Bleeding Through – Dave Nassie

With the release of their sixth studio album imminent, Metal Obsession got a chance to chat with Bleeding Through‘s new guitarist Dave Nassie during their recent tour with Machine Head and Hatebreed to talk about the new album, Bleeding Through.

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Metal Obsession: How come the second guitarist couldn’t make it [to the Australian shows]?

Dave Nassie: Something had come up and he couldn’t do this leg of the tour. Derek, our drummer, his second child was born a week ago and we have a fill-in drummer for this tour, so instead of having two fill-ins, we went without one guitar player.

MO: How has the tour been going otherwise?

DN: It’s been great. We did Europe with Machine Head and Hatebreed, we’re playing here and in Japan. Touring Australia is amazing, it’s always a pleasure in the sense that we’re thankful that we’re able to come out all this way. The shows are nicely spread out, it’s almost treated like a vacation.

MO: Is this between each city in Australia?

DN: Yeah, logistically sometimes the way it works out, we had two days off in Perth, right on the beach. You feel kinda spoiled. It’s never a bad time to come to Australia.

MO: The first time you toured here was in 2005?

DN: Yeah. It’s nice to come back, and the purpose of this tour is to try and gain some new fans and play for people who haven’t heard us before and the exposure is more than we could ever ask for.

MO: Which Australian city would you say is your favourite?

DN: You know what, I’ve been lucky enough to come to Australia, this is my 10th time personally, and I have to say that my favourite city is Perth.

MO: How are you settling in with the band as new guitarist [having replaced Jona Weinhofen]?

DN: It’s been really good, I’ve known the guys for a long time, Brandon’s wife and my ex-wife are really good friends and around the time that I met Brandon, Brandon and I had a short side project going for a short time. I’ve always wanted to play in Bleeding Through so I was always lurking in the shadows, kinda going “Hey! Need a guitar player?” It’s worked out. I got lucky. Right away we had to write a record, and I got to get a lot of input with that. They’ve been very welcoming to me. It’s been a blast, and I come from a punk band, and this kind of music is something that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s the biggest breath of fresh air in my life, I love it.

MO: Your sixth studio album is due for release on 19 April, what can Bleeding Through fans expect from this album?

DN: It takes off right after Declaration. We refer to it as “Declaration on steroids”! And it is cliché to say it’s the band’s best record, especially coming from the new guy I guess… but I really feel that it is. It encompasses everything that the band has always wanted to do. It focuses a lot on the black metal influences in the band and it’s a very fast and pissed-off album.

MO: I was watching you guys earlier, I could hear some black metal undertones in the music.

DN: Yeah, I did nothing but listen to Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir, and getting it into my subconscious. It’s definitely a really strong effort from all of us and I think people are going to be really happy.

MO: Are there any guest musicians on the latest album?

DN: Nope. Just us. We really wanted to put each individual into a position where they had to do something different and really rise up to the challenge of having to outdo Declaration. I think Declaration was such a strong record for the band, it did a lot in identifying the next stage of the band as far as the sound goes and the production for Declaration. I did play a solo on Declaration. Working with Devin Townsend was an experience and that’s what you hope to do when you go to do another record. It’s what you’ve learned from previous experiences and it opens your ears and your eyes to something new. That’s the best thing about it.

MO: What’s the general lyrical theme in the album?

DN: I’ve heard Brandon talking about it often, and a lot of it is having to do with the state of the record industry and bands in general. It sucks sometimes because you’ll go to a town and you’ll find you’ll get a lot of kids approaching you and tell you how much they like your band and when you come back the next time they’re not there… because of the changing times in the music biz, sometimes you almost take it personally. And you want to know, “Where did they go? What the hell happened?” that kind of thing. Aside from the things that are really common, with relationships and that kind of thing happening in your personal life, a lot of it focuses on the state of the music business and where we fit in it.

MO: Who did the cover artwork?

DN: A really close friend of the band. The name has escaped me, I should know this! It’s one of his first hand drawings he has ever done for a record. We committed and we just said “hey, do whatever you want to do” and when he sent it to us, it was a no-brainer, we thought it was amazing. [apologies to Dave as I was unable to find the name of the artist on Google …]

MO: The new album is being released through Rise/Roadrunner, how have they treated you compared to Trustkill?

DN: Night and day. Roadrunner is an amazing group of people, extremely supportive. They’re behind us 100%, and I can’t tell you how happy all of us are. In a situation where in this day and age, the situation with bands and sometimes the position they get caught in with labels. There are so many bands, and so much going on all the time. It’s a dream come true for us. To be able to work so hard on something and know it’s going to get some visibility and backing.

MO: Bleeding Through began in 2000, around the time when the metalcore subgenre began to emerge. At the time, many of the metal purists saw it as a passing fad and were hopeful that it would disappear after five years. It’s now 2010 and Bleeding Through are still here. Do you think that this subgenre is here to stay?

DN: I think so. I think luckily we’ve never catered to anybody, we’ve done what we’ve always wanted to do and I think that’s the most important thing. Bands do come and go, but we’re very strong-headed individuals and always do what we want, always do what’s coming from inside and that’s what makes you prevail. There’s an art to the compromise, but it’s always from within yourself and not what everybody else wants to hear so that way you can always keep progressing and giving the people something new in a record.

I think that’s what the most important thing is, and it’s worked to our advantage. We’re really lucky with the support from all the fans, and we’ll go back to the Roadrunner thing, that’s another reason why that’s so important. The stability and it helps you become a mainstay in the industry.

MO: What’s Bleeding Through doing after the Australian tour?

DN: We go home, and we’re home for nine days. We shoot a video, then we go on a States tour for five weeks, and we’re really looking forward to that. It’s a headliner, we’ll play longer. After that we go to Europe to play some festivals, then after that we come home, do some stuff in August to fill some time. Probably go to Mexico, we always love going to Mexico and playing some shows there.  In the Fall we’re probably going back to Europe and do a headlining tour there. We’re trying to figure out when to come back to Australia and do our own headlining tour.

Right now it’s just making sure that we have a really strong package and that we can come at a time that’s best for the band, at a time when there’s not a shitload of traffic. In a perfect world, we’d love to be in a position to do Soundwave. We can’t wait to come back and headline here on our own, and that’s definitely going to happen on this record. Right now it’s too premature. We have to come back and spend more time in Australia!

MO: Well yeah, you love it here!

DN: Absolutely!

MO: What is there to hate about Australia?

DN: uh… not a lot, except for your internet!

MO: I think a lot of people will agree with you on that one!

DN: The first tour I did in my life was in Australia was in 1995. I came here with my old band, Infectious Grooves. I was lucky. Can you imagine, you do your first ever tour and you come here [to Australia]? You know what I mean… I’m very jaded, I love Australia for the sentimental reasons and the obvious ones.

MO: This wraps up the interview, any last comments?

DN: Not to be redundant, but we’re so appreciative of the support we have, we can’t wait to always be in a position to have to prove ourselves to the fans even more and one thing you can always expect is us giving it our all, all the time. We look forward to coming back. Thank you so much for the interview.

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Q’s: Megan Masters
A’s: Dave Nassie
Date: 25/03/2010
Origin: United States of America
www.myspace.com/bleedingthrough – www.bleedingthrough.com