Bleed The Dream 'Built by Blood' album

Hailing from Southern California, Bleed The Dream have gone against all odds to plant a foot firmly in today’s rock scene. Formed in 2003, Bleed The Dream -- vocalist Brandon Thomas, guitarist Dave Aguilera, bass guitarist/vocalist Keith Thompson and drummer Scott Gottlieb -- has already done more than its fair share of touring, impressing crowds while sharing the stage with such monumental acts as Pennywise, Yellowcard, Poison the Well and Matchbook Romance, as well as two Vans Warped Tours in a row.

While still unsigned, the band was chosen as one of the “Top 100 Bands To Check Out” by Alternative Press Magazine. They spent the winter of 2005 on the Taste Of Chaos tour on which Aguilera says “We had a great opportunity to interact with so many fans. We played in front of 14,000 fans in Long Beach and it was a great experience.” Now this invigorated rock outfit is preparing to spend their summer on their third Warped Tour in a row. Bleed The Dream will release its new full-length album Built By Blood on April 26, 2005, through WARCON Enterprises LLC.

Life as a band has not been easy for Bleed The Dream. While on tour with Matchbook Romance in support of their debut EP Awake, Gottlieb fell ill. A trip to the hospital revealed that he was suffering from leukemia. His band mates were stricken with sorrow, but determined to soldier on despite their comrade’s condition. They released an acoustic EP, Asleep, in his absence and eagerly awaited his recovery. Scott got out of the hospital, still suffering, but determined to do his part for the band’s first full length album. After only three days of working through pain in the studio, he had miraculously completed the drum tracks with a flawless performance. Upon returning to the hospital, it was found that the leukemia had come back, preventing Scott from continuing on tour with the band for the time being.

Adversity has been a huge inspiration to the entire band. Thomas was the product of a broken home, finding himself on the streets at 15. Teaming up with Thompson, a fellow Baltimore native, and guitarist Aguilera to form Bleed The Dream was a life-changing experience for him.

Built By Blood presents a new side of the band. Aguilera says, “We put a lot of thought into these songs. I think this album is more mature than our previous material. I think this album will surprise people.” The band again turned to producer Cameron Webb (Aquabats, Lit, Motorhead, Social Distortion) who produced Awake. In regards to the albums thematic elements, Aguilera says, “This album is a rollercoaster ride. We re-did two acoustic songs from our second album, ‘Should Have Known’ and ‘Broken Wings,’ and made them heavy. We also have a five-minute song ‘Emotion Regression’ that is so hard to even describe.” A music video is also in the works with Darren Doane (Deftones, Thursday) directing.

As for the 2005 Warped Tour, Aguilera says, “We think about the Warped Tour all winter. It’s always so much fun and it will be great to get out there with our friends and fans again. The lineup is rad. We’re big fans of Tim Armstrong (of The Transplants), we’re friends with Billy Talent, who are an amazing band and of course The Offspring put on the ultimate show.”

In every way, Bleed The Dream’s mission has become a labor of love. Out of respect and gratitude for Gottlieb, as well as the intense internal drive that has always fueled their performances, the band is intent on being noticed by the world, and their third Warped Tour is just one more step for them up the hill to greatness. Bleed The Dream will also be heading out on the road with Anberlin and headlining a Canadian tour. They will continue using a touring drummer until Gottlieb is well enough to return to the fold. Bleed The Dream is seeing tremendous success with Internet exposure. The band’s page on MySpace.com has attracted a network in excess of 9,000 friends and fans.

If you have not yet had the chance to witness Bleed The Dream in a live environment then the Warped Tour is the perfect opportunity. As Aguilera says, “Any real band brings the blood, sweat and tears on stage.”

Biography

Bleed The Dream is going for broke. In only its first two years of existence, the Southern California rock band produced an EP (Awake), booked its own national tour, shang-hai'd its way aboard the Vans Warped Tour ‘03, was invited back for Warped Tour ‘04, earned an opening slot on a tour with Pennywise, played a week of shows with Yellowcard in February 2004, was part of the Taste Of Chaos tour 2005 and the WARCON tour and is now headed out on Warped Tour 2005. The band is crackling with energy after the release of their first full-length album Built By Blood on WARCON Enterprises LLC on April 26, 2005.

"Bleed The Dream's about music, first," says Dave Aguilera. "It's been about the songs from the very get-go. This is a real band, going out on the road, making it, doing everything on our own. What we've been able to do on our own so far without the help of a major label is cool.""We do things with a work-horse mentality," says Brandon Thomas, who grew up with Keith Thompson in Baltimore. "We're not waiting for hand-outs."Bleed The Dream was an accident waiting to happen. They'd all been in other bands and what started off as a side project quickly evolved into a powerful reality.Effortlessly mixing and matching musical styles, Bleed The Dream navigates the waters of rock and ends up wearing its heart on its sleeve.

In regard to Bleed The Dream’s music: "It's 50 percent aggressive, 50 percent passive," says Brandon. "Some of it’s really kind of wide open for whoever to dig a fork into the heart of the song and take a bite of whatever they want, and some of it's kind of like, ‘Fuck you, here's what it is.' "I think we're kind of experimental, with traditional songwriting too," says Keith. "Sometimes kind of dark, but sometimes really upbeat and light."

The varied descriptions are not surprising, with each member bringing something different to the table. Brandon's influences include Faith No More, the Deftones, and Dave Gahan, as well as "dirty white trash metal." Scott tunes into Bad Brains, British punk, and jazz, while Dave gets his kicks from Radiohead, Fugazi and the Cure. For Keith, it's all about Bjork, Jeff Buckley and Glassjaw. "This is a band where each and every one of us contributes in equal parts," says Dave. "We do it because it's fun; it's what we like to do, for the love of music. The fact that people like the music is the ultimate compliment because we write this stuff for us. Truly, it's for us. The fact that we've gone this far is so awesome."I've never seen so much luck with one band," says Scott. "We were in New York for about five hours and we said, ‘We're gonna play CBGBs.' I've never even been there before in my life. And sure enough, we ended up playing CBGBs. We didn't have any of our equipment. We were just hanging out drinking. But we did, we went up and played two songs. It was surreal."You can call it luck, call it whatever you want, but there's something to be said for making your luck happen," says Dave. "It's been that attitude of not giving up. It's determination. We were not gonna take no for an answer."If timing is everything, then the time is right for Bleed The Dream. The band's balls-to-the-wall attitude and DIY spirit is the perfect antidote to a music industry that's oversaturated with pre-fab shite. "All the kids are coming back to the garage shit, where it's real," says Brandon. They just want something that's honest."

The latest developments in the Bleed The Dream story are perhaps the most significant to date. While on tour with Matchbook Romance, Scott was stricken with leukemia. In and out of the hospital for months, he was able to complete the drum tracks for Built By Blood. “We work fast,” says Dave. “We finished the first EP in five days, and the second in three, but for the full-length we spent a bit more time. It took us at least 20 days to finish this album, and we would have done more, but Scott gave his best effort and we didn’t want to make him do any more. This album is just a roller coaster ride. I think it will surprise people.” Signing to WARCON Enterprises LLC is definitely a huge advantage for the band.

With nothing to lose and an endless drive to succeed, Bleed The Dream has truly become a band to watch. "We're all kind of last chance kids," says Brandon. "So this is the dream and we're bleeding it for all it's worth."

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Bleed The Dream - Built by Blood