The Undeniable Truth: An Interview With Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through

By Dan Hoyt

Putting out yet another fantastic album, The Truth to kick off 2006 as well as touring the smallest venues to the most massive festivals like Ozzfest and Download, Bleeding Through never sees the heavy metal world as too big or too small. The band plays for anyone, anywhere and they give 110% each time they step onto a stage. I called lead singer Brandan Schieppati during the band’s tour with Senses Fail and Saosin, and chatted with him about fame, fortune and rolling around on stage.

SMN: What’s up man? So how’sthe tour with Senses Fail and Saosin going?

Brandan: It’s going really good. Lot of new kids on this one. We did Download, and Ozzfest, and toured with Unearth, and that was a lot of the same crowd. I get the vibe that they’re getting a little sick of us, so we’re getting sick of them as well! (laughs) We’re just trying something new this time and appealing to a different kind of kid. We want to appeal to every type of kid who listens to music, not just one. We’re excited.

SMN: Yeah, you guys have been all over lately, to Ozzfest of course, and I wanted to ask you about Download. What was that whole show like?

Brandan: That show was insane. We had no idea what that was going to be like, but we kept hearing from bands that it was the best show they ever played. So we got up on stage in front of 15,000 people and it was crazy, because they knew who we were as opposed to playing in front of a bunch of dead faces who are all like “who is this band?” We got a great response and I can honestly say it was the best show we’ve ever played.

SMN: I saw you got into journalism recently and interviewed Glenn Danzig. I interviewed him too a while ago and I was curious, had you done anything like that before?

Brandan: No, not really. When I was 16 I had a few fan zines I’d run and I’d interview bands, but nothing like Danzig. It was nerve-wracking at first, but he’s just a really fucking cool dude. We’ve spoken again since then and kept in contact, and he’s pretty fucking rad.

SMN: How did that whole interview get set up with Revolver, or what made you want to do that?

Brandan: They have this thing where they match up a modern band with a music figure from the past who’s still around. The band is obviously similar to the figure being interviewed, and there are a lot of possibilities. I guess Danzig felt most comfortable with me interviewing him.

SMN: You gonna do any more interviews or was that just a one-time thing?

Brandan: I don’t know. If I do anything else, it’d be rad. I like journalism and I had fun because I had so many questions I wanted to ask Danzig. It was a cool interview, but I think they left out a lot of the cool shit that we talked about.

SMN: Moving along to your most recent album (The Truth), it’s been close to a year now since its release. Looking back on that, was there anything you didn’t accomplish on the last album that you hope to with the next one?

Brandan: There’s always something you want to change on your records, but I’m still really happy. I think the touring aspect could’ve been better. We took a 3 ½ month break after the album came out and I think that was a really bad idea. We’re touring really hard right now to try and pick up the pieces.

SMN: When you guys wrote the album, how were things going with the chemistry of the band, were there some struggles or are you guys closer as a unit now than you ever have been?

Brandan: Oh, we work really well with each other, there aren’t any real struggles or anything. We share songwriting, and we sit down and jam out songs. We don’t butt heads too much.

SMN: Something else I wanted to talk about…I interviewed you about a year and a half ago when you were on the STRHESS Tour in 2005, and you said that you wanted your lyrics to be more blunt and up front on The Truth. Did it turn out the way you wanted?

Brandan: I think I got all of that accomplished on this record. It still has as big of an effect on people as This Is Love, This Is Murderous had, and as long as it keeps rolling down that road, it’s easier for an audience to relate to the lyrical content, especially on this record now.

SMN: You guys working on any new tracks at the moment?

Brandan: We’ve worked on a couple songs here and there, but we don’t have time to practice. We love bands that record on the road, put it on their computers and mix the shit out of everything. They brag a lot, saying “hey, look, we wrote this record on the road!” and all I can think is “yeah, I know, it’s a piece of shit.” We actually like the old-fashioned style where we get in the studio for four, five hours a day and crank stuff out. We’re gonna tour through the summer and then get started writing our new record.

SMN: I loved the two-part horror movie you guys filmed with “Kill To Believe” and “Love In Slow Motion.” Any chance of a part three?

Brandan: Our next video will be “Line In The Sand” and we’re filming that when we’re off this tour. I’m not sure if it’ll be along the same lines as those videos. Maybe a little bit, but I think it’ll be different this time for the most part.

SMN: Was this thing slated to be a two-part video when “Kill To Believe” was first released or did you guys just like the idea as it came along?

Brandan: A lot of videos nowadays are just bands playing in a forest or a warehouse, so I wanted to do a Rob Zombie-ish horror movie video, basically a mini movie.

SMN: You did a pretty good job kicking ass. Ever thought of being an action hero or horror movie star?

Brandan: What’s funny about that is one of the guys who was on the set for the videos worked with a lot of “B” horror movies and even regular Western horror flicks, and he told me to send him a resume because he wants me to be in some of his horror movies and all that shit. If I have the time, I’m so doing it. That would be cool!

SMN: Going back to touring, the last time I saw you guys was at Portland’s little Loveland Theater, and now you guys have been on Ozzfest and Download and then back to touring small again, such as Portland’s Roseland Theater. Is it more relaxing to be on these small-theater tours, where you get to be closer to fans?

Brandan: It is. Playing festivals is nice and all, and obviously Download was amazing, but in the smaller venues you can be closer to the kids and experience something that is lost in the bigger shows. Once our next record comes out, we’re planning to do 100 shows in 100 days across the States, it’s going to be all small, 300-400 person theaters with no barriers or anything. People need to experience these kind of shows in a smaller venue.

SMN: Also in the last time I talked to you, you said th hardcore scene has a great message to it and more people are getting into it, and 2006 has seen this scene get more interest and influx than ever. Do you think the message and element is still there, or has it been lost in translation?

Brandan: It’s hard to say. I’ve changed my mind on that whole thing. It’s gotten very oversaturated to me, and it’s lost the message.

SMN: Amazing what a whole year and a half can do, huh?

Brandan: It is amazing. In a year and a half, Myspace went from 50 websites to the second-biggest website in the world. It’s good that bands can get their music out here and there through it, but there are bands that are basing their whole careers around Myspace, and it’s sucking out all the hard work that a lot of bands normally did in the past. It’s weird. There are so many bands now. These websites are a good way to get your music out, but unlike in the past where if a band didn’t get a record deal they’d quit, nowadays bands can keep posting songs on their Myspace pages and take that all the way to fucking Europe and Japan. It’s ridiculous to me. The originality of music right now is at an all-time low, and we’re trying to do something a little different.

SMN: Last question, my editor wanted to know – what’s the story behind you rolling around on stage?

Brandan: (laughs) I just like to go out there and put on a good show. Rolling around’s just me having fun doing that.

SMN: Sounds great man. Good to talk to you again, I’ll see you later, have a great tour.

Brandan: Alright man, thanks so much!

Rate this interview: (8 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)
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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 5:56 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

theWolfisLOOSE wrote:

I agree, I am sick of this band.

February 24th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

No Fax Payday Loans wrote:

No Fax Payday Loans…

Quick allegretto payday loan for Actors…

December 21st, 2007 at 10:19 am

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