Bleed The Sky Interview

Noah, Bleed The Sky's singer takes the time to answer all R13's questions.

R13: For those who do not know you, can you tell us who you are?
N: Well first off my name is Noah, the singer for Bleed the Sky. We are from Orange County, California. We just recently got signed with Nuclear Blast records. We like to think of ourselves solely as a 'Metal' band, even though we've labelled as a metal-core band. We've been together for about two and a half years now, and our debut album "Paradigm in Entropy" will be released on the 19th of April in the states, and the 25th of April in Europe.

R13: How did you get into music?
N: Well, all of us come from different musical backgrounds, but we all collectively grew up taking music classes at young ages. We just really like to write music that we can listen to ourselves, since we are first music fans ourselves and second musicians.

R13: You guys are from Orange County, where a lot of pop-punk metal bands come from, what do you think differentiate you from the others and helped you get noticed by a record company?
N: Well to be honest, there's not a lot of music like ours in this area. Like you said it’s mostly pop-punk and hardcore bands in this area, so it wasn't extremely difficult to stand out as a non-traditional metal band, even though the competition is very difficult for music in general out here. I think our record label just saw something different in our overall style compared to most. We tend to write our music to be well structured, rather than focusing on outright heaviness.

R13: You recently signed up with a label… Do you feel any pressure coming from there as for what you have to write or are you still free to do whatever you want?
N: Surprisingly, we thought Nuclear Blast would really be putting a lot of pressure on us considering the roster on the label, but they've made it very clear to us that our originality is what they're interested in more so than our brutality. So we're very relieved that we'll still be able to work freely on our follow up album.

R13: Your album is out on 25th April 2005, what is the atmosphere like on it?
N: I believe it to be very well structured. We take a lot of pride in being able to write things that appeal to us, as well as our fans. 'very diverse in my opinion. There are elements of death metal, grunge, and so many other genres of music in general. You name it, we listen to it.

R13: How do you write the music... do you write it all together or is there just one person responsible for the writing?
N: We definitely all take part in the writing process. We do all have certain duties in our song-writing that I think makes our music better. Our drummer and I usually structure the initial "riffs", then we pass it on to our guitarists (Wayne and Kyle), who then mould it into an actual song. All in all it seems to be working alright for us so far.

R13: How would you describe your music?
N: Well we've been called "the Soundgarden of Heavy Metal", which is one of the most flattering compliments we've had yet. We believe in just writing good music, heavy or not. We're not out to become the heaviest metal band on the planet, we just want to make our mark as good songwriters, nothing more.

R13: Who are your main influences?
N: Without question our two biggest influences would have to be Alice in Chains and Meshuggah. Alice in Chains were the one of the best composing bands on the planet, and were able to reach people in a way that is unmatched, both through their music and their lyrics. I think Meshuggah speaks for themselves. They have the capacity to change their musical style on every album, yet become more and more appealing with each album. I think to combination of the two would something never heard of.

R13: Is there any band you would like to collaborate with or tour with?
N: Absolutely we would tour with Meshuggah any day of the week. We would also really like to tour with bands like Lamb of God, Chimaira, Killswitch Engage, Soilwork, and Mnemic. Any of these would be an honour to share the stage with.

R13: You've been touring all over the US... What are your best, worst and weirdest memories?
N: Well one time our former bass player Casey shit his pants on accident while we were having an extremely competitive fart contest; he was crowned champion later that evening. Any time we take the stage with our brothers in STEMM, (an unsigned metal band from Niagara Falls, NY), it's the best shows we’ve ever had.

R13: When will we have the chance to see you here in the U.K.?
N: As soon as fucking possible! We can’t wait to play overseas; we've heard the scene is unbelievable. We've begun talks of possibly touring in Europe toward the later part of the year, so we'll just have to see how things go after the release of the album in April.

R13: What is the next project for the band?
N: Extensive touring to promote our debut album. We've also already begun work on a couple new tracks for our follow-up album, so hopefully we'll back in the studio sooner than later.

R13: Finally, what is the ultimate goal for Bleed the Sky?
N: We just want to reach people with our music, and still rock the fuck out when we're 80 years old. Hopefully people will enjoy our music as much as we do. Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to do this interview, the pleasure is all ours. See you on the fucking road!

Be sure to go and buy their CD! Just to remind you their album is out on 25th April 2005 and is called "Paradigm in Entropy".