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BONDED BY BLOOD INTERVIEW with vocalist Aladdin. September 2007
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Introduce the members of the band and what does everyone play?
Aladdin does vocals, Alex and Mr. Boogie (Juan) both do their guitars, Rudo stands there with his bass, and Carlos just thrashes his skins. We formed in summer 2005.
We figure you take your name from the classic Exodus debut album. Why
Did you choose that name and why are you such big fans?
We are all fucking major Exodus fans and that album is just a total killer
Thrash classic! From the 1st track till the end it just shows how fucking thrash REALLY was. The name was mostly chosen by Aladdin, he kept listening to that whole album so much that it was bound to happen.
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(above: Bonded by Blood)
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You're an extremely young band, with the average members age being just 18 years old. How did you get so proficient?
Practice, practice, and even MORE practice. A lot of dedication to our instruments and no slacking off. But when that doesn't work, sell your soul to the devil, that tends to help out a little.
Birth, School, Metallica, Death - sum up Bonded By Blood in 4 words.
Heavy, thrashing, Metal, Monster
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Who are your major influences?
As a band, the name says it hahaha. Exodus, but our top 3 bands are :
Exodus, Megadeth and Testament.
Tell us about the LA, Californian scene. Big things are happening
there at the moment with the current New Thrash Wave of young bands
reviving the Thrash movement.
Yeah it's pretty awesome! Crowds get bigger by the minute, more thrash bands rise up from cities everywhere. We remember when we first started we were playing with other genres of music because of the lack of thrash bands around. But it seems like out of no where, thrash bands have begun to rise and in our opinion, it's pretty awesome.
(left: Exodus)
What other bands do you recommend in the LA scene and which ones have You played with/hung out with?
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Man, there's just so many to choose from, there's Tyrant, Neurotoxin, Rattlehead, Primevil, Desecrate, Hexen, Warbringer, Svenhardz, and our really good buddies which are not mainly thrash but have the thrash taste, Exmortus. There's more but our heads hurt haha.
What are you doing differently to the bands that have come before you and how do you stand out among the new breed?
You see, we never actually saw the fashion side of it. It's not really that important to us, if I pop in a CD of my favourite thrash band, I don't think I'll be listening to their white high tops on the left speaker and their denim jackets on the right. But then again I really don't care what anyone looks like. Just give us some fast thrashing riffs, and some face melting solos, and send us on our way.
There seems to be a definite image with Thrash music. White high tops, jeans etc. Is this important?
We love the old thrash sound and we are trying to mix all of the things we love about thrash and put our own twist into it. I think what sets us apart from the new breed is the whole complexity of our playing plus Aladdin's vocals really stand out from the rest,Alex's shredding, plus our bassist plays slap-bass style in some songs, which is rarely heard in thrash bands now.
What are your songs about and what influences your music?
Well, this ones kinda hard to answer. We don't tend to stick to one subject, it could go from total destruction to life experiences, Aladdin has big comic book influences and that tends to help a lot in our lyrics. Our songs are about hate, pure destruction, feeding beasts, and everything in between.
But whats with the one about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It's brilliant and deserves to really catch on -but why about the turtles?
It was to define our generation, plus, we're big turtle fans! Fucking Cowabunga! Why not make a damn turtles song, it's what the world needs haha.
Come on, kids our age back in the day watched it too, even Rudo, our bassist, who didn't even know English at the time loved them.
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Has anyone in the band ever had a near death experience?
Well there was this one time when the whole band dropped off Alex at his house and we were on our way to new port beach for some partying when it started raining out of no where! And some crazy bitch swerved in front of us and we spun out of control doing a bunch of 360 spins and crashed into a big ‘ol tree. One of our friends on the passenger side completely snapped his arm and his bone was through his skin and there was all this blood all over his side. Aladdin knocked out for a good minute or two, Rudo hit his head on the passenger head rest and got a bump, Carlos was in complete shock.
Do you have jobs outside of the band and if so any interesting ones?
