Bloody Knives

You haven’t heard any music that sounds very much like that of Austin, Texas trio Bloody Knives. At least, I haven’t heard anything—with the exception to some extent of earlier material by the band—that sounds much like the six short tracks on the band’s vinyl-only EP Death, recently released on Saint Marie Records. How often do we honestly get to say that a band or recording is truly that distinctive?
This is intense, pummeling, unsettling music, sometimes featuring sharp, startling turns and contrasts. A formidable surge of synthetic industrial sound is underpinned and propelled by classic, riveting punk drumming, with smooth, clear, almost crystalline vocals hovering above. These are components that “shouldn’t” work together and one might almost say couldn’t possibly work together as well as they do here.
Find also in this admixture touches of spacerock, a shoegaze appreciation for complexity of texture (the sound is super-fuzzy), dazzling runs of what sound like vintage prog keyboard leads, washes of noise, and a few interludes of abstract ambient beauty. An Austin outlet described the band’s sound as “rock/stoner metal/psychedelic”[1] and the metal connection has come up elsewhere as well, remarkably so given that the band works without guitars. How ever one might identify the various elements, they come together into a unique, eerie, compelling whole that can’t adequately be communicated by summing up its parts.
Lyrics and thematic content are as darkly intense as the sonic experience and are consistent with the mercilessness of the band name and the stark album title. Every track is a vignette in which a few brief phrases are repeated in an incantatory manner to evoke the viewpoint of a different, historically actual serial killer. Song names include “Waiting For You to Die,” “Kill You All,” and “Bullet in Your Head.”
One could easily expect music with such thrash, drive, and horrific themes to be topped off with vocals that are shouted, screamed, or growled. Instead we get gently legato phrases sung with cool liquid clarity. Echoing the completely unempathetic nature of the truly sociopathic mind, the detached quality of the vocal delivers a coldness even more suitable to the themes and more frightening than predictably theatric expressions of murderous rage or psychotic agony ever could have been.
The drum sound underpinning the music is just as unexpected in context as the vocal that glides atop it. Highly separated, individually processed, often sampled percussion would be a much more typical choice for a sound so synthetic and industrial. Instead we have full-on punk directness recorded with an at least largely live approach. A fairly minimal set (I don’t hear any toms but I could be mistaken) comes across with an old-school, natural, acoustic quality, in which the balanced sound of the kit as a whole takes precedence over any magnification or treatment of its individual components. Again, it works. Drummer Jake McCown, who has been with Bloody Knives since its inception, deploys startling chops with relentless ferocity, lending the music a gripping percussive dimension.
I probably would have put money down that there’s no electric bass on this EP, that all the considerable action in the lower registers is synth bass for sure. A little investigation fully shattered that inference when I found out that a tremendous portion of the sonic palette employed somehow emerges at least to begin with from vocalist and founding member Preston Maddox’s bass.
So Death offers up a sound that is not only unexpected in itself but has also been arrived at and put together in unexpected ways. Those familiar with last year’s Saint Marie full-length Blood will hear that album’s sound stripped back a bit here, with some of the shoegaze and dreampop textural layers peeled away in a distillation that somehow scales up rather than decreases the overall “bang.”
Performance photos of the band’s present incarnation show McCown with a modest kit; Maddox with bass and a minimal-looking effects array; and noise specialist and visually compelling pixie-con-cojones Kimberly Calderon attending intently to a laptop and a few boxes. The question of how any equivalent of Death’s sound is pulled off on stage by such a lean-looking ensemble is almost staggering, but judging by buzz the band’s live impact is proportionate.[2]
Death is a short EP that yields a big experience. It packs its massive wallop in under twelve minutes. Three of the tracks are less than two minutes and the longest is 2:36. Neither the shortness of the individual tracks nor the brevity of the release as a whole registered with me for the first several listens. Before I actually had a look at the running times, it would have been hard to convince me that I’d listened to less than at least sixteen intense minutes of music.
My overall sense of this effort is one of uncompromised music resulting from musicians doing exactly what they want to do, how they want to do it, following their own drives and inclinations too intently to be bound by conventions, audience-pleasing, or even their own previous habits. A refreshing authenticity pervades the music and seems to characterize the musicians and their process and methods.
As much as I like this release, I honestly felt a little battered and agitated after listening to it several times in one particular afternoon. Such is the nature of this beast. Clearly Death will not be to everyone’s taste, sonically or thematically. It’s nonetheless executed with passion and commitment and often daunting skill, and it’s genuinely unusual. For those reasons alone it deserves your ears for at least the one listen that a quick visit to Bandcamp will afford you. - The Active Listener

I talked to Bloody Knives leader Preston Maddox back in December for Big Takeover. I found him to be an articulate and funny guy as he expounded on the current music scene he is part of. This new vinyl only EP veers away from the somewhat more ethereal work they’ve done in the past, and clearly marks the band’s punk and metal influences. Witness the opening track, “Nothing Can Save You Now”, with its hard-edged sonic attack underscoring Preston’s almost gentle vocals. That is followed by “Not Alone”, which has a killer bass riff propelling it along. Keyboards lift the song out of the gloom, but only for an instant before it dives back into the sonic maelstrom.

The EP’s title, along with morbid song titles like “Waiting For You To Die”, “Kill You All”, and “Bullet In Your Head” hint at the darkness inherent in BK’s mesmerizing sonic asasults. The songs are only snippets, fading away before you’ve had time to digest them. But “Bullet In Your Head” sticks, with guitar work that Tony Iommi would be proud to call his own. I could be way off, but it sure reminds me of classic Black Sabbath, going way back to Paranoid days.

