Meet the Scottish Deathcore act
Hailing from Scotland, Bleed From Within music spreads like wildfire worldwide. How is the metal scene growing in your homeland, and how does it stand in the global UK metal scene?
The scene here is great, there’s a healthy local metal scene in Glasgow as well as other towns/cities in Scotland like Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh. Everyone here is passionate about music and I think a lot of bands from elsewhere who come here notice that. The whole of the UK in fact has some amazing bands emerging right now and bands who are doing really well in the UK and internationally. Bands like While She Sleeps, Bury Tomorrow, Sylosis and really starting to make a name for themselves and put the UK back on the map when it comes to new metal bands. Most of the bands in the UK all know each other quite well and it’s like a big family, we’re all in it together.
It has been 7 years since you guys kick-started the band. Looking back, what do you miss the most from the early years?
I wouldn’t say we miss the early years, we still have the same excitement and passion for the band now than when we did back then. We never started the band to become well known or go anywhere with it, it was always just for fun and because we enjoyed it and that’s still true now. It was great being young and not really knowing what to expect, it’s a great feeling getting opportunities to tour and travel and do cool things just because of the band. We still feel like this is just the beginning for us, we have a lot of years ahead of us and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.
Recently, “Uprising” finished 2nd place at Revolvermag web site for album of the week. There were some other big names in this competition. Do you feel your talent is now being acknowledged or is this a small matter to you guys?
With our other 2 albums, we never really had any backing from the press so it’s a great feeling reading the reviews for Uprising in magazines etc, to know that influential magazines and media dig what we are doing. The response we’ve had from our fans has been incredible too, that means a lot to us. We don’t write music to keep certain people or groups of people happy, we write what we like and enjoy playing, so it’s amazing to know that the people who make it possible for us to do what we do, the fans, are really into the new stuff. We’ve put a loto f time and effort into writing the álbum and getting it released, so it’s a relief!
About the new album “Uprising,” what main differences can we hear when comparing it with former releases?
Uprising is much more focused; we had a lot more time to write this album compared to the last 2. We wanted to take the parts from Empire that we liked and work on that and try and push ourselves as much as we could. We were really inspired by events around the band at the time, and there were a lot of great metal albums coming out, too. We knew what we didn’t want to write and just focused on writing heavy, groovy & melodic metal the way we wanted to write it. We’ve definitely matured a lot since the last album 3 years ago; it still sounds like Bleed From Within, just on a whole new level.
“The War Around Us,” what conflict is this? And why the “Uprising”?
The War Around Us is about people around us in everyday life that we see, who are junkies/living on benefits/scumbags who are bringing up their children into the exact same lifestyle as them, just to create even more scumbags and not giving them a proper chance at life, and of course, having more children means getting more benefits from the government. We’re just surrounded by these types of people at home, and it’s disgusting. Uprising is up for interpretation; if you’ve known the band and the situation we’ve been in, it’ll make sense. It also kind of describes us right now; we’re leaving the past behind and looking forward to a better future, we have a new label, new management, and a new album, and we’re ready to take on the world!
South Australian Simon Robinson produced a record-breaking scream measuring 128 decibels at the Guinness Challenge in Adelaide, South Australia, on 11 November 1988. But listening to Scott Kennedy is your frontman trying to enter the Guinness World Records list for the loudest man, because, hell, he goes sky-high on “Uprising”?
I reckon he could give this Simon guy a run for his money. 1988 was the year I was born, so he’s probably getting on a bit now anyway.
Recently Justin Bieber was awarded “The Loudest Scream” at London’s Wembley Stadium. Now, what if we had a Scott vs. Bieber at Wembley. What would be the outcome of such a contest?
I’d say Scott would win since Justin Bieber would probably turn up late/not turn up at all.
The artwork of the album is just gorgeous. Can you explain the concept behind it?
We knew we wanted our friend Tom Bates to do the art, he’s an incredible artist, and we wanted something really dark/evil and really detailed, and that’s the exact style he does. We went to Tom with our ideas, and he came up with the concept. The stag beetle is a fighting beetle; it fights for what it wants/needs, which represents us fighting to get to where we are now, getting through the situation we were in, and fighting to keep our dream alive. The Key represents the key to our freedom, free-ing ourselves from our past and moving on. The upside-down crown represents the collapse of an element from our past, which held us back, and the eye represents our eyes being open to what’s going on around us and looking to the future.
The next step, getting on tour. With whom are you hitting the road this time, and what can we expect from the set-list?
We just got back from Europe with Testament, which was insane. It’s not the usual type of crowd we’re used to, but that was the whole point in doing the tour, to win over the older, traditional metal audience. We’re about to head out on our first headline tour of the UK in 4 years. We can’t wait to get out on the road again and play some new songs from Uprising and see the response we get. We’ll be playing some old favorites too, but it’s the new songs we’re really excited about taking to the stage. After that, summer festivals, and hopefully world domination!
Are you expecting to hit Portuguese shores this year?
Hopefully, there’s nothing planned yet, but we love playing there, it’s a beautiful country too, and the shows are crazy, so fingers crossed!
The “Iron Lady” passed away recently. Now musicians all over the UK have taken up arms on both sides of the barricade, for and against Margaret Thatcher. Elvis Costello’s “Tramp the Dirt Down” is rising in the UK charts, and The Independent states that someone started a campaign to get “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” to number 1. What’s your opinion on this matter?
We don’t really care, to be honest, everything that happened with Thatcher was before we were even born so we were never involved in it and it never really affected us. We can understand the hatred that the people of Scotland have towards her, but at the end of the day she was still a person, with a family, it’s wrong that people should be celebrating her death, it’s not like she was Bin Laden or Hitler.
12. The Independent also stated that Foreign Secretary William Hague said «British taxpayers can well “afford” to contribute to the estimated £10 million costs of Baroness Thatcher’s funeral». Would you guys open your pockets to pay for any former ruler's funeral?
No chance! That whole thing is ridiculous.
Last but not least, fun fact moment! On wiki.answers.com, we read: «Is the band Bleed from within Anti Christ?» The answer is: «– NO!» Care to comment?
We’re atheists, so we’re more anti-religion than anti-christ, if we believed in the devil then that would mean we also believed in God, which we don’t.
Sorry, I can’t help it! One more! Now the question all your groupies and female fans may fancy answered!!! What’s under a Scottish deathcore musician's kilt?
You should maybe ask a Scottish deathcore musician that question, we’re a metal band.
Please, just a few special words for our readers and all your fans!?
Check out our new album Uprising if you haven’t already, and come down to a show and headbang with us!
Thank you for your time and for this masterpiece of metal you have created.
This interview originally appeared here on Rock n’Heavy.
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