‘The Eighth Note’ is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians, and ‘New Album’ is where a band or artist answers some questions about their latest release.
It’s a chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music.
Today’s guest’s are Bloodshot, who have just released their debut full-length album ‘Pull the Plug’.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
We are Bloodshot. A Metal-core band from Wellington, New Zealand.
With inspirations from the likes of: Bring Me The Horizon, Crown The Empire, Northlane, Issues, Periphery, TesseracT, and many more.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
We’ve just released an 11 song album but have also written an EP’s worth of new songs in the mean time.
When/where was the new album recorded?
Our Debut Album ” Pull the Plug” was recorded a few locations, first we tried recording in a studio which we weren’t really vibing with. So we decided to go back to our rhehersal space which just so happened to have a high arched ceiling which gave the room very nice acoustics to work with. So that was all mainly recording for the drums. Everything else was done at the kitchen table apart from vocals which happened in Jesse’s bedroom with a couple of mattresses for sound dampening. We probably started the process January/February 2017 mucking around with ideas. Officially starting in mid April 2017 then finishing after a number of hurdles late April 2018.
Who produced/engineered the album? How did the tracks come together in the studio, or at home?
Bloodshot and Doug Thimbleby ( Jesse’s dad ) Produced and engineered the album. Doug doing about 90% of the work with us just feeding our input to him. The tracks on the album came together over a long time. Some dating back to 2013 with the most recent being written early 2017.
How did the songwriting happen? Are there any overall themes within the songs/album?
For the most part idea’s struck us when-ever inspiration hit and we wrote from there. There were times however where one of us would be listening and think ” I want to have a song like that”, then we’d go away with that for inspiration and write something. As for the lyrical sides of things, Tyler wrote the majority with Jesse writing lyrics to 3 of the 11 songs. We write lyrics to what ever is going through our mind at the time or if something significant has a big enough impact on us that we feel we need to write about it.
Were you going for a different sound/approach on this album?
Most definitely. We wanted this album to sound a lot more like the music we listen to. Both in writing and production. Taking this approach definitely is what caused us to take longer than expected with the production. Something BIG that was a hurdle for us was going from Digital to Analog. We tried bouncing our finished songs on to a 2 track Otari Mx5050 Reel to Reel to capture, the “analog goodness” we heard so much about. But that “goodness” ended up being a detrimental high frequency harshness once back from mastering and had also “slammed” the audio before it even got the chance to have compression put on it.
Was there any specific gear you used to capture that?
Not any specific gear to say. But I guess the closest would be Fractal Audio’s Axe Fx Ultra Guitar Processor / Effects unit. With a lot modern bands using it, it was definitely helpful to create a more modern tone with ease.
Is there a particular single/track that you feel captures the essence of the album?
I wouldn’t say there is but I guess our most dynamic song is our last track
‘Peripheral’.
Is there a physical copy available? If not which digital platforms is it available on?
There are a limited edition of 200 physical copies available. As for digital platforms it will be on everything: Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, iTunes, Googleplay, Amazon, etc.
Are you working on a video/videos for any of the songs? Are you doing any gigs or promotion for its release?
We’re definitely working on videos for this album. Which I can’t say too much about but they’re going to be sick! We are doing a show on the 11th of May as our official album release and a lot of promotion within the next coming months!
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat are the main forms of contact for us.
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
Bring Me The Horizon – Sempiternal
Crown The Empire – The Fallout
Periphery – Select Difficulty
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Of Blackest Oceans, Order of Diptera, Claemus, Black Water, Curlys Jewels, Mishap, Pale Lady, Kairillion Theory, Horizon A.D. There’s so many to list but definite Of Blackest Oceans.
What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
Valhalla !!! It’s like a second home for us haha.
In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
Tyler or Jesse normally come to practice with an idea show the band and we just collectively build on it from there until we’re happy with it
Where/when is your next gig?
May 11th – Lower Hutt – The Angus Inn – Free Entry – 8pm.