All that aside, my only complaint is that Death is too damned short, and it’s finished in an instant. Good work, Bloody Knives. I want more. - The Big Takeover

Bloody Knives is a band that stands out from the shoegaze crowd by virtue of its lightning fast bass runs by angelic-voiced Preston Maddox, a stark contrast from the band’s name and the visceral imagery that entails. The Austin, Texas quintet seems to regularly raise the roof wherever they go, and have a reputation as a killer live band with their unique blend of noise and dreamy vocals. Preston is also curator of his own label, Killredrocket Records, though he and the band chose to release last spring’s Blood on the up and comer label, Saint Marie Records, home to such acts as Spotlight Kid, Keith Canisius, and Trespassers William (who no longer exist). The band is planning a short winter tour, and have some new music in the pipeline.

Tell us how the new members came into the fold, and how your song/sound creation may have changed due to their presence (such as having a guitarist)?

PRESTON: Jim Moon had to leave the band to devote more of his life to career and family (he has a solo thing going now called Masterblaster that’s pretty cool). So we had an opening to fill.

I posted an open invite on Facebook for people to audition, and Ish Archbold (sound manipulator) hit me up about it. He is also in another great Austin band called Coma in Algiers that we have played with a lot in town, so it was an easy fit in the group.

Kim Calderon (sound manipulator) had come to almost all of our shows for months. Contrary to her efforts, I found out she was in a noise project. The idea of having two noisemakers on stage seemed pretty awesome to me, so I asked her to join the band.

Christo Buffam (guitar/keyboards) is in another band called Dead Leaf Echo that we have played with a lot. He sent me some samples to work with online, and I asked if he would like to tour if he got the chance. Hopefully his schedule will be clear enough for him to come along when we are able. He lives in NYC, so that is what it is. He is a really talented guitarist/keyboardist.

Ish’s style with us is gritty and atmospheric, sometimes chaotic, like engine noise or alarms going off.

Kim is part cat. She pretty much plays like a cat would play.

Christo has all the classic shoegaze guitar sounds down, really all the current ones too. He can make harsh chaotic noises accessible and atmospheric and writes cool melodies.

Where does most of the writing get done? Is there any set way it happens, or is it more fluid than that?

PRESTON: Our writing style is an odd conglomeration of all the musical situations I’ve been in. I took what I thought were the best aspects of each were and re-arranged them into something new. We change up the writing method for each record, with a new set of rules and procedures. With Blood it was under 30 minutes total and no guitars. With Disappear, it was jamming everything out on the spot and re-sampling all the melodies.

Generally speaking, Jake Mccown does the drums and I sing, play bass, and put the songs together. On most of the records, I’ve played the majority of the sounds with the exception of the interludes on Disappear and Blood and some of the fx, which Jim Moon did.

On this record, I’ve been having fun sampling other people and working with that. It’s cool to take somebody’s vibe and work off of it. LG of Dead Leaf Echo came by and laid down some stuff for me to sample from. Christo laid down some samples and some tracks, Ish and Kim will be doing the interludes and samples, effects and various noises. I’m trying to get a few other people to lay some stuff down, we’ll see who is into it and who would work with the music.

Our main studio is in my garage. We also do some recording at Makeshift Studios in Brooklyn with Ryan Steele (Me You Us Them, Appomattox) when we are in NYC.

There are a million keywords one could use to describe your sound. Does industrial shoegaze come the closest? And do you hate labels as much as most artists do who don’t want to be pigeonholed?

PRESTON: Jake Reid from Screen Vinyl Image (SVI) penned the Industrial Shoegaze description on us, and I thought that was on point. Ish says we are a shoegaze band with a metal heart. I can roll with that too. Jake and I were both in metal bands and like heavy music. The noise band element is even more present in our live set.

I’ve always considered us a punk rock band in the traditional sense when punk rock meant playing from the heart and not giving a fuck, before it turned into Fall Out Boy like bands needing a way to cover up how typical and safe they were.

I’m totally cool with the genre labels. Most people need reference points. Labels help lead people to our music, and I’m good with that.

I hate it when I ask somebody what their band sounds like, and they can’t tell me. Like their sound is some novel unexplainable thing that nobody can qualify. What a bunch of self indulgent bullshit. Every band that says that crap I can pretty much sum up in genre or two.

Then of course there is the Pitchfork “Everybody Gets Their Own Genre Name” crap. Now we have genres like “lo-fi ghost house folk” or “sailor waltz mood punk” or “electric slide bass-step”. What the fuck is all that about?

What was the best era for shoegaze, the 90s or what is happening now?

PRESTON: 90’s.

Basically just because of what they were doing in the context of the time. What they did was not accepted then, they did it purely for the love and the need to make cool music.

Shoegaze is acceptable now. Now there are bands that become “shoegaze” to become popular, the same way 80’s butt rock bands did. The dudes in Warrant teased their hair and wore makeup and got Floyd Rose tremolos and did what all the other butt rock bands did. Modern wannabee shoegaze bands buy a fuck ton of reverb and delay pedals, stand there and act depressed, and do a whole set trying to put the audience to sleep like all the other cookie cutter modern shoegaze bands do. So boring.

As soon as a genre gets hit with a set of rules to abide by, it starts to fall off.

Where is the spirit man!!! Throw some shit or something!! DO SOMETHING.

Many of these people don’t even party, they just mope around and don’t do anything but fuck around on the Internet. All the cool modern shoegaze bands I know are punk rock people at heart, they show up on the stage to GO OFF, not to piddle with their reverb pedal and pretend to be cool.

With your own label, why not self-release your material? Does Saint Marie have their fingers into a bigger distribution network? And how is it running your own shop, with such awesome groups as Screen Vinyl Image?

PRESTON: Saint Marie is a great label. They pick good bands, their distribution network is good, and they put real work into it. I have a lot of respect for them, or any label that comes into the game and puts it on the line. They are the real thing in a world of fake labels and cold shoulder majors.

