thebLEED_

How I Feel About It

I remember walking into a warehouse which (I believe) was situated in Port Washington, on Long Island, in New York. I was meeting a friend from Long Island who was intent upon introducing me to the Ramones. I knew nothing about them, and having come from a Sony meeting, arrived at the show in a suit and trench coat. My friend giggled as he approached me from the center of the floor. There were people madly thrashing about in the pit and four dudes on stage who looked to me like they should be playing metal. They weren’t. Instead they were cranking out simple, buzz saw-like tunes in rapid succession, whipping their fans into frenzy. Except for the song Heroin Took My Girl, The Bleed doesn’t sound like the Ramones. But you can hear the production, especially in the guitar, from all of their influences:

1. the saints
2. buzzcocks
3. the clash
4. the ramones

Nor does the Bleed share the pacing of the Ramones, who rarely stopped or dropped beneath mid tempo. For me, the Ramones were an unwelcoming bunch, who attempted to brutalize my sensibilities until they resembled their own, whereas the Bleed is much more seductive, much more willing to use rock conventions spurned by many of those devoted to punk music. I hear a great deal of Nirvana in the arrangements.

I love each and every one of the songs sent us, but especially Sunday which has a raspy, Rod Stewart vocal sound. I think there are two different vocals throughout the album, and both of them are quality,that’s what makes this release brilliant, but the raspy one nails it on the head with this song. All five songs warrant radio play, but Sunday is classic. (Every time I listed to it, I’m immediately transported back to a summer spent in Sydney, in King’s Cross.) Any major label out there should be looking to get these guys into a 360° deal and start them touring the US. Getting them to sign would not be for the faint hearted but well worth the pen to paper.

What I Think About It

With no MAJOR label representation i contacted an actual member myself and he had us download the songs from a server which we rented for a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t burn the songs onto disk from my hard drive due to right protection of the bands indie digital label and can only listen to the songs in the studio. Now I have to verbally pummel the band’s manager in order to get my own copy of the album ! As seems their collective stance on most things except their music a bleed member assured me they were not into bullshit mental canon and would not chase my review. 

These are extremely well crafted songs, simple, with an ear for production. Their lyrics never fall into cliché. The instrumentation is tight without sounding constrained. If there is any criticism to make of the Bleed, it’s that they strictly rely on convention and push no musical envelopes. But they couldn’t use the conventions any better, and they deserve a wide audience as much as it deserves them.