BLEEDING THROUGH // Breathing Through The Record

In 2013, Bleeding Through announced that they were doing their final shows. Nobody knew if we would ever hear from the band that had blasted through the rising metalcore scene of the early 2000s again.

There was a heavy sense that it might have been Bleeding Through’s final call. For nearly five years, the innovative Californian metalcore six-piece have been on hiatus, but have emerged as a band with refuelled passion after what looked like the end, and a new album Love Will Kill All set to be released on 25th May 2018.

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Our conversation begins, naturally, with Hysteria wanting to know what prompted Bleeding Through’s return to the studio. “We feel like our personal lives are in check and we have everything in the right places to where our minds are focussed and we can focus on writing a record and take on the responsibility of being Bleeding Through again,” recounts vocalist Brandan Schieppati. “It kind of happened organically like that, nobody forced the issue, I just feel like everybody thought it was time for us to do it.”

Reminiscing on the chaotic days surrounding the band’s exit from the scene, Schieppati continues, “Bleeding Through was done for almost about five years, and I think we kind of knew there was a chance that it was final. We always really wanted to play music together still and that never changed, but I think what happened is that life kind of got in the way, and we were getting into the age of being in our thirties, and there’s things that we needed to do on a personal level, in our personal lives, that were getting in the way of our band.”

With Love Will Kill All it’s a little bit different, because we are all very clear, stress free, and we just wanted to write a record and everything on top of that is like a bonus.
[ Brandan Schieppati ]

Prying a little deeper into the trialling times surrounded the release of Bleeding Through’s last album in 2012, Hysteria asks what Schieppati feels will be different this time. “I think with The Great Fire [2012] we dealt with a lot of burnout, we were kind of just burnt with the music industry,” reflects Schieppati, “I think that our mindset was kind of a mixture of a lot of stress and it was the unknown, we didn’t really know where that record was going to take us and where we were going to go as a band and how long we were going to stay together, and really, anything. With Love Will Kill All it’s a little bit different, because we are all very clear, stress free, and we just wanted to write a record and everything on top of that is like a bonus, and we’ve learned so much from playing in a full time band for so long that when it came to this record we had a new enthusiasm about it because we knew exactly what we didn’t want to do, the problems we faced on our other records, it didn’t really matter to us anymore and so I think we came to this record with very clear minds and a really clear game plan as far as we wanted to do.”

I feel like it really allows every instrument to breathe through the record … I truly feel that if you listen to this record, that you’ll be like, okay, this is kind of a culmination of all their records into one.
[ Brandan Schieppati ]

As the discussion turns to how Love Will Kill All develops the Bleeding Through sound, Schieppati is confident they have matured as people, and as a band. “I think once you’ve been playing music with people for almost twenty years it kind of streamlines everything. Its one of those things where we knew that simplifying the record was a little bit of our approach to it and we thought that simplifying it would make us, as individuals, shine through on the record a bit more … this one, I feel like it really allows every instrument to breathe through the record … I truly feel that if you listen to this record, that you’ll be like, okay, this is kind of a culmination of all their records into one.”

People wanted to have families, start new careers, new business endeavours and stuff like that, so we took a very mature approach to having a little bit of a break.
[ Brandan Schieppati ]

Of course, five years is a long time in everyday life, and the members of Bleeding Through have been busy during their absence, as Schieppati explains, “people wanted to have families, start new careers, new business endeavours and stuff like that, so we took a very mature approach to having a little bit of a break.” The fitness industry has been Schieppati’s project space for the last seven years, about which he passionately states, “Personally, for me, I have my gym. I opened my gym in 2011. Its something that is a daily challenge but it’s rewarding in the end.” There is an undeniable sense of enthusiasm as Schieppati talks about the power of reaching out to people and helping them deal with day-to-day life.

“Its kind of a similar type thing to playing music, you know,” he states, “this place is like a safe haven for people, the same reason why you go listen to some music to kind of get you out of your daily rut, and this place is kind of that for people, this is their escape from life, from the daily grind and its really cool to be part of that to give them that type of place, and also the vibe of this place is really musical, we play good music in here … It’s just a cool atmosphere and I kind of took the vibe of our music with Bleeding Through and put it into a gym.”

One of the coolest things that people have said to me through my career is how the music has helped them and I think that is so important, because music helped me.
[ Brandan Schieppati ]

By the end of our conversation, we’re really keen to know what we can expect from Love Will Kill All. Schieppati is unwavering in his desire to reconnect with Bleeding Through’s fans. “I think we have always been this kind of emotional outlet for people, and I think this record with be that same thing for people. I notice this for us as a band. I really think that people are going to enjoy this record. One of the coolest things that people have said to me through my career is how the music has helped them and I think that is so important, because music helped me, I mean, people have troubling times in their lives … I think that this record will offer that kind of escape route for people and if it does, I think that we did our job with this record. If you’re a fan of Bleeding Through and the history of the band, you won’t be disappointed, I think you’ll just be ecstatic when you hear it because its not a record that’s going to let you down.”