They just put out the STATIC WAVES comp, which we have a new song on (“What You Need”. Good comp, and its really cheap.

I am also stoked that Saint Marie picked up Nightmare Air. Great band.

As far as I’m concerned, my energy is limited. Releasing a record is a lot of work. I felt we were better off with Blood working with a label to focus their energy on that side alone. My energy became used up booking the band and working on promoting the record from our end. Joint efforts hels when everybody is working hard at something.

Interesting that you bring up Screen Vinyl Image. We have been working on a split with SVI that we are doing independently, so I’ll be helping to work that record. That will be the first time back to that side of the work.

I see lots of free music on your Bandcamp page. Do you only do that periodically?

PRESTON: The first three releases are up for free, and probably always will be. We may go back to that again for future releases. We could use the download revenue, but I also want people to have the record.

Even if I try and charge for the download, somebody will put it up for free somewhere (ed-that stinks).

Where are your biggest fan bases geographically? Do you find more appreciation overseas?

PRESTON: We have a solid fanbase in Europe. Almost all of our downloads come from Europe, I’d say about 75%. I think they have a good understanding of where we are coming from with the band, where as many Americans have a different group of cultural references to draw from.

We go over well here too. My favorite places to play are Chicago, NYC, and St. Louis. We know good bands there we fit well with, and we tend to go over well with the audiences at the show.

What creative influences (music/books/film) have had the most impact on you?

PRESTON: That list is so long. I couldn’t even start without leaving out something important.

I like Sci-Fi and horror movies most, all kinds of music.

Once I read Bukowski, I pretty much stopped reading other books. He had most of what I wanted to know figured out already.

I recently found out about Jay Reatard and Lost Sounds. He is one of the most talented musicians of the last decade. “Blood Visions” is sick. Trust is sick too. That band is so good.

I’m still bummed We Are Hex broke up. One of the best bands in the US not enough people heard of.

Do you still actively hate CDs?

PRESTON: Yes. To me they are disposable trash, always have been. I can’t even keep original copies of my own band’s stuff.

People still buy CDs. Lots of people. As long as people are buying CDs, we will put them out.

Can we giggle about Billy Corgan before moving on? I laughed all the way through your interview with When The Sun Hits when you dumped on him. And what was the deal with him and Courtney Love? If ever there was a match made in hell, it was that one.

PRESTON: It’s always fun to giggle about Billy Corgan.

Fuck Courtney Love.

Courtney Love is a living insult to strong women everywhere. She screws talented dudes, and gets them to write her songs for her. Then she takes all the credit, and acts like she is some sort of bad ass. Billy Corgan wrote all the decent stuff on Celebrity Skin. Kurt Cobain wrote Live Through This, you can’t convince me that’s not Kurt Cobain ghost-writing. That is a Nirvana record with her shitty lyrics and singing on it.

If a woman uses men to do things she cannot do, she cannot be the torchbearer for fem power. The fact that any woman idolizes and respects her as a role model is sad.

Every good female artist I know, all the good female musicians in town, every single one of them- all of them are more hardcore than Courtney Love. That dumb pathetic, pill-poppin’, babbly-mouth, money-lovin selfish bitch. Even her own daughter has to apologize for her in public. Fuck her.

Do you folks have to do the daytime job route like so many others?

PRESTON: I drive a truck around town. Jake carries boxes. Ish hands people food. Kim types stuff.

_Just love your Blood album, it’s such a mix of styles, and melds together so effortlessly. I think those ethereal vocals over furiously pumping bass and keyboards make you standouts. Do you foresee any new directions for the band’s music, and do you have anything in the pipeline you can discuss?

PRESTON: Thank you.

The framework of who we are as a band is set. Working within that framework is where the fun is.

The new people create new dynamics in the music. It will be interesting to see where that leads us.

The Screen Vinyl Image/Bloody Knives split is in the works. No date on that yet.

We have talked to our friends in Bug Chaser about putting something out. Hope we can make that work.

Our next EP DEATH is 75% finished. It is a 6 song EP with a full length video, and will come out as a 7” vinyl and DVD package. We start shooting video on Sunday. No idea of the release date yet.

We are taking our time and letting people stumble across Blood. For the first time ever, I feel no real rush to put out anything, just letting things develop and enjoying playing shows with cool bands that I like. - The Big Takeover

Saint Marie Records has just released “DEATH”, the third EP from Austin’s Bloody Knives. Written and recorded in a week, the EP is an explosion of metallic noise, grimy ambience, pummeling beats and ethereal vocals. The record was engineered specifically for release on 7” vinyl.

This limited edition of 250 (100 red and 150 black) also includes a download coupon. All tracks exclusive to this 7” vinyl w/ download release only: no iTunes, no Amazon, no Spotify, etc. However, in an exclusive arrangement with The Big Takeover, you can hear it now! - The Big Takeover

"Some bands ditch the bass, opting instead for one or two guitars that can play the low notes when needed. The guys in Austin rock/stoner metal/psychedelic band Bloody Knives do the opposite (at least in a live setting), proving that the bass/drum s/synthesizer setup can work for a rock band. What’s more is that the Knives’ music comes across as thoughtful as it is forceful on stage." - Austin American Statesman

"Some bands ditch the bass, opting instead for one or two guitars that can play the low notes when needed. The guys in Austin rock/stoner metal/psychedelic band Bloody Knives do the opposite (at least in a live setting), proving that the bass/drum s/synthesizer setup can work for a rock band. What’s more is that the Knives’ music comes across as thoughtful as it is forceful on stage." - Austin American Statesman

I was really impressed with Austin's industrial shoegaze trio Bloody Knives and their debut release back in 2010. A heady mixture of HEALTH and A Place To Bury Strangers, the tracks on Burn It All Down were relentless and loud - very loud. (check it out here if you missed out - silly.)

