East coast goth band BLOOD BLUSH came across my radar recently. The band name is a reference to that scene in Schindler’s List where women prick their fingers to use their own blood for blush while in the concentration camps. This is a utilitarian kind of goth band that pulls from musical sub-genres of No Wave, Post-Punk, Dream Pop and traditional Goth.
We spoke about some of their biggest music influences:
Interpol- Antics
“While most people always credit Turn On The Bright Lights as superior and the new centerpiece of goth music in the early 2000s, Antics showed me that it takes good songs, good themes and good directions to make a tight and cohesive album. Ten songs. Some aren’t live songs – just album songs but they are not filler. Antics also showed the epic side of Interpol with songs like “Not Even Jail” and the romantic parts with “Take You On A Cruise” and “C’mere”, the later being one of my favorite Interpol songs. The bass line is amazing.”
The Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
“What can be said about this album that hasn’t been already said? Siamese Dream upped the stakes from Gish about 1000%. The Smashing Pumpkins ditched all the psychedelic gloss it had from its debut (recorder solo on “Suffer”? Get the fuck out of here!) and basically made the 90’s equivalent of a Led Zeppelin record. All guitar, all drums, the solos, the depth (at the time), the chorus on the vocals. I was a little young when this album came out but it had it’s lasting impact on me. Rocket was on the first music videos I ever saw on MTV. Years later, I coveted this album for songs like “Hummer”, “Soma” and “Silverfuck”. This album made me want to learn how to play guitar and play guitar I did.”
Def Leppard- Hysteria
“It’s an odd choice but this was one of the first tapes my dad had laying around when I first got a Walkman. I hadn’t really developed taste yet. Then again, kids just consume. I liked the songs. The drums with gated reverb sounded cool. I personally think Hysteria is a very romantic song and the guitar arpeggios sound dreamy and ooze longing. As I grew up, I based Def Leppard and said they were stupid. Then I got older and didn’t care.”
Green Day- Dookie
“I never really went through a punk phase. I liked Green Day as a kid because I thought they wrote catchy songs and I like the melodies. I remember I was a brat and pouted all day to my mom to take me to get this tape. And we had to make two stops to find the cassette. Pouting paid off. I wore this tape out. Couldn’t skip any songs either. At the end of the day, the songs that ended staying with me weren’t really the hit. “Chump” is one of the better intro songs off any album. Coming Clean and In The End are wonderful for odd topics of growing up. She was many of our introduction to feminism. Whatever decline Green Day had later on in life, in 1994, they were red hot.”
Cocteau Twins- Heaven or Las Vegas
“Didn’t fully listen to this until I was 23 years old. I had checked out Blood Bitch and earlier stuff by Cocteau Twins but I never connected fully with them. It’s funny when I band starts off a certain way but they don’t develop their intentioned sound until later. Heaven or Las Vegas was always the intended album for this band, it just took them a while to arrive there. Being a guitar player, I found myself never trying to play along with the songs. I would just listen and marvel and how well the bass, vocals and guitar worked together. Also, those major 7ths are littered everywhere. Just perfect in craft and writing. My favorite songs are Heaven or Las Vegas (tried and true) and I Wear Your Ring.”
Portishead- Third
“I was a Portishead fan since 1999 and by then the band was in a hiatus. I wondered what would happen to them. I had so many trivial nights of kissing crushes while blasting All Mine that I thought they would end up as a memory of a band. Then in 2008 I picked up the CD and was proud to see that Portishead still had all their haunt and less sexy. I loved the sound of Threads. It was the first song I heard on the radio. Pretty sure it was thanks to KEXP. Hunter is one of my favorite songs from the last ten years. The craft of Third was now to scare within pop music. I feel that the dread and haunt was so poetically made possible on this album.”
Weyes Blood- Front Row Seat To Earth
“The newest entry on this list but definitely one that packs a bunch. Picking an album during a break up period still happens folks. I heard this album for the first time after a barber cut my hair. I gave him a ride home and he put on this album at his apartment. He got an advanced copy from Mexican Summer and as we were talking I was drowning out the conversation to hear the ending beauty of Generation Why. When I dove in deeper a little while after the album came out, things started to hit harder on songs like 7 Words and Can’t Go Home. The album has a contrast of fragility and strength. Kind of like someone confidently committing on a bad decision. It sounded like someone strongly falling apart and when it dropped, that’s exactly what was going on in my life.”
