Bloodsimple has been hard at work completing its long awaited second full length called Red Harvest. They exploded onto the metal scene in 2005 with hard-hitting sounds, attracting new fans everywhere they played.
Bloodsimple started from the ashes of New York post-metallic hardcore heroes Vision of Disorder, where frontman Tim Williams and guitarist Mike Kennedy began writing new music for a new project. They collaborated with guitarist Nick Rowe and former Medication and Skrew bassist Kyle Sanders to begin writing songs.
They played shows across the Northeast, which caught the attention of Mudvayne frontman Chad Gray. He eventually signed the band to his imprint, Bullygoat/Warner Bros. The band issued their debut, A Cruel World in 2005, with songs like “Straight Hate” and “Blood In Blood Out” becoming crowd favorites.
Red Harvest takes over where the debut left off. The music still has a lot of the heaviness they had, but the musical maturity settling into their sound. Williams talked about the making Red Harvest, battling drummer problems, and surviving the rigors of the road.
Blistering.com: It’s been a while since we last heard from Bloodsimple.
Tim Williams: We needed to take some time off, go home, chill out, and record the record locally. It was good and bad. Plus we wanted to take our time. We knew it was an important record so we wanted to make it right. We stretched it out a little bit.
Blistering.com: In between that time, you were doing Vision of Disorder as well. Is this something that will be full time as well?
TW: VOD’s a once in a while thing. I would maybe do a new VOD record, but I don’t think it will ever happen. That’s done. We’re all still good friends and when we want to do a couple of shows, we’d do it. It’s just fun.
Blistering.com: Who decided to do the concept for Red Harvest with the book?
TW: A lot of people have been asking me about this. I think it’s sort of a miscommunication. It’s not entirely a concept record. That it is not. But what we did is Mike Kennedy, the guitar player, was Googling around, as he always does, one day, and he stumbled across this really cool definition of bloodsimple that came from the novel Red Harvest. The definition we thought summed up bloodsimple in a really cool way represented the chaos and the music. Then all of a sudden, we had this song called “Red Harvest,” it wasn’t called “Red Harvest” at the time. It needed a chorus. We knew it kicked ass and it was missing something. All of a sudden, within a day, it just tied itself all in perfectly. We decided to title the record Red Harvest. We decided to use that bloodsimple definition as a promo thing. Also use the first heavy track on the record, title it Red Harvest, and from the definition, we got the chorus “killing begets more killing” and all that shit. That’s where the concept ends. It’s all ties into that. It did make the record way more interesting. We’re all excited that it’s all tied in. The novel is pretty good. A couple of us read it and it’s pretty cool.Blistering.com: So the record doesn’t get any more conceptual than that.TW: The only thing it has is the “killing begets more killing.” That’s the only thing that comes out of the book. Everybody thinks it’s a whole concept record. Nah! It’s not.
Blistering.com: You read a bit of it, and…
TW:I read the whole thing, but half the record was done by then. ¾ of the record was done, and it just so happened in a couple of days in the studios, it came to light and it fit perfectly.
Blistering.com: What do you think you did differently musically? It sounds like you’ve tightened the screws without changing a lot of it.
TW: My motto of the record going into it, I wanted to have a more organic sounding style of metal. I don’t even know if you’d want to call us metal because I don’t know if we are. But we wanted a more live organic record. We wanted a different type of heavy. We didn’t want the run-in-the-mill heavy that’s out there. We also didn’t want to rewrite the script. Who the fuck’s gonna do that? You really can’t. We wanted to do something a little left of center, but that still applied to our fanbase that we already created and maybe get a couple of new fans on the way. That was basically the rule of thumb. Also touring with so many big bands on the first record, we knew we had to step it up. To seeing those bands play and hear what they do and realize that’s why they got as far as they did. Their music is just that good. So that was inspiring as well. We were playing with all of these huge bands, so we knew we needed to step it up.
Blistering.com: The last Vision of Disorder CD, From Bliss To Devastation, redefined your sound then. Then the debut Bloodsimple CD again redefined your sound entering a new band. How tough is to keep redefining your sound this many times?
TW: It wasn’t a conscious thing. If you want to stay in the game, you’ve got to reinvent yourself. Just do what you do, but just do better. It was always going to sound like VOD, because of my voice. But using it differently, different musicians, and thinking outside of the box, you kind of reinvent yourself automatically.
Blistering.com: You had drummer changes recently. How much did that play into the writing of the music?
TW: It was frustrating but a lot of the music is written by the four of us. The first record was written like that. Chris [Hamilton, ex-drummer] put in his time, but a lot of it was written without him. This record was kind of the same, then we had Will Hunt [of Dark New Day and Evanescence] come in for two weeks. He’s the one who played on the record. We wrote with him for two weeks straight. A lot of good songs came out of that. It just went. It didn’t inhibit us too bad. It’s a pain in the ass not having a drummer. After the experience with Chris, no good or bad…he’s a great guy…we’re not gonna just take anybody. It’s got to be the right person. We don’t want to go through that again. It’s bad for everybody. When that time’s right, the guy we’re with now on tour, Bevan [Davies, Comes With The Fall, The Mercy Clinic], he’s close to making the mark. He’s an awesome guy and fucking wails. Will [Hunt] was great too, but he’s got so much shit going on. It’s hard to keep a finger on him. But Bevan is amazing. He’s real good.
Blistering.com: You’ve had a few different drummers on tour with you.