Well, I missed their Disappear EP from May last year (silly), but grabbed their Blood release recently. These punkish rogues have taken their aesthetic and twisted the dials to breaking point. It can be quite busy, and the noise can fight the actual melody of the song, but it's true that this trio are insistent on branding their music onto your soul. By the end of this listen, you'll be glad to oblige.
- Sonic Masala

‘Blood’ is the first full-length LP from Austin three piece Bloody Knives. The album is a full-on assault on the senses, its pace never dipping below frenetic from the opening burst of ‘Lesson’ to the incessant grind of final track ‘Bleed Out’.

Opening track ‘Lesson’ is a mind-shattering rush of heavy industrial shoegaze, with throbbing guitars and samples sparring with an intense vocal from Preston Maddox. This is ‘Territorial Pissings’ for the post-electronica age, with conventional grunge gristle (bordering on speed-metal in places) superbly woven around Jim Moon’s “sound manipulation.”

The high-octane delivery continues on second track ‘Blood’, a piece which sounds like Kasabian channelling Animal Collective via Gary Numan. A brilliantly throbbing migraine of a track, ‘Blood ‘maintains the pace and vitality of the opening track and will leave ears ringing and listeners begging for more.

The proto-punk sound is consistent throughout the album, with each track seemingly improving on its predecessor. For me, the standout track is ‘Problem,’ its anthemic riff boldly off-setting a magnificently saturated cacophony of guitar, looping electronic sequences and a superb vocal which sits low in the mix. This is a track which would be equally at home at a stadium gig or the sweat-haze humidity of a packed club.

The programmed loops final track ‘Bleed Out’ take more of a back-seat than on any other track on the album, and this allows Maddox’s vocal to come to the fore highlighting his undeniable abilities. ‘Bleed Out ‘ is perhaps more melodic than the remainder of the album, and is a memorable bookend to a unified and coherent set.

‘Blood’ combines the energy and swagger of ‘Nevermind ‘with the electronic experimentation of Merriweather Post Pavilion. I found it the perfect antidote to today’s disposable celebrity, ‘X-Factor’ culture – this is not pretty music by any stretch of the imagination, but its quality lies in the sheer range of skills and the seemingly boundless energy evident in its creation. Buy this record and play it loud.
- Penny Black Music

Bloody Knives is often presented as "industrial shoegaze," but that description isn't quite right. Shoegaze was built on shy, passive performances and "swirling guitars." Bloody Knives ain't got none of that. This is a long-haired rock band from Austin, Texas, without a single six-string guitar. The three band members play drums, bass and synthesizer. This mixture creates a thick bliss: It's a combination of pretty distortion, eight-bit glitch and melody, backed by heavy stoner-rock thumping. Constant touring has spread the band's reputation as a thunderous live act; check it out with local openers Bug Chaser, Tone Rodent and Trauma Harness. - River Front Times

Bloody Knives is often presented as "industrial shoegaze," but that description isn't quite right. Shoegaze was built on shy, passive performances and "swirling guitars." Bloody Knives ain't got none of that. This is a long-haired rock band from Austin, Texas, without a single six-string guitar. The three band members play drums, bass and synthesizer. This mixture creates a thick bliss: It's a combination of pretty distortion, eight-bit glitch and melody, backed by heavy stoner-rock thumping. Constant touring has spread the band's reputation as a thunderous live act; check it out with local openers Bug Chaser, Tone Rodent and Trauma Harness. - River Front Times

Sometimes a band can offer you something so unique it catches you by suppress and this is definitely the case with Bloody knives. Hailing from Austin, Texas they perfectly fuse industrial rock, shoegaze and bizarrely 8-bit.

Coming off like a hybrid between My Bloody Valentine and Crystal Castles they combine the spacey soundscapes and vocal stylings of shoegaze with the intensity and glitchyness of 8-bit electronica. Its a real onslaught with blips going off all over the place and with the drums/bass/synth line up it falls on the latter two to pull the weight. ‘Not Now’ comes on like boss music from Megaman 3, but highlights perfectly their use of electronica against the punk undertones.

The styles maybe a little juxtaposed for some but somehow they've made it work and its an album that’s sure to leave a lasting impression. - AMP

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Bloody Knives (Preston Maddox: bass, voice, keyboards, samples, programming), (Jake McCown: drums, noise, programming, art) (Jim Moon: sound manipulator) combine the sounds of heavy punk and industrial with blurry ambient electronics, atmospherics, and 8-bit glitches and melodies.

Their 2010 debut album 'Burn It All Down' received rave reviews from the Austin press and the singles/remix EP, released in October of last year, featured two new songs from the forthcoming 'Blood' album, coming out May 15th on Saint Marie Records. The band are about to hit the road and will be in their home town for SXSW shows, as well as heading up the East Coast and to the Mid West for additional dates.
Read more at http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/144870-austins-bloody-knives-playing-sxsw-shows-releasing.html#IQ4piwZzaWpdHIQo.99 - Altsounds

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Bloody Knives (Preston Maddox: bass, voice, keyboards, samples, programming), (Jake McCown: drums, noise, programming, art) (Jim Moon: sound manipulator) combine the sounds of heavy punk and industrial with blurry ambient electronics, atmospherics, and 8-bit glitches and melodies.

Their 2010 debut album 'Burn It All Down' received rave reviews from the Austin press and the singles/remix EP, released in October of last year, featured two new songs from the forthcoming 'Blood' album, coming out May 15th on Saint Marie Records. The band are about to hit the road and will be in their home town for SXSW shows, as well as heading up the East Coast and to the Mid West for additional dates.
Read more at http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/144870-austins-bloody-knives-playing-sxsw-shows-releasing.html#IQ4piwZzaWpdHIQo.99 - Altsounds

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Bloody Knives (Preston Maddox: bass, voice, keyboards, samples, programming), (Jake McCown: drums, noise, programming, art) (Jim Moon: sound manipulator) combine the sounds of heavy punk and industrial with blurry ambient electronics, atmospherics, and 8-bit glitches and melodies. Their 2010 debut album 'Burn It All Down' received rave reviews from the Austin press and the singles/remix EP, released in October of last year, featured two new songs from the forthcoming 'Blood' album, coming out May 15th on Saint Marie Records.

