The Blood Brothers (band)

The Blood Brothers

The Blood Brothers were an experimental hardcore/art punk band formed in the Eastside suburbs of Seattle, Washington, USA in 1997. They officially broke up in October 2007, after ten years of being fully active.

Origins

Vocalists Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney and drummer Mark Gajadhar formed the band from a previous musical endeavour they were involved with when they were 15 years old. Joining with bassist Morgan Henderson and guitarist Devin Welch the following year, the Blood Brothers was born in August 1997. The band recorded their first 7" record for $200 in a basement the following year. After replacing Welch with guitarist Votolato (who is a year younger than the rest of the band), the current lineup was complete. The band left on their first tour immediately after Votolato graduated from high school.

Hiatus and breakup

Music website Punknews.org reported that the band was going on hiatus, though they had initially reported the situation as a breakup. The news story linked to a forum post by Three One G owner Justin Pearson, who was replying to a post about the breakup of Some Girls. He only stated "the blood bros broke up."

Rumors of the disbandment can be traced as far back as July.

The Blood Brothers were expected to make an announcement about their future in early 2008, but instead officially announced the breakup on November 8, 2007:

Dear Friends,

After 10 years of making music as The Blood Brothers, we have made the collective decision that our time together has come to an end. We feel extremely fortunate to have spent such a deeply memorable and amazing part of our lives with each other. At this point, however, we feel it's best that our futures move forward on separate paths. We'd like to express our sincerest thanks and gratitude to all the bands we've played with, individuals who have helped us make our records, and fans who have come to our shows and picked up our music throughout the years. Your friendship, support and love hold such a profoundly special place in each of our hearts. We hope that the memories you attach to our music are as fond as those you have given us. Thank you and take care, we'll miss all of you.

Love,

The Blood Brothers

Style

The band has been described as experimental, punk, hardcore, and post-hardcore, among many others, although their true style is a combination of several genres and is harder to pin down. In small circle discussions, the band related that they have influences from the No Wave punk scene of the 1980's. The band makes wide use of post-hardcore vocal styles (such as rapid shifts from singing to high-pitched screaming) and instrumentation (such as abrupt changes in meter and nonstandard chords). The style of guitar playing showcased by Votolato has greatly changed over time, most notably between the heavy, discordant sound of ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn and the minimalist lead lines of Crimes, where the energy of the drums and vocals tends to make up for the lack of thick distortion . Whitney's voice is generally accepted to have evolved from the slurred, venomous drawl on This Adultery Is Ripe to the high-pitched squeals ("like a child being tortured ") heard on Crimes, while Blilie's voice has grown more distinctive while maintaining the same low, robust ferocity. Their sound has been compared to that of people screaming in their last moments of life, while being sliced in half with a chainsaw. Ex: "Is that the blood brothers you're listening to?" "No, it's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. What you're hearing is the sound of a chainsaw, accompanied by the screams of the teenagers it's cutting in half." "Oh". The band has cited Botch, Drive Like Jehu, Gang of Four, Angel Hair, Highway 61, True North, Bootsy Collins, and people dying violent deaths among others as influences.

The Blood Brothers' last album, Young Machetes, was released on October 10, 2006, with Fugazi member Guy Picciotto co-producing it. The band told Alternative Press magazine that of the fifteen songs on Young Machetes, "six of them harken back to our first two records; they're a lot more chaotic and frenetic."

Other projects

Several members of the band have been or are currently involved in other projects, including (but not exclusive to) the following:

• Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar released an album "Chandeliers in the Savannah" in 2005 under the name Neon Blonde after the release of "Crimes", 2004. An EP was also released earlier in 2005.
• Along with members of The Locust and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jordan Blilie and Cody Votolato formed Head Wound City shortly after the release of Crimes and released a self-titled EP.
• In 2007, Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato joined with Jay Clark (formerly of Pretty Girls Make Graves) to start Jaguar Love. To date, the band has only released a few tracks for streaming on their MySpace page. The tracks can also be purchased at the Crystal City Clothing website. On December 29th, 2007 they announced they were to begin recording their first full length record.
• Johnny Whitney, along with his wife Amy Carlsen, started a clothing company called Crystal City Clothing. To date, they have produced shirts for Panic! at the Disco, Thursday, and Rocky Votolato. They have also done the majority of merch designs for The Blood Brothers in the past several years.
• In August 2007 Mark Gajadhar and 'Pearl Dragon' joined together to create a pop/hip-hop act by the name of Champagne Champagne. On November 13th 2007 they created a myspace and started gaining myspace friends. They also have songs available for listen on their myspace page. They have plans to release an album in the near future.
• Jordan Blilie, Mark Gajadhar and Morgan Henderson formed the band Past Lives in late 2007, with original Blood Brothers guitarist Devin Welch.

Final lineup

• Jordan Blilie - vocals
• Mark Gajadhar - drums, percussion
• Morgan Henderson - bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Cody Votolato - guitar, percussion, vocals
• Johnny Whitney - vocals, keyboards

Former members

• Devin Welch - guitar (performed on Rumors Laid Waste and appears on the EP's cover, but left the band prior to the recording of This Adultery Is Ripe)

Discography

Albums

• This Adultery Is Ripe (2000)
• March on Electric Children (2002)
• ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn (2003)
• Crimes (2004) US#157
• Young Machetes (2006) #92

EPs

• Rumors Laid Waste (2003)
• Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck (2005)

Singles

• "Ambulance vs. Ambulance" (2003)
• "Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck" (2004)
• "Laser Life" (2006)
• "Set Fire to the Face on Fire" (2007)

DVDs

• Jungle Rules Live (2003)
• This Is Circumstantial Evidence (2003)
• The Fest 3 (2004)

Other appearances

• The Blood Brothers produced a cover of the song Under Pressure which appeared on the Queen tribute album Dynamite With a Laser Beam.
• The band also covered Gang of Four's "Anthrax" for a tribute album that never materialized. A remix can be found on the Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck EP.
• The band performed "Set Fire To The Face On Fire" on Season 2, Episode 6 of IFC's The Henry Rollins Show, May 18th, 2007

Family connections

Several members of the band have familial connections to other notable Pacific Northwest-based bands:

• Cody Votolato's older brother Rocky Votolato is a successful solo folk artist and was a member of Waxwing with Cody. His oldest brother is Sonny Votolato, who plays guitar for numerous bands, including Slender Means, Bugs in Amber, and Blue Checkered Record Player.
• Mark Gajadhar's older brother is Rudy Gajadhar, the drummer of Gatsbys American Dream and formerly of Waxwing. Rudy was in Waxwing at the same time as Cody's brother Rocky.
• Jordan Blilie's twin sister Hannah Blilie is the drummer for The Gossip.

External links

• Official Site
• Template:MySpace

• The Blood Brothers collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Interview at wenn's rockt! WebTV
• Interviews and performance of "Laser Life" from episode 306 of The Henry Rollins Show