Ahead of their return to the stage later this month, The Bleeders’ Angelo Munro looks back to 2003 and the songs that started it all.
Photo: Supplied
This is part of a regular series called Verse Chorus Verse which sees local artists break down the stories behind their music. For more, click here.
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Of the three records The Bleeders released, the debut seven-track EP is definitely my fave.
An artist will be most proud of their latest work, but I have to say that when you reflect all those years later, after you're defunct, they are always right when they say “the first shit” and “the raw stuff is the best”.
Here's a little piece about our first offering, A Bleeding Heart. We recorded this at York Street Studio in Auckland over two nights. Steve Roberts, our engineer, captured that original Bleeders sound.
Bad News/Intro
An instrumental to set the mood. The name “bad news” is a tribute to the hilarious mockumentary about the metal band Bad News.
Channelling
When the band first formed, there was a real focus on capturing a dark sound and dark content. We were fans of the goth and goth/punk stuff and this was the first song we wrote. It was inspired by a dream I had about my grandmother who died very young; she was trying to send a message and this song is about my experience.
Sell Out
This song is rather ironic because, after the EP was released, we signed with Universal Records and many people would have seen us as sellouts ourselves.
The truth about this song is I went and saw a band play (whom I won't name, but members of that band had been from a background in the hardcore/punk scene) and onstage they were badmouthing the scene they had once been part of. It left a rather bad taste in my mouth as I feel like it's super lame to turn your back on your roots.
Despite the fact I've grown and evolved as a person, I'll never be “too cool for hardcore”. Don't forget what shaped you is what I was trying to get at in this song.
Cast In The Shadows
This is my tribute to victims of domestic abuse. It’s about dealing with it but coming out the other end as a stronger person that can take on anything!
All That Glitters
Can’t be a punk band without any politics right?!
This song is about the lies we are being force-fed every day by the system and the media behind them … and it's about taking a closer look and taking off the tinted glasses and seeing what's really going on.
We wrote this in 2003 and it seems even more relevant today than ever.
And no, I'm not a conspiracy theorist!
It’s Black
Another tribute to “the darkness”. This song’s about when you hit those times in your life and there seems to be no way out. There’s not too much more to say about it ... I just tried to keep it goth.
A Bleeding Heart
This is probably still our most iconic song to date. Despite the songs we got more radio play for, this is really the true anthem of the band. It's more of a personal kind of song, too. Its catchy riff was one of the first Hadleigh Donald brought to the band and our drummer George worked a lot on the vocal/lyric ideas with me on this one.
The Bleeders play the Kings Arms on November 25 and the NZ Tattoo & Art Festival in New Plymouth on November 26.