The band are about to hit the road and will be in their home town for SXSW shows, as well as heading up the East Coast and to the Mid West for additional dates.

Tour Dates:

03/10 - Korova, SA - The Big Spill Fest (w/ This Will Destroy You)
03/15 - Austin, TX - The Grackle
03/16 - Austin, TX - The Metropolis (w/ Me You Us Them, Whirr, Dead Leaf Echo, Grandfather, Lightfoils)
03/17 - Austin, TX - South Austin Brewery
03/17 - Austin, TX - Casa Chapala (w/ Ume, Ringo Deathstarr, Mittenfields, Foreign Resort, Nightmare Air, Menkena, Vibragun, Vandelles, The Sunshine Factory, Lightfoils)
03/28 - Raleigh, NC - Kings Barcade
03/29 - Norfolk, VA - Path @ Pagoda
03/30 - Philidelphia, PA - Inciting
03/31 -New York, NY - Pianos (w/Screen Vinyl Image)
04/05 - Columbus, OH - TBA
04/06 - Champaign, IL - TBA
04/07 - Chicago, IL - TBA
05/03 - Tulsa, OK - TBA
05/04 - Wichita, KS - Kirbys
05/05 - Kansas City, KS - Czar Bar
05/06 - Lawrence, KS - Party at the Park - Pure Grain Audio

There’s a lot less blood on the hands of Bloody Knives than one would expect, if you were going by their name and the title of their most recent album Blood. That being said, it’s sort of irrelevant because the music they’re making is pretty incredible, and you can grab that record from Saint Marie Records. As a kid who grew up with his fair share of angst, there’s a darkness captured in the song itself, but the combination of shoegaze elements transforms the song itself, giving it a metallic sheen to coat its pop attributes. Totally enjoying this one. - Austin Town Hall

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Bloody Knives (Preston Maddox: bass, voice, keyboards, samples, programming), (Jake McCown: drums, noise, programming, art) (Jim Moon: sound manipulator) combine the sounds of heavy punk and industrial with blurry ambient electronics, atmospherics, and 8-bit glitches and melodies. Their 2010 debut album 'Burn It All Down' received rave reviews from the Austin press and the singles/remix EP, released in October of last year, featured two new songs from the forthcoming 'Blood' album, coming out May 15th on Saint Marie Records. The band are about to hit the road and will be in their home town for SXSW shows, as well as heading up the East Coast and to the Mid West for additional dates.

UPCOMING SHOWS:

March 28th - Kings Barcade - Raleigh, NC
March 29th - Path @ Pagoda, Norfolk, VA
March 30th - Inciting, Philidelphia, PA
March 31st - Pianos, New York, NY w/Screen Vinyl Image, Me You Us Them, + Bambara
April 5th - Columbus Ohio, TBA
April 6th - Champaign IL, TBA
April 7th - Chicago IL, TBA
May 3rd - Tulsa OK, TBA
MAy 4th - Kirbys, Wichita KS
May 5th - Czar Bar, Kansas City KS
May 6th - Party at the Park, Lawrence KS - Exploding In Sound

Skulls on the front and back covers and buckets of blood everywhere else—it’s gotta be either a death metal band, or, if you’re a cheeky No Depression fan, the latest from Jon Langford, right? Ah, but there is a third way: the Bloody Knives turn out to be a smart, guitarless post-punk trio from Austin, with a knack for conjuring spooky atmosphere, if not yet memorable tunes, on their debut album Blood. Armed with a singer/bassist, drummer and sound manipulator, the Knives answer the question, “What would happen if Mission of Burma kicked Roger Miller out and let both Martin Swope and Bob Shellac run wild?”

Over Blood‘s nine songs the band creates a layered sonic palette while frontman Preston Maddox’s ethereal voice floats above the fray. Even without the guitar, they’re first and foremost a rock band (though one could almost dance to “Death Blessing”): keyboards shimmer down on “Fire”, “Not Now” runs on Jake McCown’s motorik beat and “Stare Into Your Eyes”, one of the few tunes that is memorable as a song, is frantic, stressful (“Gun in my mouth / gun in your hand”) and as unresolved as a McSweeney’s Quarterly short story. Well on their way to becoming masters of tension and mood, the Bloody Knives capture what’s primal about rock—and do it without guitars. In every sense of the phrase, well-played. - Pop Matters

Boo Radleys plus angst, Atari Teenage Riot minus Teutonic anger...You got your punk in my shoegaze! - Spin

Austin's shoegazer extraordinaires Bloody Knives have posted an update regarding their new album, tour, and more...

"Our new record "Burn It All Down" is set to be released June 29th as a limited edition of 250 copies, including a 10 page 7"x10" art book with a monoprint cdr.

Killredrocketrecords has set the price at an affordable $10. The shipping rates are set at the lowest amount possible.

You can pre-order the record or download it HERE!! Downloads are also temporarily available for free.

We are going on tour throughout the Midwest, northeast, and southeast United States this July. Dates are posted on our myspace page (including dates with Me You Us Them, Dead Leaf Echo, RIBS, The Dirty Dishes, Kid:Nap:Kin, & more). We are still waiting to confirm a few more dates, when we do we will post a full listing of the shows we have coming up.

Matt Spear is filming and directing our new video for the song "There Was" off of "Burn It All Down". It is in the editing phase and should be out to see sometime soon. More updates soon." - Exploding In Sound

Austin's shoegazer extraordinaires Bloody Knives have posted an update regarding their new album, tour, and more...