Tori Amos- From The Choir Girl Hotel
“First year of high school: my middle school crush told me about this album. I went out and bought it and found so much melancholy melody wrapped in sultry pop. I didn’t know who Kate Bush was so it was the coolest thing I had ever heard with a piano and high shrieking voice. Still though, the epic bridge in Spark is so cool – can’t do it without that jump into 3/4. I love the drip of Liquid Diamonds. It’s like getting lost in a cave. My all time favorite Tori Amos song is Northern Lad though. Taught me a lot about having to just move on past troubling times. Sometimes you are only because of the rain.”
The Cure- Seventeen Seconds
“Yes. The goth album. The one. I love lots of goth music. But it’s something that I caught onto a little later in life.
Anyway, I had this album on cassette back in 2010 – 2011. Luckily the car I was driving had a cassette player. I knew A Forest was on this album and that song was amazing but I was so happy to learn about Your House, Play For Today and At Night. I just have fond memories of driving around and listening to this album. What a good beginning point for a new sound. What a smart decision to move away from punk or even post-punk and experimenting. Also, if you thought Cure songs were easy to play, this album taught me that Robert Smith has some chops with little riffs and chord progressions.”
Björk- Post
“Again, it’s been hailed so many times as one of the best. If things like The Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead urged me to want to play guitar, Björk pushed me to try many more things than to just play the chords. Post is more of a collage of samples and ideas than a strict set of songs. All perfectly blended to get some heavenly audio. This album fell into my life when I just turned 15. It was the year 2000. I didn’t know what was going to happen in my life but I knew I could question my life choices while listening to this album. I loved Army of Me for it’s brash bigness. I loved “Isobel” for it’s epic bridge. I love “You’ve Been Flirting Again” for it’s hurt and wounded feeling. I loved “Cover Me” for the sense of dread but I loved Headphones because it put me right back into a peaceful bliss. For all of Björk’s quirk in the limelight as a celebrity, there is so much happening in her headspace with song craft and creation. This is probably her pinnacle achievement. I took what I learned from this album and then just pushed forward in music – constantly writing terrible songs for about 10 years until things changed slightly.”
Simply buy sildenafil canada put, it is technically illegal to buy generic drugs. Sildenafil has been found successful http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/top-10-cutest-bernese-mountain-dogs/ overnight viagra online for treating distinct health problems. This adds to the convenience and makes the purchase of these viagra purchase no prescription pills easy. This blood is designed to stay in place until a man buy cialis from india reaches an orgasm.
Check out the video for Blood Blush’s new single, “Demon Clout”
https://youtu.be/8sjsUZCYy3A
Check out Blood Blush live at any of the following dates:
S E P T E M B E R
09.19.18 MANHATTAN, NY at The Special Without Brett Davis Live Taping.
09.23.18 BROOKLYN, NY at The Cobra Club with Half Human and Motherhood.
09.29.18 ALLENTOWN, PA at Allentown Arts Fest Medium Social with Ralph Pagano, Food Truck, Jameek Jones, Violet Coup, Beach Bod, Inner Temple, Dissentience and Killer Tofu Records Showcase.
O C T O B E R
10.18.18 PITTSBURGH, PA at TBA with Child of Night.
10.19.18 COLUMBUS, OH at No Culture (Video Performance – 5pm).
10.19.18 COLUMBUS, OH at Tree Bar with Master Servos, Berndsen, Child of Night and DJ Steve OD.
10.20.18 INDIANAPOLIS, IN at The Spruce Goose with Violent Meditations, Emily Bewley, Tombaugh Regio and Den Dwellers.
10.21.18 CHICAGO, IL at DC Torium with Reverent, Canter, Mr. Russia and Old Irving.
10.22.18 DETROIT, MI at Phoney Island with Milliken Chamber, Dr. Fadeaway and Primer.
10.23.18 TORONTO, ON at TBA with Bloody Blue Darlings and The Shyness of Strangers.
10.24.18 MONTREAL, QE at Mademoiselle with Wavery, Bermudes and The City Gates.
10.25.18 SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY at TBA with Spell Runner and Bare Mattress.
N O V E M B E R
11.02.18 CLIFTON, NJ at Dingbatz with Christian Death.
11.16.18 BROOKLYN, NY at Bushwick Public House with PUSH! and Gorgeous.
FOLLOW BLOOD BLUSH