The Blood Brothers (band)

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This article is about the band. For the musical, see Blood Brothers.
The Blood Brothers

The Blood Brothers are an experimental post-hardcore/art punk band formed in the Eastside suburbs of Seattle, Washington, USA in 1997. Members are: Jordan Blilie (vocals), Johnny Whitney (vocals), and Morgan Henderson (bass), along with Waxwing's Cody Votolato (guitar) and Mark Gajadhar (drums).

Line-up

The band has two dedicated vocalists (Jordan Blilie - lead vocals, Johnny Whitney - keyboards, lead vocals). Recent albums (March on Electric Children, Rumors Laid Waste, ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn and especially Crimes) have featured a degree of experimental instrumentation: Morgan often deviates from bass to add a second guitar , and also utilizes laptop technology. Johnny has added piano and Wurlitzer organ to many more songs, a process which actually began on "American Vultures" from March on Electric Children. He has claimed he always wanted to incorporate such instruments into the Blood Brothers' sound, but only on signing with a major label prior to ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn did he have the means to do this [1].

Style

The band has been described as experimental, punk, hardcore, and post-hardcore, among many others, although their true style is a combination of several genres and is harder to pin down. In small circle discussions, the band related that they have influences from the No Wave punk scene of the 1980's. The band makes wide use of various punk/hardcore vocal styles (i.e. screaming) and instrumentation (i.e., fast drumming and power chords). The style of guitar playing showcased by Votolato has greatly changed over time, most notably between the heavy, dischordant sound of ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn and the minimalist lead lines of Crimes, where the energy of the drums and vocals tends to make up for the lack of thick distortion. Whitney's voice is generally accepted to have evolved from the slurred, venomous drawl on This Adultery Is Ripe to the high-pitched squeals ("like a child being tortured [2]") heard on Crimes, while Blilie's voice has maintained the same low, robust ferocity throughout. The band has cited Botch, Drive Like Jehu, Gang of Four, Angel Hair, Highway 61, True North, and Bootsy Collins as influences. Currently, members of The Blood Brothers are in side projects Neon Blonde and Head Wound City, the latter also featuring members of The Locust and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Whitney performed vocals for the now defunct Soiled Doves (And before that for The Vogue).

The Blood Brothers' new album, Young Machetes, was released on October 10, 2006, with Fugazi member Guy Picciotto co-producing it. The band recently told Alternative Press magazine that of the fifteen songs on Young Machetes, "six of them harken back to our first two records; they're a lot more chaotic and frenetic."

The Blood Brothers MySpace always has three tracks from the new album.

Clothes

Johnny Whitney runs a clothing company called Crystal City Clothing with his wife, Amy Whitney. People such as Conor Oberst from the band Bright Eyes have been seen wearing Crystal City Clothing (link). Crystal City, in addition to their own clothing designs, have done t-shirts for bands Johnny Whitney has been involved in, such as Neon Blonde.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

DVDs

Trivia

  • The Blood Brothers produced a cover of the song Under Pressure which appeared on the Queen tribute album Dynamite With a Laser Beam and a remix of Gang of Four's "Anthrax" available for download on their website.
  • Cody's older brother Rocky Votolato is a successful solo folk artist and was a member of Waxwing with Cody.

External links