"Our new record "Burn It All Down" is set to be released June 29th as a limited edition of 250 copies, including a 10 page 7"x10" art book with a monoprint cdr.

Killredrocketrecords has set the price at an affordable $10. The shipping rates are set at the lowest amount possible.

You can pre-order the record or download it HERE!! Downloads are also temporarily available for free.

We are going on tour throughout the Midwest, northeast, and southeast United States this July. Dates are posted on our myspace page (including dates with Me You Us Them, Dead Leaf Echo, RIBS, The Dirty Dishes, Kid:Nap:Kin, & more). We are still waiting to confirm a few more dates, when we do we will post a full listing of the shows we have coming up.

Matt Spear is filming and directing our new video for the song "There Was" off of "Burn It All Down". It is in the editing phase and should be out to see sometime soon. More updates soon." - Exploding In Sound

First up was Austin, TX rockers Bloody Knives, who were making their first appearance in New York. Cleverly melding influences as diverse as metal, shoegaze and post-punk, the duo eschews guitars, and instead uses keyboards and samplers to create a lush and at times psychedelic sound. Lead singer Preston Maddox’s ethereal tenor vocals seem to float over his intense, distorted bass lines and the heavy, driving beats of drummer Jake McCown. Though the two have been playing together for years in other bands (most recently the Joy Bus), Bloody Knives has only been a band since late 2009. The newness was not evident, though, as their set was pretty tight. The only glitch was one between-song pause when Maddox’s laptop was slow to respond, leading someone in the audience to joke that he was checking his email, to which he responded, “I guess I should have bought a Mac.” Songs in the set included “I Saw The Ghost That Follows You” and “You Know You Will,” from the recently released debut album, Burn It All Down (Killredrocketrecords, the band’s own label), “Buried,” from their first, self-titled EP, and “Laserz.”
Perhaps Bloody Knives singer Maddox summed it up best with, “it’s a pretty fucking awesome night for a Tuesday.” Indeed it was. –Teresa Sampson, Photos by Teresa Sampson - The Sentimentalist

First up was Austin, TX rockers Bloody Knives, who were making their first appearance in New York. Cleverly melding influences as diverse as metal, shoegaze and post-punk, the duo eschews guitars, and instead uses keyboards and samplers to create a lush and at times psychedelic sound. Lead singer Preston Maddox’s ethereal tenor vocals seem to float over his intense, distorted bass lines and the heavy, driving beats of drummer Jake McCown. Though the two have been playing together for years in other bands (most recently the Joy Bus), Bloody Knives has only been a band since late 2009. The newness was not evident, though, as their set was pretty tight. The only glitch was one between-song pause when Maddox’s laptop was slow to respond, leading someone in the audience to joke that he was checking his email, to which he responded, “I guess I should have bought a Mac.” Songs in the set included “I Saw The Ghost That Follows You” and “You Know You Will,” from the recently released debut album, Burn It All Down (Killredrocketrecords, the band’s own label), “Buried,” from their first, self-titled EP, and “Laserz.”
Perhaps Bloody Knives singer Maddox summed it up best with, “it’s a pretty fucking awesome night for a Tuesday.” Indeed it was. –Teresa Sampson, Photos by Teresa Sampson - The Sentimentalist

Album Review: Bloody Knives. Burn It All Down.
Artist: Bloody Knives.
Album Title: Burn It All Down.
Label: Killredrocket Records.
Release Date: June 29, 2010.

Bloody Knives is Preston Maddox and Jake McCown (both of whom were founding members of the psychedelic/shoegaze act The Joy Bus), and the band is based in Austin, Texas. Built on a foundation of psychedelia, punk, metal, shoegaze, and electronica, their music is a rollercoaster ride of amazing soundscapes and various neuroses not meant for the faint of heart. The band has one previous release, the excellent Bloody Knives EP (released in October 2009) and Burn It All Down is the band's first full length release. I tend to gravitate toward darker gaze, with gripping beats that could soundtrack a heart pumping chase through a back alley, and Bloody Knives certainly deliver in that capacity. With a name like "Bloody Knives", and an album called Burn It All Down, let's just jump right into the arson and sado-masochism, shall we? With this new full length, Bloody Knives take us for a trip into the darker, more dangerous side of gaze. Let's do this thing.

The album opens with "Tell Me I'm Wrong", an explosive electronic maelstrom that's both catchy and sinister. The lyrics consist of scorned realizations like: "Gave it away/gave it to you/and now it's gone/tell me I'm wrong" set against a backdrop of electronic programming that would be right at home in a horror-imbued video game. This first track certainly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Let's go further down the rabbit hole, shall we?

The album really starts to hit its stride by track three, "You Know You Will". Equal parts punk and electro, with an almost industrial edge to it, these guys aren't fucking around. They mean business. This track has so much attitude and energy, one almost needs to sit down. Or better yet, one needs to hop in the car and speed down a dark highway. An army of pissed off robots couldn't hope to make a racket this awesome. Nightmarish lyrics like: "Coming closer in/where you can't resist...you know you will" are delivered in an almost languid way amid the violent whirlpool of sounds, and the juxtaposition works so well. Despite the ever-growing bedlam, the shoegaze undercurrent still runs through it, some blurry sort of ambience that is buried deep but always there, and I think that's what I love so much about Bloody Knives. The craftsmanship is truly impeccable.

Track 5, "No One Hears", slows things down just a bit, and carries with it a sort of disquiet that is nothing short of unsettling, with a gloriously loud cascade of guitar noise and cold synth lines that certainly drive home the lyric "Your silent scream/no one hears" and also perfectly sets the stage for the next track, "Hands Around My Neck".

