Blood In/Blood Out were personally one of my favourite bands around reading this interview you may understand why.Real hardworking Hardcore and so many bands like this exist for such a short period of time that in the blink of an eye they are gone and they deserve so much more.
Blood In Blood Out have 5 awesome releases under their belt and are quite unknown in
Firstly thanks for taking part in the interview.
For those that do not know; How long has Blood In Blood Out been a band?
Well we started off in 2002....but Dave (the bassist), Joe (one of our original guitarists) and myself were in a band together since the late 90's called R.A.D.T. ....RADT was more of a positive kind of a more fun type hardcore band. Along the lines of Stretch Armstrong, Shutdown, Bane, Straight Faced... Shit like that.... we were young and naive then and thought hardcore was this picture perfect thing....well we found out real quick about the trends and trend hoppers and basically a long story short we got old and jaded....and R.A.D.T. just wasn’t cutting it....we needed something fresh....something meaner, something that reflected what we were feeling. so we decided to move on to new and better shit...we got with this kid, Jake, from another local band around here called Hard Ta Kill, and we got this drummer, mark, from basically a punk rock background, and we started jamming to see what kinda mess we could come up with.
Why did you choose the name?
We started off playing under the name Get Even. and we played some shows under that name, until someone told us there was already a band called Get Even in Cleveland (which we later found out there wasn’t...there was actually a band called Dead Even....oh well) so we decided to come up with some new shit...among some of the ideas were You've Been Warned, As Good As Dead, and Talk Is Cheap....Jake threw in Blood In/Blood Out, and said he was sure that no one would have this name....we all agreed it was a good name and that no one would have it and went with it.
Was the name inspired by the film of the same name?
See we had no clue where the name came from at first. Jake told us of the movie then, so we all went out and rented it...turns out it’s a great fuckin movie...and the idea Blood In/Blood Out kinda hit home with all of us. So we went with it.
Listening to Blood In Blood Out I can hear a strong Thrash Metal influence combined with the ferocity of Hardcore it makes for a devastating sound.
How did you find or decide upon the sound you have amidst a sea of bands that sound horribly alike? Well the thing is we all write the music. In some bands just one person, usually the guitarist, writes all the songs and that’s that....well we all have a part in the riffs...and write the shit together at practices.... we were all from different backgrounds (like punk, metal, hardcore, death metal)so lots of influences shine thru.
we all grew up with the Original Headbangers Ball though....Everything from Biohazard to Morbid Angel videos...can't beat that shit...
we all love Thrash metal, hardcore and punk....it was easy to get together and jam and write shit with all of the above as influences.
we didn’t set out to be "tuff guy" or "Youth crew" or "Thrash" or whatever the flavor of the week is this week in hardcore...we just wrote songs as they came to us...fast or slow or mid paced...its all the same to us...it was about the attitude to us...which seems to be lost in a lot of bands these days...They all care about getting signed and/or being "Tuff" ...fuck half of the new bands out today ...most have that shitty mentality
The new cd’s production is amazing it sounds a lot more open, natural and so much heavier than any of the previous releases whilst still maintaining the core elements of the Blood In Blood Out sound. Was a new studio or producer involved?
Yeah we went to a new studio for this one. Our Friend James, the singer of King of Clubz, highly recommended this studio to us....he showed us the new King Of Clubz cd, which was recorded there, and told us how much they paid....and we were sold on it....we thought it sounded like a major label recording...we couldn’t believe it.
so we went with it....Mercenary Digital Studios...we basically Produced it ourselves with the help of the dude who runs it, Scott Creekmore, who plays drums for the Death Metal band LUPARA....so him being a death metal drummer had an amazing drum sound ready for us when we got there....which is my favorite part, drum sound.
Now that we have worked with him, I feel that the next time we are there; it will go that much smoother and sound way better than this release does.
What bands or artists influence the band?
Well like I said before we are really into Punk, Metal and hardcore...Id have to say bands that are high on our list of influences are Slayer, Biohazard, Sick Of It All, Metallica, Downset, Agnostic Front, Testament, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I., M.O.D., Nuclear Assault, Mushmouth, Death Threat, Irate, Powerhouse, Ensign, Ringworm, One Life Crew, Integrity, Buried Alive, Despair, In Cold Blood, 25 ta Life, Killing Time, Backfire...shit like that
id have to say personally though, growing up in New York, that I am influenced by a lot of mid nineties hardcore bands from the upstate New York area...mainly All Out War, Inner Dam, and Beneath The Remains
Lyrically Blood In Blood Out tackle personal and social issues, For those that have not had the opportunity to read the lyrics. Could you explain what drives the band to write them?
I write all the lyrics myself, and I would have to say that my crappy life is the main focus and drive behind all of the lyrics... I mean I write about the hardcore scene from time to time as well, cause shit aint perfect with that either....so I guess I’m saying that I write about shitty aspects of my life...most people deal with there problems and they are done with em, I deal with em by writing about em....and later putting them to a song...
my boss at work was recently reading lyrics in the new cd....an he was like "hey man, are you ok? should I be worrying that you are gonna come in and shoot the place up?" and I didn’t understand what he was talking about...then he started quoting some of my lyrics from the new cd....and I had to explain to him, that was a period in my life that was fucked up....and I wrote about it....it doesn’t mean I am miserable and depressed and feeling that way all the time...its just how I was feeling at the time...and writing about it is how I cope and deal with shit.
