Interview: Blood Brothers

bloodbrothers

by PR!

Screamy toilet humor! The Blood Brothers just got signed to a major (ArtistDirect) so they must be doing something right, yeah? With five band members (two singers) they are bound to be the next Morris Day and the Time, and this is the interview that will propel them into stardom and later, methadone clinics.

Let’s begin with the Blood Brothers name; let me guess how you chose it?
Jordon: Our band started when we were about 15, and it was just a bit crazier then the other bands around us. It really had nothing to do with being ‘blood brothers’ or something.

Here’s a few examples of other ‘blood brother’s out there. (I brought along printouts of each example) The all male police motorcyle club. (www.bloodbrothersmc.org)
Jordon: (laughs) Yeah, we knew about that. (looking at the logo) that is fucking awesome.

The HIV awareness advertisment.
Jordon: Oh, nice.

The Spiderman comic with the ‘blood brother’s series.
Jordon: Aww, that’s cute. Hey (pointing to my next picture) are those the Menendez brothers?

Yep, the book about them, entitles Blood Brothers.
Jordon: Nice.

The gay fetish magazine, Blood Brothers.
Mark: (laughs) Rad
Jordon: (laughs) I like that

The play, “Blood Brothers” but I’m sure you heard of that one.
Jordon: Yeah, we often get asked about that. (points to the pict) Is that a spear?

Yeah, I’m not sure what’s happening there. That’s just what the internet told me. Did you guys go to high school together? Apologies for the lame questions, but there is absolutley shit for information on the Blood Brothers. Your website… is confusing.
Jordon: Yeah it is. Johnny and I went to high school together…
Mark: me and Cody went to high school together…
Jordon: and we all met Morgan later on.

I hear you’ve got what the industry likes to call a “buzz”. How’s that going for ya?
Jordon: It’s okay, our label is very supportive and let us record a record with little interference.

Compared to previous releases, this ArtistDirect album ‘sounds’ different then your other music. And I’m not counting that ‘production’ sound that has been massaged into the record, but the song stuctures themselves. What’s changed?
Cody: It’s not that it changed conciously but we’ve made natural changes so we don’t make the same record three times in a row.

How’s Ross Robinson as a producer?
Cody: Excellent, he make’s us comfortable.

ArtistDirect calls him a ‘Super producer’?
Jordon: Super producer!
Mark: He’s a pretty dope producer.

And he seems to be working with more ‘underground’ sounds like At The Drive In and Glassjaw. Speaking of which, how was the tour with Glassjaw? I mean, you guys get lumped into the catagory of sounding like Glassjaw.
Jordon: It was great from the standpoint of being on tour and getting to watch great bands play. The flipside of that was that the kids would either be accepting and supportive, or it would be middle fingers and heckeling. I would guess that one out of three or sometimes every other show would be like that.

I read a review online, and printed it out to read it to you guys and get your initial reaction. This is on the Amazon website (www.amazon.com), and this guy wrote a review after seeing Blood Brothers perform with Glassjaw on that tour: :”Having heard of this band from a lot of places and seeing they opened for Glassjaw I decided to give them a try. I really did try to like them, but I simply can’t. There’s nothing here worth listening too.” First of all, do you guys read positive and negative feedback?
Cody: I think all feedback is good, but if it’s negative, it’s a lot easier to write about. I don’t really care what some ‘reviewer’ for some shitty zine thinks about my band.
Jordon: I get a good laugh out of it; it’s funny to see how much people hate what we do.

Let’s continue: “Blood Brothers depend on the back and forth going lyrics from the two vocalists, but they’re not a comedy act.” Is that something that you find, that people have trouble grasping a band with dual vocalists?
Jordon: What is up with this guy? A comedy act?
Mark: I think people are usually pretty cool with it, because one guy is singing and the other is screaming.
Jordon: It is something that reviewers seem to focus on more then I would like them to, but it’s not that strange, at least to us. We’ve been doing this for five years and… well, I don’t know where I was going with that. Sorry.

He finishes up his review with “If you like simple toilet humor and screaming, go right ahead and buy this album.”
Cody: At least he recommends it!
Jordon: Toilet humor? He sounds like some fuck face.

(laughs) So yeah, where do the lyrics come from anyways?
Jordon: Me and Johnny write them. It’s usually something that one of us has been working on, hand’s it off to the other, and then we finalize it.

“Every breath is a bomb” is probably my favorite song; what stemmed it’s creation?
Jordon: Sort of just trying something different that we haven’t done before.

What does the Blood Brothers do on the road to pass the time?
Jordon: I sleep right there. (points to where I’m sitting)
Cody: Johnny sleeps a lot also. We never really talk, everyone just get’s in their ‘van ride mode’.

Any vegeterians/vegans in the band?
Mark: Johnny’s vegan.
Jordon: We all try to stay reasonably healthy.

SXE?
Cody: We’re not big partiers, each member kind of does what they do.
Johnny: Except we all do toilet humor.

Opinion of the ‘scene’ you’re in?
Cody: I like the fact that we can go on tours like this. I mean, we can tour with bands like The Used and Glassjaw, or tour with Get Hustle and the Locust. It’s neat to be that flexable.