This is the halfway point of the album, and where things take an even darker turn. When a chorus is comprised of: "And now I've got my hand around your neck/and now I've got my hand around your throat/and now you've got your hands around my neck/and now you've got your hands around my throat", you know things are in full throttle turmoil. To some, this may sound off putting, but paired with the unbelievable soundscape, a pandemonium of electronic programming and distorted guitar, it works. Bloody Knives isn't afraid to lay it all on the table. This is art, and in art, there are no rules, no reason for propriety or for being politically correct - it's all about painting an honest picture about the human condition. Love and violence are often fevered bed mates; we all know it, even if we don't want to say it. This isn't the condoning of violence; it's simple honesty about human feelings. We don't have to do the dark things we feel, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that we feel them. That would be ignoring human nature, which is something we should all seek to understand.

Track 7, "Set Me On Fire", is 2:50 of controlled chaos, distorted guitar, heart pounding beats and a chorus of "Set me on fire/set me on fire" delivered again in that dreamy, almost detached way that works so well with the energy of the song. In fact, there isn't a track on the album that is longer than 3:52, another reason why these songs work so well. They are short, frigid blades forged in flames, and considering the subject matter, this approach works perfectly. One doesn't get bogged down in anything before moving on to the next whirlwind.

The album is quite narrative in nature: things are brought to light, pain and anger are explored, and then things start to come full circle with the last two tracks. It's not ALL chaos and self-destruction! The second to last track, "I Saw The Ghost That Follows You", is full on doom gaze, slowing things way down in comparison to it's preceding tracks. Eerie and grim, this track is a real stand out, and focuses more on the pain of someone else rather than the pain of the self, which, to me, means some sort of understanding of a situation is - When the Sun Hits

Album Review: Bloody Knives. Burn It All Down.
Artist: Bloody Knives.
Album Title: Burn It All Down.
Label: Killredrocket Records.
Release Date: June 29, 2010.

Bloody Knives is Preston Maddox and Jake McCown (both of whom were founding members of the psychedelic/shoegaze act The Joy Bus), and the band is based in Austin, Texas. Built on a foundation of psychedelia, punk, metal, shoegaze, and electronica, their music is a rollercoaster ride of amazing soundscapes and various neuroses not meant for the faint of heart. The band has one previous release, the excellent Bloody Knives EP (released in October 2009) and Burn It All Down is the band's first full length release. I tend to gravitate toward darker gaze, with gripping beats that could soundtrack a heart pumping chase through a back alley, and Bloody Knives certainly deliver in that capacity. With a name like "Bloody Knives", and an album called Burn It All Down, let's just jump right into the arson and sado-masochism, shall we? With this new full length, Bloody Knives take us for a trip into the darker, more dangerous side of gaze. Let's do this thing.

The album opens with "Tell Me I'm Wrong", an explosive electronic maelstrom that's both catchy and sinister. The lyrics consist of scorned realizations like: "Gave it away/gave it to you/and now it's gone/tell me I'm wrong" set against a backdrop of electronic programming that would be right at home in a horror-imbued video game. This first track certainly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Let's go further down the rabbit hole, shall we?

The album really starts to hit its stride by track three, "You Know You Will". Equal parts punk and electro, with an almost industrial edge to it, these guys aren't fucking around. They mean business. This track has so much attitude and energy, one almost needs to sit down. Or better yet, one needs to hop in the car and speed down a dark highway. An army of pissed off robots couldn't hope to make a racket this awesome. Nightmarish lyrics like: "Coming closer in/where you can't resist...you know you will" are delivered in an almost languid way amid the violent whirlpool of sounds, and the juxtaposition works so well. Despite the ever-growing bedlam, the shoegaze undercurrent still runs through it, some blurry sort of ambience that is buried deep but always there, and I think that's what I love so much about Bloody Knives. The craftsmanship is truly impeccable.

Track 5, "No One Hears", slows things down just a bit, and carries with it a sort of disquiet that is nothing short of unsettling, with a gloriously loud cascade of guitar noise and cold synth lines that certainly drive home the lyric "Your silent scream/no one hears" and also perfectly sets the stage for the next track, "Hands Around My Neck".

This is the halfway point of the album, and where things take an even darker turn. When a chorus is comprised of: "And now I've got my hand around your neck/and now I've got my hand around your throat/and now you've got your hands around my neck/and now you've got your hands around my throat", you know things are in full throttle turmoil. To some, this may sound off putting, but paired with the unbelievable soundscape, a pandemonium of electronic programming and distorted guitar, it works. Bloody Knives isn't afraid to lay it all on the table. This is art, and in art, there are no rules, no reason for propriety or for being politically correct - it's all about painting an honest picture about the human condition. Love and violence are often fevered bed mates; we all know it, even if we don't want to say it. This isn't the condoning of violence; it's simple honesty about human feelings. We don't have to do the dark things we feel, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that we feel them. That would be ignoring human nature, which is something we should all seek to understand.

Track 7, "Set Me On Fire", is 2:50 of controlled chaos, distorted guitar, heart pounding beats and a chorus of "Set me on fire/set me on fire" delivered again in that dreamy, almost detached way that works so well with the energy of the song. In fact, there isn't a track on the album that is longer than 3:52, another reason why these songs work so well. They are short, frigid blades forged in flames, and considering the subject matter, this approach works perfectly. One doesn't get bogged down in anything before moving on to the next whirlwind.