Could you give us a track by track breakdown of the new ep?
For sure...
Track 1 - NO HOPE - basically this track is saying Fuck Hope...and give up on it...its a pretty personal song...I mean for years it just seems that I hope for the best in every situation just to get shot down in the end....so my outlook now is to assume the worst....and if anything better happens its a bonus....cause always having high hopes and having them crushed just isn’t a way to live for me. I’m tired of the constant letdown in life time and again.
Track 2 - LIFE OF PAIN - this song is basically about how I hold in all my emotions till they explode. This isn’t a very healthy way to go about life, but it’s a hard habit to break....and a lot of men fall into this category anyways. It basically makes shit hurt that much more.
And I’ve had a lot of people in my life die, as have most people....my mom, my aunt, and some friends....and I usually don’t deal with those emotions as these people are taken from my life....and then one day, usually years later...BAM!!!, I’m crying uncontrollably because of a friend that died years ago....and like I said before, I deal with shit by writing down stuff as I go thru it,...and basically this song was a product of one of those emotional explosions
Track 3 - FALLING APART - I just lost my girlfriend, my dog and my place to live, our guitarist just informed me that he was quitting the band (the only thing I love in my life), and I was now living on my bass players couch waking up to his kids asking why I was there ....sometimes a lot of little "nothings" add up when they all happen at once and it feels like a ton of bricks being dropped on you. I basically felt like everything in my life was falling apart....nothing was going right for me at the time...
Track 4 - BETRAYED - this song was actually written before we wrote the cd RESPECT OUR LOYALTY. it was supposed to be on a 7 inch that we actually recorded but never put out.....it is about our guitarists cheating ex-girlfriend....She slept with his best friend at the time, among many other dicks that she came in contact with....needless to say she needs to die from AIDS...
Track 5 - BY MYSELF - I wrote this song in the last few months of the shitty relationship I was in....this song is basically me realizing that I will probably be alone forever and die a bitter old man....a song of self realization for me....its basically me admitting that I am a selfish piece of shit also.
Track 6 -
You grew up any one of those things, and you were stared at...looked down upon...and were an outcast to society. It’s not like it is these days, where it’s socially acceptable to be hardcore and a skater and shit like that, those kids are the cool kids now...oh how times have changed.....I wish some of these kids had to go thru the torment we went thru...
On your second full length “Respect Our Loyalty” the last track “Your Hatred Dies With You” really stuck out for me. Aside from the obvious motivation; What made you want to give a verbal kicking to all of the racist scumbags out there?
what can I say....we live in the ass crack of
What would you like listeners to take from a Blood In Blood Out release?
honestly I like when they can relate to the lyrics in there own life....I know I’m not the only one goin thru fucked up shit in my life...and some kids don’t have good parenting and act out a lot due to that, and there only outlet is music sometimes...so if they hear that the fat piece of shit singer in BIBO lost his mom at an early age and struggles to cope with the loss ...and they are goin thru the same shit in there life and don’t know how to deal either, then maybe that helps them realize they aren’t alone in the world with there problems...that someone else feels the same way...I love when someone comes up to me at a show or I get an email telling me that they can totally relate to what I’m saying to there life and how the song helps them cope with there issues...that is seriously the best feeling ever.
my friend John is a heroin addict, and called me one night to tell me that our new cd has helped him thru tuff times in his struggle to over come his addiction...and he was thanking me....its was seriously the best feeling ever that my words could help in such a manner...
but as far as the music goes....I want people to realize that we aren’t trend hopper assholes....we play what we want...we don’t do flavor of the week shit...we stay true to our roots....we aren’t playing music to make it big or become popular, we play music to vent our frustrations of everyday life....we are everyday joes that punch a clock at a factory, and drink beer and play hardcore metal and punk on the weekends.
Is there a particular reason why? After two full lengths under
When not playing in Blood In Blood Out what does each band member do?
Dave and I work at a Steel manufacturing plant where we make Steel framed building components. Dave has a wife and 2 kids also.
Mark and his dad own a family Pub together....so he is always busy with that when not doing the band. Rich has worked at UPS for the last 20 years and he plays in another band called Any Given Second. We all have little side bands that we work on from time to time as well.
I understand that one of your guitarists has chosen to quit Blood In Blood Out, What would be the reason behind the decision? Will you be taking on a new 2nd Guitarist? Or continuing on as a 4 piece? Well that’s hard to say right now. We kinda decided to go as a four piece for now cause we don’t wanna deal with the whole getting a new guitarist process. But as far as Steve....well he quit cause of personal issues...he just couldn’t do what we were doin as a band, like the traveling and practices...and what not.
Steve is a good dude and a good guitarist....he's a family man though...as it turns out though we aren’t doin much of BI/BO anymore anyways after his departure. Shit is just hard these days with everyone busy with there own lives. So I think we are taking some time off for now.
Don’t know what the future holds for BI/BO...but we'll see soon enough. Like I said Rich is doin Any Given Second and us other members are tryin to get some side shit goin right now....
the future of BI/BO is up in the air...
Finally any last words? check out the myspace from time to time....we'll try to have band updates on what’s good and shit and what’s goin on with us and our status....that’s about all I can say for now. and thanks so much for the interview brother.
Unfortunately shortly after this interview Blood In/Blood Out called it a day you can still get the new and old cds from Spook City Records http://www.spookcityusa.com/.
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