Well, Alex works at the Metal shop and he thinks it's cool because he's got to slice with metal drills and machines. Aladdin and Rudo both work at a big screen TV warehouse which makes it pretty convenient as they both pretend to work all day, well if you want to call it work, they just watch a bunch of TV and write material. Actually, that's where most of our material came from. Juan and Carlos go to school part time and party full time.
Alex Lee is already quite revered as an outstanding guitarist - one of the best in the worldwide New Thrash Wave. Any comment, Alex?
Alex: I'm really flattered and honoured to hear the remarks that people say about me. I really appreciate the kind words that you guys gave me, it still feels like I don't deserve it haha I still have much to learn. One day
I'll conquer the guitar, for Mr. Boogie (Juan) is catching up to me and when that day comes, we'll have the biggest guitar battle ever in the world! So guitar freaks- stay tuned haha. |
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(right: Alex Lee)
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(above: 'Extinguish the Weak' E.P.) |
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Have you heard about the flourishing UK Thrash scene and are you in touch with any of the bands?
Yeah I heard all about the UK Thrash scene, bands like Gama Bomb, Mutant, Pitiful Reign, and of course, Evile. We really don't keep in touch but we've heard a lot of good things about them. Can't wait to actually play a show with them as label mates, one day soon I hope.
You currently have a blistering self-released EP out called ‘Extinguish The Weak’. How close are you to completing the debut LP?
Well, we are all happy with how the EP came out, it really sums up what we are. When the album comes out, it should be even more brutal than the EP ever was, kind of like getting shot in the head. We plan to go into the recording studio later on this year to complete our debut album for Earache.
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 (above: Bonded by Blood gig) |
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What are your plans for touring and what can we expect from a live Bonded By Blood show?
Well, we want to go out and tour as soon as possible, hit as many cities as we can, spread our thrash to the masses. As for the live shows, you can expect total brutality. Don't go in the front unless you want to get smashed by the pits. You can expect us to be all over the stage doing what we do best, running around and rippin' it up!
Do you have many fans outside of the states yet?
Well actually we've sent many of the Extinguish the Weak CD's to the UK,
Germany, France, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, there's probably
more. A lot of people actually want to see us out there and that would be
pretty fucking awesome if we really make it.
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Is anyone in the band into skateboarding or other sports? If so are you any good?
Well we have all skated at one point in our lives. Only two of us took sponsors at local skate shops (Rudo, Aladdin) but that was a while back haha. Since then we still skate here and there for the fuck of it.
Has anyone in the band ever had a brush with the law?
We've all had a little thing here and there with trespassing because ofskateboarding. Nothing too big maybe getting chased out and knocked down to the ground. Nothing major but bruises and scratches and some nasty tickets. |
What do you do in your spare time besides music?
Well when we have time, we like to relax, go play some arcades, SKATE, catch Alex watching porn haha. Ping Pong, watch horror movies or super hero movies, those are cool too.
Lastly, what are each of your fave 5 Thrash albums of all time? |
Alex
1 Exodus- Bonded by Blood
2 Metallica- Master of Puppets
3 Megadeth- Countdown to Extinction
4 Megadeth- Peace sells but who's buying
5 Testament- Practice what you preach
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Rudo
1 Exodus- Bonded by Blood
2 Megadeth- Countdown to Extinction
3 Metallica- Master of Puppets
4 Testament- The Legacy
5 Exodus- Fabulous Disaster
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Aladdin
1 Exodus-Bonded by Blood
2 Megadeth- Killing is my business and business is good
3 Metallica- Ride the Lightning
4 Suicidal Tendencies- Lights, Camera, Revolution
5 Testament- The Legacy
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Juan
1 Exodus- Bonded by Blood
2 Testament- First Strike Still Deadly
3 Exodus- Tempo of the Damned
4 Testament- The Gathering
5 Megadeth- Countdown to Extinction
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Carlos
1 Exodus- Bonded by Blood
2 Metallica- And Justice for All
3 Megadeth- So far So good.. So what
4 Megadeth- Rust in Peace
5 Metallica- Kill em' All |
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