The album is quite narrative in nature: things are brought to light, pain and anger are explored, and then things start to come full circle with the last two tracks. It's not ALL chaos and self-destruction! The second to last track, "I Saw The Ghost That Follows You", is full on doom gaze, slowing things way down in comparison to it's preceding tracks. Eerie and grim, this track is a real stand out, and focuses more on the pain of someone else rather than the pain of the self, which, to me, means some sort of understanding of a situation is - When the Sun Hits

If this is news to you in any way (and it really shouldn’t be) I am a big fan of both Screen Vinyl Image and bloody knives. Both have interviews up on this site as well as other reviews than this, but this does mark the first time that they will be reviewed on cassette. You know, there are three different types of split cassettes. There are those with two artists you’ve never heard before, those with one artist you have heard and that helps bring you to the other which you haven’t heard yet and then there is this. It’s that pairing that just makes you go, “Wow, really?”

I first found out about this cassette because of a post I saw floating around on Facebook. It caught me kind of off guard because I guess I expected one of these artists to be partnered with some young upstart instead. It’s like the pairing of a great tour except I don’t have to leave the comfort of my own home. Really, I would have sought this out to hear had it been released on record, compact disc, digitally, 8track, smoke stack, whatever… I am no stranger to buying a record of bloody knives because it was the only way to hear those particular songs and I’d do the same for Screen Vinyl Image.

Now all of that being said I feel the need to point out something else that might seem obvious to someone who is familiar with these artists, but I’m writing this under the impression that those reading it may have never heard of them before somehow by, you know, ignoring the rest of this site and a good chunk of the internet on a whole. Anyway, this is an interesting pairing to me because Screen Vinyl Image sounds such a certain way while bloody knives sounds such a different way, even though they often end up running in the same circles.

The sounds of Screen Vinyl Image destructive beats that could provide enough dreaminess to create a classic soundtrack to a movie from the 1990’s such as “Breakfast Club” only not because this just operates on its own level. At the same time, bloody knives has a certain amount of destruction in the sound but it’s more of a kicking down a keyboard stand during a live performance feel.

While I still feel like bloody knives could be somewhere between Nine Inch Nails or Stabbing Westward and Screen Vinyl Image channels New Order on here at times I suppose the point of mutual sound could come from that time Trent Reznor covered a New Order song, but you know, that’s kind of stretching it a bit thin don’t you think? Just put this one on, turn it up and prepare to dance and most likely also break stuff. It’s just so much fun from two of my favorite artists I just simply cannot say enough good things about. - Raise By Gypsies

Two of WTSH's favorite bands, Screen Vinyl Image and Bloody Knives, have announced that they will be releasing a split LP in October 2014. The split will be a limited edition cassette-only release, of which 300 will be made before they're gone forever. The cassette will be available for purchase via Bandcamp, where you'll also be able to download the entire split for free. GET EXCITED.

The track listing is below.

Bloody Knives tracks:
Fader
Servitude
Breathing Walls
Too Far Gone
Empty Room
Never Was

Screen Vinyl Image tracks:
Void
Edge of forever
The Great Beyond
I'm Not
Closing In
Drifting - When The Sun Hits

Ringo Deathstarr – God’s Dream
Whirr – Sway
Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments Of Elegy
You Walk Through Walls – Self Titled
Locust – After The Rain
Warpaint – Self Titled
Crosses – Self Titled
St. Vincent – Self Titled
Screen Vinyl Image / Bloody Knives – Self Titled
The History Of Apple Pie – Feel Something
Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World
Tabacco – Ultima II Massage
Cheatahs – Self Titled
Pixies – Indie Cindy
Tricky – Adrian Thaws - Feed Me With Your Kiss

50| Lightfoils - Hierarchy
===================
49| Wildhoney - Seventeen Forever EP
===================
48| Miserable - Dog Days EP
===================
47| Stella Diana - 41 61 93
===================
46| Highlands - Dark Matter Traveler
===================
45| Blush Response - Telltale EP
===================
44| Mentalease - Indian Summer
===================
43| The KVB - Out Of Body EP
===================
42| Neiv - Decades EP
===================
41| DIV I DED – Born to Sleep
===================
40| Gnoomes - It’s moonbow-time, boy EP
===================
39| Youth in Bloom - Shell EP
===================
38| The Mysterious Town of Oak Hill - The Mysterious Town of Oak Hill
===================
37| Roku Music - Collider
===================
36| Suffering Astrid - Naturologia
===================
35| Hideous Towns - Hideous Towns EP
===================
34| Cheatahs - Cheatahs
===================
33| Nothing/Whirr - Split EP
===================
32| Sore Eyelids - For Now
===================
31| Evvolves - Hang
===================
30| Elastic Sleep - Leave You EP
===================
29| The Dead Mantra - Nemure
===================
28| Blood Sister - S/T EP
===================
27| Noir For Rachel - Fog Museum
===================
26| Medicine - Home Everywhere
===================
25| Crisis Arm - Rend
===================
24| The Cherry Wave - Avalanche
===================
23| Whirr - Sway
===================
22| Dead Horse One - Without Love We Perish
===================
21| Strata Florida - Made Of Stars
===================
20| Luna Ghost - Luna Ghost EP
===================
19| Be Forest - Earthbeat
===================
18| Reighnbeau - Hands (Bridgetown)
===================
17| Alvvays - Alvvays
===================
16| Ceremony - Birds EP
===================
15| A Shoreline Dream - The Silent Sunrise
===================
14| The Enters - Small Town Love EP
===================
13| Screen Vinyl Image / Bloody Knives - Split
===================
12| Another Green World - Memorial
===================
11| Seasurfer - Dive In
===================
10| TuT - You Got Me When I Stare At You
===================
9| Aerofall - Aerofall
===================
8 | Spotlight Kid - Ten Thousand Hours
===================
7| The Telewire - Like Everything EP
===================
6| Anilore - Dead Love’s Grave
===================
5| Total Slacker - Slip Away
===================
4| Kairon; IRSE! - Ujubasajuba EP
===================
3| Ringo Deathstarr - God’s Dream EP
===================
2| Nothing - Guilty of Everything
===================
1| Tuques - Slushpuppie EP - The Shoegazer Generation