FEATURED INTERVIEWS                          

Bonded By Blood

Thrash till you die. Blood is thicker than water.
By: Gian Erguiza - - May 29th, 2008 - 4:41 pm PST



These young thrashers want your blood. From the sounds of their latest offering, 'Feed the Beast,' Bonded By Blood is paving their own road to thrash heaven. With shredding guitars, pounding drums, apocalyptic vocals and an unappologetic sound from way back, these young stalwarts are helping to put thrash back to it's glory days. Jose 'Alladin' Barrales gives us an insight into the world of Bonded By Blood.

What is up guys!? Help me out real quick and please give our readers a quick history lesson on the band and how your road to metal madness began?

Well, how to start..... I think I'll try to keep it in a 3rd person perspective as much as possible. It all began in Summer of 2005, when Jose, or Aladdin to many of us, left his last band, a Hardcore- punk band influenced by bands like DRI and Black Flag. He had personally been influenced by an album he'd been listening to very much at the time, an album that ended up bringing the whole band together in the end. He'd been listening to Exodus's "Bonded by Blood". Since, at the time, there were little or no thrash bands in the local music scene, he decided it was time to create the next epic thrash band with amazing musicians which is when he started his search for people who could play their instrument well. He went around asking friends of his to see if they could recommend anyone, which is how he heard of Alex Lee. Alex was a very introverted individual at the time. He really had little desire to socialize, especially when you compare it to the drive he had to become a better guitar player.

When Aladdin saw Alex play, he dropped the thought of trying to play rhythm guitar himself because he had a fear of not being able to keep up. Alex had no more then 3 years of playing guitar, and was playing along to music by Steve Vai, John Petrucci,, Rusty Cooley and Paul Gilbert. Alex would even play Michael Angelo Batio's "No Boundaries", the DVD version, where he uses the crazy over-under technique. Alex decided to jump on the boat with Aladdin, and together, they went on searching until they found them selves a drummer. Carlos Regalado, a very young drummer who was an ex-member of a small band that did Megadeth and Metallica covers. He was dropped out of the band because they decided to turn into a serious band, and felt his age would hold them back. Carlos had an amazing skill, especially for his age, which wasn't a factor for Aladdin, because he, like everyone else, never thought the band would become as serious as it has become. With Carlos on board, he helped the band find Ruben Dominguez, their bass player, the same way they'd found each other, through friends and friends of friends.

The band was amazed by Ruben's sexiness, and he played bass decently, using just his fingers to pluck the bass(which just makes it even more sexy). Now there was a 4 piece band, and we'd decided to name our selves after an album we had in common in our collection, even though our music tastes differed, and was an inspiration since the beginning.We played local shows doing 3 or 4 of their own songs, and a few covers to fill in some time. Alex would even play his cover of Michael Angelo Batio's "No Boundaries" at shows, just to fill in some time.

A year later, the band decided to join a Battle of the Bands that included over 250 bands and had an amazing prize, 3 grand, and 2 days at a recording studio. The band then decided it was time for another guitarist, to fill in some of that empty sounds during solo's and to add to the band for a more full sound live . Thats when Juan Juarez joined, a guitarist who'd just left a death metal band, and could hit every note clearly in his extremely fast rhythms. Even though the band had been practicing once a week, and no one really knew each other when in the beginning, we all worked really hard to win first place. After winning round after round, we finally won 1st place, and got our first shot at a demo at Love Juice labs in Riverside, CA. We also used the money to buy a PA for us to practice with, and to buy me a bass amp because I'd been borrowing one every show before that. Once we finished our first demo, Four Pints of Blood, we realized that we really needed to improve our style to accommodate all of our influences. We had many small labels talk to us, but the band, especially Aladdin, knew we weren't ready for a label yet. So we recorded Extinguish the Weak about a year later, after playing plenty more shows and making a few more songs. We decided we'd put all our band money into making Extinguish the Weak more professional, to try and get more label and media attention.

We got little slips for them, and got some art done by Tom Martin from Lich King. The art inspired by something else that we all like, comic book super heroes. When we were having them replicated for the first time, we put our music up on our myspace page, which is when more labels started talking to us. That is the time when Earache hit us up, and we signed our contract with them. Since then we've recorded our Debut album, Feed the Beast, and we've been working on new music for the next one.

Whew! That's a history lesson alright! So what’s going on in the world of Bonded by Blood? Anything new? What are you guys currently working on?

Right now that we're done recording our debut album we're mostly practicing to make sure we sound really good live for our tour, which should be sometime this summer. Other then practicing, we make new songs, new riffs, or just new ideas for the next album. We're usually distracted however by one of our endless conversations of what super hero wins in an all out battle with every universe, can Dragonball characters take on god-like characters from Marvel, why Street Fighter 4 shouldn't be 3D. There are plenty more of those endless conversations, but we usually just end it by heading out to the arcades.

Your debut for Earache was a bold statement that you guys are part of the forge to put thrash metal back on top. What was the biggest challenge in completing the record and has the record done what you guys have expected it to do?