TW: Brendan [Cohen] from VOD came out and played with us. I love Brendan. If Brendan wasn’t in VOD, he would be in this band right now. He’s one of my best buds and he’s a funny dude to be on the road with. Then we had Will jam with us a bit, and we had Mike Froedge [of DoubleDrive] went to Europe with us. It’s been a rotating cast, but it’s the four of us. That’s who Bloodsimple is, until we find somebody else.
Blistering.com: You just completed the Family Values Tour this past summer.
TW: We pretty much did the whole thing. I think we missed a week and then we cancelled the last part because my mouth got all fucked up.
Blistering.com: How’s your mouth now?
TW: It’s better. I don’t have a tooth. It was in LA where I lost it. It swelled up like this far. One day away from going into the emergency room…it was bad news. It was starting to get into my throat. It was a nightmare. It was supposed to only cost $300, but then they had to put me under, because it was so bad. It cost me $1200. We’re not happy that we had to cancel the last three shows. The last time I saw in LA, I was in agony.
Blistering.com: You’ve been on countless tours with many bands over the years. What’s been the learning experience just with Bloodsimple versus Vision of Disorder?
TW: Oh my god! It’s like night and day. In VOD, we were a bunch of reckless kids. We were 20 years old, thrown into huge Ozzfest type scenerios. With a decent amount of fame when you’re that young, and the whole world thrown at you, you don’t know how to handle that. We weren’t enormous, but for 20 year old kids from Long Island, there was a lot of shit going on. It wasn’t like the way it is today where everything’s messed over. It was a lot different. We made a lot of mistakes and probably cost us our career in the end. But whatever…time goes on. In Bloodsimple, we’re a little more grown up, and a little more seasoned. Bloodsimple’s had a lot more opportunities than VOD’s ever had. Just in the genre and being put out on tours, and being exposed to so many different people and crowds. So that alone is the difference right there.
Blistering.com: You’ve toured with bands like Mudvayne, but also bands like Disturbed as well.
TW: And Alice In Chains and shit. We’ve always got good crowd reactions. We just keep going. Hellyeah’s going pretty good. I don’t know what we’re going to do next year. I know I’m going home for a little while and just rest. Whatever comes our way, if it’s worth it, we’ll do it.
Blistering.com: Have you done a video for this record yet?
TW: That’s a touchy subject. We did a video but we didn’t like the way it came out, so I don’t think anybody’s going to see it. I don’t want to get too deep into this, but the record business is in the weird state right now. Nobody’s letting go of money like they used to. It’s hard to get shit done the way you used to get it done. So we did a rush job for a song I didn’t really want to do it for. Again, the band’s not happy with the product. We’re back stepping a little bit. We’re going to get something done. Hopefully by the end of the year we’ll have something done.
Blistering.com: Considering the way the music business and the world is now, do you think being road dogs has worked in your favor?
TW: I don’t think it works as well as much as it used to. When you’re a huge band, it’s totally different. I was thinking about this last night, because when you’re an up and coming band, and you’re coming out, get a little push from your label, you go out on the road and hustle. You have CDs at your shows. Maybe you had a good night and sold 50 CDs…that’s not happening any more. Kids just don’t buy CDs. Bloodsimple’s first CD – a lot of our sales came from us hustling out here on the road, selling 50 to 75 to even 90 CDs a night. We sold a lot of records out here. It’s not like that any more. To me, it’s not the way it used to be. I don’t think you have to tour as much. The record companies aren’t letting go of as much money. The kids aren’t buying CDs. If there’s a demand for you, then it’s different. Again, I don’t know if it’s as effective as it used to be.
Blistering.com: You’re on tour now with Hellyeah. Your boy Chad [Grey] heads your label and fronts Hellyeah. You’ve toured with him both in Mudvayne and Hellyeah. Is there a difference?
TW: Chad’s a cool dude. Me and him are bros. We hang out. Hellyeah or Mudvayne, he’s just the same. All the guys in both bands are great guys. We’ve come to be good friends with that whole camp. They’ve seen Bloodsimple so much. All the Pantera crew knows who we are. Vinnie [Paul]’s real cool. They’re our bros. It’s all good. We’re lucky to have friends in high places to take us out. A lot of people don’t get to play in front of 1500 a night. So this tour’s like that. It got a little smaller since we hit Cali but everywhere, Kansas City – 1500 people. Grand Rapids, sold out. It’s been a pretty hyped tour.
Blistering.com: So what’s next?
TW: Again, we’ve been slugging it out. This will be six weeks. We did Family Values. I’m a coming and going type of guy. I’ve been doing this a long time. Maybe take a little break. There’s talk of going to the UK and Ireland in January. We’ll see where we’re at. Maybe there’s something that provokes us to come out. But you have to hold onto the money these days and make smart decisions. At least that’s what this band has to do. You can’t take every tour that comes your way. That old mentality doesn’t pay any more. So that’s the way it’s going to be.
Blistering.com: We need someone to represent New York on the scene. Glad you’re still at it.
TW: God…there’s no metal bands from New York. I live in New York City. I couldn’t think of a band to go out and play with. There’s not much there metal wise. There’s a couple. I’m not going to shit on anybody, but there ain’t many. So here we are. But we aren’t all from New York. Me, Mike [Kennedy] and Nick [Rowe] are. The other guys are from Atlanta. myspace.com/bloodsimple
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