Bleeding Through

Orange County outfit Bleeding Through led the metalcore charge in the early 2000’s. Heavy, melodic and musically sincere, the band has enjoyed a well-received career. On the eve of their farewell Australian shows next month, Killyourstereo.com sits down with keyboardist Marta Demmel to discuss Bleeding Through’s journey and her plans for the future.

Hi Marta, how are you?

Good, how are you?

Going well. Thanks for doing the interview with us today.

Absolutely.

You just got back from touring with our good mates in Hand of Mercy. How was that?

(laughs) Those guys are great. Those are some fun fellas. It is rare that you end up loving everyone in the band and everyone on tour, but that was definitely the case with those dudes.

And for yourself personally, how were the shows for Bleeding Through?

They were really amazing; most of them were really good. It was pretty emotional, it will be hard to say goodbye, but I think we did it right.

That was one going to be one of my next questions about how bittersweet it’s going to be. You’ve made the decision to call it a day, but the shows are still going to be fun and the crowd response is going to be great, bittersweet is probably the right way to put it.

Yeah, I think in the last couple of years when we decided to slow down, we talked about doing it in 2010 and in 2011 we became a part-time band, and I think since then we’ve changed our whole perspective on playing shows and being in a band, and touring, and we just learned to appreciate it more because to wasn’t our full-time job. I think these final tours, it puts things into perspective everything we’ve done and I our eyes are as open as possible and we are a thankful as we can be getting to do these last few shows.

Obviously the ones we are really excited about are the Australian shows coming up…

…We are totally stoked about those!

It might be a tough one to pinpoint because you’ve been down here a few times, but is there a fond memory that stands out the most?

I think we were just surprised the first time we came over there. Our whole band fell in love with Australia. Everyone has always taken such good care of us every time we’ve come over. They treat you like royalty and the shows are good. We don’t have a lot of complaints about Australia…perhaps the food is a bit too expensive, but that’s about it (laughs). A specific memory not necessarily. We’ve had some really good tours down there, great bands. Soundwave was amazing.

As you said, amazing experiences, what’s something you haven’t done yet that you’d like to do this time when you’re in Australia?

I guess it will all depend on how much time we have. I’ve always tried to make a point of exploring every city we’ve played, every place we’ve played, and I think actually we’ve done Australia pretty well as far as Australia goes. We’ve always had a bit of time to enjoy the beaches and do a bit of exploring. We’ve had people take us around quite a bit. I think maybe more than any other place out of the country, we have actually done a lot in Australia. Honestly, I just want to soak it all in and remember all the cities and take it in for a final time for touring sake. I would love to come back again and not have this the final time I’ll be in Australia. Hopefully, fingers crossed on that.

To last 13 years is a significant achievement for any band. Considering most don’t last past the first album. However, was there a specific moment early on, whether to do with finances or general hardships, when the band could’ve easily ended?

There was some dark times for me personally and then there were some harder times for the band. Those happened to coincide (laughs). We were struggling with our final album [‘Declaration’] on Trustkill, it was difficult getting the support and not just the financial support, and it was just a tough period all around. We were so excited to be writing and then it felt like roadblock after roadblock – we were all pretty broke. Living in Vancouver and scraping money to get up there and record the album it was an awesome time. [However] it was a tougher time for me personally. I had a relationship that was ending and mentally I don’t think I was fully happy with everything. Maybe I wasn’t getting along with all the band members as well? That was just a tougher time and we made it through it. I think it was hard on me when we lost Jona [Weinhofen] because he is one of my best friends. So, for me personally that was a time, which was after ‘Declaration’ came out because he was on that album, but that was another hard time for me because I was losing a best friend. That was maybe as close as I got to wanting to quit when he left.

Ok, wow.

I think we just always wanted to get that next thing and always wanted one more thing. I don’t know? I guess we always wanted to make it through it. We just kept getting through things.

Talking about how it’s good to be able to strive through the hardships, one of the cool things when you started out in the Orange County scene was that it was you guys, Eighteen Visions, Avenged Sevenfold, Throwdown, all those bands, you almost came out at the same time. To have your peers and friends make good careers that must be a good feeling?

For sure, for sure. We are definitely proud of Orange County. I don’t live in Orange County now, I moved up to Northern California, but we’re pretty proud of all the bands that have done so well from outta there. I’m not exactly sure what it’s like now because I don’t go to shows in Orange County, aside from the ones we play (laughs). But, it seems like for when we were coming along, Orange County was pretty supportive of their home grown bands. People would go to shows and support you. I think that’s something to be proud of as well, not just, obviously the bands were doing well, but [also] the scene looking out for the bands. Granted, many of those bands would be considered talented having come out of anywhere, but I think the community definitely encouraged you to keep going.

Before when you talked about hoping this won’t be the last time you come to Australia personally, what is on the horizon for you once Bleeding Through officially wraps up?

Well, for most of us, we have some sort of family and that’s really my goal personally. I would like to start a family with my husband [Phil Demmel, Machine Head]. I never thought I’d want something more than being in a band and playing music. So, I’ve discovered I want to start a family with someone. I want that more than anything else. That’s in the plans (laughs).

That’s really nice to hear. Because I think some people leave one band and just move onto another. By the sounds of it, you know what you want and perhaps it’s like a change of pace.

For sure. To be honest if my husband hadn’t come into my life, I probably would still want to pursue another band, but you fall in love and things change (laughs).

Obviously music is still going to be a big part of your life. I remember in high school coming across ‘Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire’ in a Metal Hammer compilation and it blew me away at the time. What bands and/or styles are you digging currently?

I’ve always liked a little bit of everything and I’m sure I embarrass my band with some of the pop music (laughs). I think I’m less genre oriented. I still like heavy music. I still like running and working out to whatever. The new Killswitch Engage record [‘Disarm the Descent’] I like it. Perfect for working out (laughs). I’m really looking forward to my husband Phil’s new album [Machine Head’s forthcoming studio album]. They’re writing right now. They write some fabulous music. I’m looking forward to some new Machine Head. I’m always curious to see what they come up with. I hear him write little bits at home, then he brings home a demo and it’s like, “wow, that’s fucking awesome” (laughs). So that’s personally intriguing for me. I still buy new pop albums, like whatever the latest Pink album is. I love the new Alicia Keys. I still like very girly music.

Were there any final words you wanted to pass onto the readers before I let you go?

I’ll say it now and I’m sure I’ll say it a number of times when we actually get over there but, I think Bleeding Through is going to miss Australia outside of Southern California and London specifically, I think we’ll always have a special place in our heart for Australia. We love it and we are going to miss it.

Very well put. I appreciate those words and I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us today. I’m really looking forward to seeing you guys when you’re in Melbourne for one last time.

Me too. Awesome. Thank you very much.

Bleeding Through tour Australia this July.