Recording an album was a lot different then recording a demo, and none of us really knew how we really should work in the studio. The hardest part was the length of the album compared to our demos, which really made a difference testing our stamina. Especially for the Aladdin, who not just had twice the songs to do vocals for, but he had like 10 times the lyrics to memorize and sing.

I hear that. All of the songs on your debut are straight ass kickers with attitude. Which song off your debut is the band’s favorite and which song is the bands favorite live wise?

I think this is one of those endless conversations we usually have. My personal favorites are Necropsy because I love the speed on that song and the ending sounds like you're really going nuts. But live I like to play Another Disease because I get a cool slap part on the Intro and Chorus'. But Mind Pollution is also pretty awesome to play and listen, it's one of those songs you really can't get out of your head.

Have you guys accomplished what you guys wanted to accomplish with this album so far?

We have set a lot of goals for us for our future, and releasing an album through an awesome label is one of those goals. So we sort of have accomplished something, but we really don't limit ourselves. Although we really did put a lot of ourselves into Feed the Beast, we know that we're going to try even harder to make the next one better. Feed the Beast is only the beginning of something amazing.

Shred! That was the first thing that came to mind when I first heard Bonded by Blood. How important was it for you guys to capture the attitude and the sound on the record and do you guys think that you’ve made the old school and new school thrashers proud?

Our whole plan was to put all of our influences to create music that we will all enjoy. So there was really nothing but attitude and sound into what we recorded. The album will not just make old school and new school thrashers proud, but anyone who can see a good attempt at self- expression.

Alright guys, let’s get this one out of the way. Who is the myspace whore in the band and who gets to answer all the messages? How do you guys deal with nasty messages, if any?

"We have set a lot of goals for us for our future, and releasing an album through an awesome label is one of those goals. So we sort of have accomplished something, but we really don't limit ourselves"

You sunnuvagun. This is kinda weird, because even though there are three of us usually online, I'd have to say Aladdin's the winner. He's pretty much managed the band since the beginning and he's usually the one to reply to the messages, but me and Juan will occasionally reply. The band likes to make fun of each other in general, and we don't normally like to start problems. So when we get a message saying something like, "the only real thrash metal died a long time ago." or "you look like a glam band." we'll just make fun of each other, but within us, saying stuff like "yeah we're going to bring glam back, because real self- expression died a long time ago." Thats just an example, I don't think anyone's called us a glam band yet.

Glam band? lol, they're on crack. With the resurgence of thrash metal making a huge comeback, what are you guys’ thoughts on the current thrash metal scene and where do you guys fit into the equation of this musical landscape?

We're digging the whole revitalization of thrash metal. It's not our intent to bring it to where it once was, but it would be cool to see Beavis and Butthead again but with some of the comeback bands instead. Thrash music isn't everywhere, but I wouldn't say we started it, I think some people just never forgot about thrash metal, and it slowly making its way back since the industry took the spot light away from them. Thrash was never given a chance to die out, it was forced out. So there's always been people who still appreciate older thrash, we just happen to be some of the first of the new generation to attempt making its music.

Good point. What is the best part about being in Bonded by Blood and what is the best part about playing on stage live?

The best part of being in Bonded by Blood is the fact that we're trying to realize a dream. Our goal of making an epic thrash metal band is slowly coming true. And the best part of playing on stage live would absolutely be the fans. Nothing motivates more then the fans enjoying their time at a show. Not only does it make the shows better, but it really makes the whole experience feel like it's worth doing.

Has there been an artist or band lately that have inspired a competitive fire inside of you guys? Any recommends?

Pretty much every band now has something to appreciate. Warbringer and Evile already have released their debut album, and they've been touring for a while now. Exmortus, our close friends have awesome stage presence, Lich King has amazing song structures. There are a lot more who motivate us to keep playing. If you take a look at the scene then you'll find plenty of bands worth listening to.

Being young musicians in the game, do you guys think that it’s an advantage or a disadvantage to be so young in the game at this point in time?

Like most things, being young has its pros and cons. Pros would be that we have more time to master our instruments because we do take our instruments and our music seriously. When Aladdin found everyone, he was really hoping that we didn't just owned equipment, but that we would be good at our instruments. The fact that we're young was just another plus for him. The bad part about being young is that a lot of people will probably not take us seriously at first. We weren't born when the Bonded by Blood album originally came out, and people say we can't appreciate it because we weren't there. People will also assume that don't know how to use our instruments, and that we're not serious musicians.

Here’s a good one for you guys. Do you guys ever pay attention to the radio or what’s happening on the charts?

I'm not sure, but I don't think any of us pay attention to charts. I'm the only one with a stereo and no CD player, and I mostly listen to talk radio because it can be extremely humorous. And I like extremely humorous.

Bonded by Blood loves_______________________.

Pizza, video- games, partying, girls and especially partied out pizza girls in video games.

Any additional comments or shout-outs?

YES!

Thanks Alladin!



  I Email to Friend  I Print

RELATED CONTENT

Bonded By Blood - Feed The Beast Live

Alex Lee Of Bonded by Blood

Bonded By Blood - Fight Till Death Live

Need more info about this band?
Bonded By Blood's Myspace

What do you think of Frantik Mag? Tell us your thoughts!