Since the canning of the Get Rocked Festival in Byron Bay fans of Kiwi hardcore outfit The Bleeders are gonna have to wait a little bit longer to wrap their ears around the brand new tracks the boys were preparing to unleash.
Angelo Munro, lead screamer for The Bleeders reckons that when Australian audiences do get a listen to the second (self titled) LP, they can look forward to experiencing an edge he says wasn’t present on their award-winning debut, As Sweet as Sin.
“We lost friends in a car accident around the time we were writing the [first] record. That influenced a lot of the lyrics. We’ve come through the other side but the new album is actually darker. Lyrically, it might not be as depressing, but musically, it’s heavy, it’s dark, it’s not try-hard emo music. It’s definitely a backlash at that kind of stuff. We wanted to bring back some New Zealand [hardcore].” What a relief! But surely he’s not saying that emos are try-hards?
“Years before the emo revolution, we wore black,” he admits, laughing in – what sounds like – disbelief. “I wore eyeliner. We wanted something different. All of a sudden – BOOM! Every kid on the corner’s like that… it’s like, fuck it! It’s not individual anymore.” But those sullen little poppets look so… “They’re not even depressed!” Angelo laughs. “The only thing dark about emo is the fashion. Those kids listen to the happiest go-lucky pop music that sounds like sun shining [when] you’re at the beach.”
That’s right kids – you certainly won’t be getting happy-go-lucky pop music on the upcoming record. “We think our new material’s incredible. Hopefully they’ll love the raw energy. We’ll bring some dirty rock ’n’ roll punk-rock kind of stuff, you know?” Oh yes, we know Angelo, we know. But sadly, these tattooed men of punk have barely got time to scratch themselves, let alone get over here to promote the album. “We haven’t really got time to tour cos we’ve gotta shoot some music videos and stuff like that [within] about a month.” Ah, life’s tough for some isn’t it punters?
And as for the fast crazy times, well, yeah….. read on….. “I moved on from hardcore when we grew up. I still liked the idea of not drinking or doing drugs so I’ve just kinda kept that going. I’m not your typical straight edge kid – [We] party and we all have fun together, I just decided I’d rather stay straight. I’m the nerd who answers the kids emails, or calls the manager [and asks] ‘when’s the album coming out, when are we shooting videos?’ The other guys rock up to band practice, play shows and have a lot of fun. I’m the geek of the band.” A hot geek with wicked tatts but hey, we digress.
As well as giving us a sneak peek at the new record, the boys were looking forward to catching up with some old touring mates. “Parkway Drive … last time they came to New Zealand, I bought ‘em out. Behind Crimson Eyes.” The Bleeders toured with Behind Crimson Eyes not 18 months ago but they were no strangers to our big brown land, having done a couple of circuits with Gyroscope, not to mention their dream support slot with AFI . “Opportunity of a life time man!” enthuses Angelo. “I grew up listening to that band.”
They might have to jump on the blower now though to suss out which of their hardcore compatriots are keen to help support their 2008 album tour. “We’re relatively big in New Zealand but nowhere else – when we go to Australia we work really hard to get things going … to find the support bands and stuff. It’s part of the fun of it.”
So if The Bleeders are so crash hot in New Zealand, how do they feel about fronting up to an Australian crowd that might not know them?”‘It’s great! We don’t have anything to live up to. We just go and rock out. That’s what I’m looking forward to!” Choice bro! So are we!
Of course, the likelihood of us adopting them as our own if they are too good is very real. “Ah! like Shihad and Evermore!” hoots Angelo, ‘Well we claim Crowded House are a Kiwi band and well, the singer is…” Yes, exactly. You can have that Neil fellow, those, er, others were ours to begin with…
