BLEECH
e-mail interview by Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T
October 2012

Formed while they were still at school, BLEECH has always been about honest-to-god rock excitement and great live performance.

Having already wowed Britain, Germany and New York with their energetic mix of spiky guitars and infectious, harmony heavy voacls, Bleech has built an impressive fan base that includes Steve Lamacq, John Kennedy, Mark Richardson (Skunk Anansie/Feeder)and Billy Lunn (The Subways).

New York’s Nylon magazine said Bleech ‘rocked the
Lower East Side with their ... scrappy infectious indie-rock’ while t
he single 'Monday' was featured on Waterloo Road. Even the defunct News of the World gave the band the thumbs up – God rest its wicked soul.

With new single Break My Nose (whose video starring Frank Bugliani was shot in the same gym used in "Lock,Stock and Two Smoking Barrels") flooring Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T, we decided it was time to get into the ring with Bleech


Lucy: Your band have been quite quiet for the last few months. Are you looking forward to playing gigs again?
Katie Jane Garside: I think I give very obtuse ans

Bleech - who, what and why?

Matt: Well "who" would be Matt aka drummer sometimes singer, Katherine on bass guitar (also likes to harmonise) and Jen on vocals and guitar, general front woman.

Jen: We don't know why sometimes, we just get on with it. We're not qualified to do anything else.

* Describe your sound to a hard of hearing alien...

Katherine: How hard of hearing is this alien exactly? If he has alien eardrums he might be hearing things different to what we are hearing, In which case, I couldn't possibly answer such a question. You'd have to ask the alien.

*Do you really think your sound has a 'retro chique'?

Matt: Maybe there's some sort of "retro" kind of British element to our music at points as we are all fans of The Who, The Beatles and Kinks, but to be honest, I don't know why! (laughs)



* Who are your heroes / heroines - musical, artistic, political, sporting, literary, other?

Mat: Lemmy is all of those words in one, except from sporting. I think he would fall apart if he played football or something.

Katherine: Same for John Lennon. He is under all those umbrellas apart from sport.

* Your agent sent me an e-mail trying to get a gig for you. What could you tell me about your live shows to convince me (if I wasn't sold already)?

Matt: Well we will be loud and uncompromising, ask us to turn it down, we will turn it up. Hopefully there will be sweat dripping from the ceiling sometimes if the right vibe is achieved. Being close to the audience is a must for us we like everything to be intimate. If everybody isn't dancing like a baby giraffe on speed by the end of the gig we'll give your punters their money back....we've never had to do that so far.

* What can you tell us about the new album?

Jen: It was recorded in the coldest studio ever next to a cemetery.

Matt: It's got ten songs on it. Many that we played on the road before deciding on recording the album.

Katherine: There were quite a few new tracks written specifically for the album like "Break my nose", "When I get Old" and " I Wanna Be Me" that hopefully will lead us nicely on to album 2!



* As a Manics inspired zine I should ask you if you have any opinions on the reissue of Generation terrorists?

Katherine: To be honest we don't listen to the Manics much as we don't possess any of their albums but definitely know all the singles like "If you tolerate this then you children will be next" and "Motorcycle emptiness", they have written a fair few tunes over the years! Reissues are important I think because a lot of good music gets forgotten over the years, the best way to mark a milestone is to put out your music again, as long as they put bonus stuff in there can't just be the album can it?

*You all began playing when very young; I teach lots of guitarists aged 7-11 - do you have any suggestions for suitable songs I could teach them to inspire, improve and excite them?

Jen: I learnt how to play guitar with a Beatles chord book that seemed to work for me when I was younger, because I am a massive fan.

Matt: I remember getting very excited when I picked up the "power chord" from Green day's basket case hahahah!!

* Who's a Weirdo?

Matt: If you are referring to the opening track on the album, I have been playing the song for 3 odd years now and still haven't a clue what it's about! You'd have to ask Jen, she wrote it, but I don't think she knows either!

* A couple of retro questions - were you aware of the 90s band Bleach when you chose your name, and what about the Miss Black America ep on our very own R*E*P*E*A*T Records called 'The Adrenaline Junkie Class-A Mentalist EP' ?

Jen: It's that word retro again!

Katherine: We didn't know of the other band to be honest and have never attempted to listen to them, wonder what they are like?

Matt: I remember once a guy at one of our gigs in London coming into our dressing room and asking whether we were bleach from the 90's and I said "no", I think he went off in a huff but still stuck around as he paid to get it, seem to remember him getting an album at the end though!

* How can people hear your music and why should they bother?

Jen: You can listen to us on Spotify over and over again for virtually nothing or you can help feed our starving souls and buy a copy off Amazon or Bandcamp here.

Katherine: They should bother because we have good songs and we have good taste in jumpers!

* What's next for Bleech?

Matt: We are currently demoing our next album due to be recorded next year. Then we have an Extensive U.K tour planned going into a 2 week tour of France which we are excited about as "Nude" will be getting re-released there.

Jen: Next year is going to be busy, busy, busy!

* What's best, chips or cream buns?

Jen: Chips! Because you can put Mayo and ketchup on them.....cream buns would not taste as nice with these condiments

http://www.bleech.me.uk/

 

Thanks to the band for their time and to Zac at Division for his help with this. Look out for a UK tour in the new year, taking in Cambridge if I have anything to do with it...

Stop Press - Bleech play The Portland Arms in Cambridge on Feb 26th 2012, more details to follow...

wers to questions...It's never about looking forward to it. Actually maybe I should change the
script, maybe we are looeir musicm the 3rd album?