By Kevin Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday August 28, 2003
ÎHardcore' band The Bled stops in Tucson on nationwide tour
Note to all local musicians: Keep passing out those demos.
It worked for local Tucsonans and on-again, off-again UA students The Bled.
As the story goes, one of the heads of Fiddler Records, which is home to Dashboard Confessional and New Found Glory, was on tour with punk band Midtown. Somehow a member of Midtown had gotten their hands on The Bled's demo and really liked it. However, after hearing the demo played a few times by the Midtown-er, the Fiddler honcho stole it from the band member and ended up signing the band.
Slightly ahead of the game name-wise, The Bled was formed in 2001, just before every other band had a "the" in front of their name.
A self-described hardcore band with some pop influences, The Bled initially had Spinal Tap-like inspiration.
"The whole idea started out as a joke band," singer James Munoz said. "I think I was a sophomore in high school whenever I first heard about this idea, that these dudes were going to get together with Jeremy (Talley ö guitarist) and start this crazy, ridiculous metal band where people dressed up in hospital outfits and spit blood capsules everywhere. Just to make it like a ridiculous Dillinger Escape Plan rip-off band with just nothing but ridiculous theatrics and stuff. But over the years, it's definitely been taken more seriously. Not too seriously, but definitely, we stopped spitting blood at people."
The now-bloodless Bled consist of main songwriter Talley, Munoz, drummer Mike Pedicone, bassist Mike Celi, and guitarist Ross Ott. Pedicone, Munoz and Ott were all UA students before quitting school to pursue the band full-time.
Munoz is the newest addition to the band, being asked to sing lead vocals just last March. Their original singer quit because of touring issues prior to the recording of their debut album, "Pass The Flask."
Munoz, who is a longtime friend of the band, learned all the songs just two weeks before the album was recorded. Although it was hectic, Munoz said he brought a new element to the band's sound.
"I just wanted to make things a lot more dynamic vocally," he said. "I mean you have the guitarist doing crazy shit all the time, the drums are pretty nuts, everyone's kind of going all out to try and do something different and create a really colorful tapestry and I know I wanted to do that with the vocals."
The Bled has been busy touring the country since May with various bands such as Static Lullaby, Black Cross and most recently Norma Jean and Stretch Arm Strong. Having traveled so much this summer, Munoz said he hasn't paid much attention to the fact that the band has been getting exposure in national music magazines.
"It's kind of strange because being on the road, I don't think that we're really aware of it, you know?" he said. "Because I'm not hanging around and I'm not really like buying the magazines or reading the stuff like I usually would be if I was at home, you know? I think it's cooler to see bands that I enjoy listening to and to see some dude in the band wearing our shirt or something. I guess it really hasn't hit me yet, but it's definitely kind of funny. The first time I saw an ad in AP (Alternative Press), it was kind of like a really weird feeling."
Munoz's advice for bands currently in the trenches of the local music scene is to tour outside of Arizona. He pointed to one experience in California as an example.
"In Corona, California, we played some shows with some bands up there, local bands like Static Lullaby's from there," Munoz said. "And those kids just went crazy, like fucking ape-shit, man. And all it took was about two or three shows up there and there's already a big buzz and the kids just go crazy, learn the songs, just freak out at shows, buy all your stuff. It's cool. It's a great feeling."
Let the good times roll for all those wanting to get out of the house instead of sitting in front of the VMA's tonight as The Bled play an all-ages CD release party for Pass The Flask at Skrappy's, 201 E. Broadway Blvd., at 7 p.m. The show is $5. Call 358-4287 for more information.
