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Bloodhorse Alright you filthy animals of doom, open your hind legs and clap your paws for your new keepers. Here to crush your cages and choke your chains, surging from the bowels of Wadzilla studios in Allston Massachusetts, the pummeling, deafening, death machine known as Bloodhorse! |
Interview with If you could describe Bloodhorse in 25 words or less what would that be? Loud amps. Mismatched drums. The ethics of the old guard. Ignorant riffage in C standard. What influences fuel the band? Bands, books, movies, authors, directors, artists, cult leaders? At the risk of becoming far too long-winded, the most pertinent, common thread of influence musically between the three of us is Black Sabbath, The Who, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Hell, this whole thing pretty much started because of how much we enjoyed jamming on Space Truckin'. |
All three of us hold the ethic and approach to music of each of the aforementioned in the highest regard. we try to approach the music we make in the same way that Sabbath, Zeppelin or Purple approached Elvis, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson etc., etc... They were certainly beholden to their influences, yet in a way that wasn't a carbon copy of the music that inspired them. It seems to me that many people miss the important fact that you can be very original in a very tried method. Beyond musical influences, and this is personally speaking, I am strongly influenced by cinema and literature, both in riff writing and for lyrics. Movie wise, anything daring. |
I am more drawn to directors and cinematography than most actors, but this is obviously very subjective. I would say a good core of influence comes from Sergio Leone, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Ruggiero Deodato, Roman Polanski... I could ramble on and on. Our song "The Sonambulist" was heavily influenced by Argento's Phenomena (oft-overlooked classic) and we are close to finishing a song that chronicles some of the recurring themes in Leone's the man with no name trilogy. It goes on and on. |
Being a virtual shut in and irredeemable bibliophile, I read quite a bit. And to be honest, though it seems somewhat contradictory, the two books that have had the biggest influence for me lyrically have been the Bible and Milton's Paradise Lost. we certainly are not pushing a religious agenda... Hell, I don't know if any of us believe in God, much less the God presented in the Bible... It is more so for how language is used. The way I see it, you can make a point, be it personal, political, or otherwise, and have it lost in poor use of language. people remember the stories in the Bible, or in Milton, or even Dante. |
These works are written with a tenor that is effective and memorable. I'll leave the secular stuff for the nuts and take the language of someone on hallucinogenics detailing the Apocalypse any day of the week. Oh, I would also be a liar if I didn't say that charlie wasnt an influence on some of our lyrics... |
From the band art all the way to the recording process Bloodhorse prides itself as being strictly DIY. What led all of you individually and collectively to adopt this ideal? Collectively, we all have a pretty strong distaste for the music "industry", but more importantly, we want to be the ultimate arbiters of our fate. We don't like how most recordings sound, so we do our own... Same for artwork, how releases are packaged and so on. We have some pretty crazy ideas and I know that all of us would be very disappointed if we didn't realize as many as we physically can. We don't want anyone telling us that their budget won't accommodate an idea that we would be willing to walk in to traffic for. |
Personally, I have heard a bit from labels and/or label representatives in whatever band I happened to be in at the time and most of their talk does not include the truth. Shit, I have had a label not only lie, but take the time to draw up pages of plans for marketing and other assorted nonsense only to do not one thing that was in their professionally bound turd. Great. None of us are big fans of bullshit, and though we certainly do not believe that all labels are run by spineless shit-heaps, a good portion of them are. I am not going to say we won't put something out on a label, or not do split releases or whatever, but we really want to rise or fall by our own hands. |
If Bloodhorse could do one thing that would change the world forever what would that be? Man, this answer could be endless... Well, realistically, being a band, the one thing we have at best a remote chance of changing would be something music related... Alright, how about this, you couldn't be a male and wear make up unless your last name was either Stanley, Simmons, Criss or Frehley. Rumor has it that you have an "Aim For The Head" policy, can you explain this? When they bust in your door, you'll know. Haha. If anyone would like some pseudo-political, paranoia-babble, see me at the bar wherever we are playing. |
Oh yeah, you're buying... Ha. In your opinion what is the biggest problem with underground art and music right now? I think the biggest problem with underground music and art is that whether it is the "artists" or the scene or whatever the hell you want to call it feel that they are not susceptible to the same things that make them want to be outside the mainstream. The underground really does not seem to exist any more. Trends within the underground are more marked and extreme than what effects the so called MTV generation. Like the "mainstream", people follow the leader. |
If someone is successful, often times it is copied by dozens of inferior pretenders. What makes it even worse, is that it is done so with an air and a belief that they really are independent and doing something different, simply because it doesnt sound like radio schlock. If you are "underground", fucking apply it to your work. In some way shape or form, be different. What is it that you feel a lot of the newer bands lack? Good songs, good musicianship. Sounds pretty stupid, but it is true. I have seen quite a few people that look the part, have the right moves, and are focusing on a means to "blow up" rather than writing music that is endearing. |
Far more dress up than utter devestation. Since you are a horror movie fanatic how do you feel about many of the classics from the 70's and 80's being remade? I don't like it. most horror movie nuts realize that the timelessness of the classics are because of the time and space that the movies occupy... The improvisation of filming techniques and reliance on utter brutality (psychological or physical) to compensate for what the filmmakers lacked in budget. Take for example the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I will use this one as it is the only remake I made myself sit through. the remake lost all of what made the original so horrifying... The utter randomness of it all. |
Those sunshined eyed travelers simply crossed the wrong fucking path, no explanation at all for the brutality, cannibalism etc. That sense of terror is captured by Tobe Hooper in almost of every shot... Be it landscape shots, the dinner table sequence, the meathook and on... You can't substitute ingenuity with some Generation X titties and expect to make something resonant, instead, you make hollow crap. I would be very willing to venture that the same applies to most, if not all recent remakes. Does Bloodhorse have the biggest gong in Boston? If it is bigger than Bonham's, it is bigger than Boston. However, it is all in how you use it. |
Credits
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© Velle Magazine 2006 |
