First Blood

FIRST BLOOD
by Jason Walsh

The mutation of hardcore punk into metalcore has been a continous cycle since bands like Hatebreed paved the way so many years ago. Nowadays there are literally hundreds of bands that sound like them, look like them, and it has become hard to distinguish between them. However, the upstarts in FIRST BLOOD from the Bay Area have found their own unique voice and sound, and proven that they stand as one of the best of the lot when it comes to the brutal assault that is the fusion of metal and hardcore styles.

Founding member Carl Schwartz, former bass player of TERROR, fronts the outfit with a seasoned group of musicians who came from bands like SWORN VENGEANCE, ALCATRAZ, EMBRACE THE END, and SET YOUR GOALS. Started as an outlet for fun and good times, and now through several shifts in the lineup, the band has finally gelled into a lean, mean, destructive machine that will have kids flying, fists pumping, circle pits exploding, and throats strained after maddening choruses. Having toured Europe, and the States several times now, on their first Trustkill Records release, “Killafornia,” the guys from San Francisco are trying to complete their sophomore album, when they aren’t on the road, which according to Carl, is most of the time.

I had a chance to talk with him about the band and the new record, their unique opportunity touring Europe with AGNOSTIC FRONT, as well as the uncertain state of the world and how it unfortunately provides a source for material.

JW: How did First Blood come about? What made you decide to form this band?

CARL: Well, I moved to California probably about ten years ago and I met a bunch of dudes that were into hardcore music and metal, stuff like that. We had been playing in different bands at the time and each of our bands, they kind of split off and dudes went their own ways. It was basically just a bunch of friends from a whole bunch of bands and people we knew in the Bay area and we just got together and wanted to start a heavy band kind of like what we’re doing. That’s pretty much the gist of it, y’know, being in the same place at the same time.

JW: So a group of you guys who had been doing other things but decided you wanted to do something a little bit different?

CARL: Yeah, we’ve kind of been in bands where we were putting in a lot of time and nothing was really happening. We were kind of getting stressed out about it so we just wanted to start another band that was just fun. You know, we had no plans on touring or even playing outside of California really at all, at the time. Just to do a fun band that wasn’t really that much stress.

JW: Making that decision, looking back on it now, you think you made the right choice there?

CARL: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think putting it together and what’s happened over the past few years is definitely something we don’t regret. Totally worth it. We’ve been able to see a lot of things and go a bunch of places. Yeah, definitely worth it, y’know.

JW: So the direction the band is going, you guys are doing pretty good. You put out “Killafornia,” which was a great record, you got a new record coming out soon. The one thing I wanted to talk about was I saw you did a European tour with Agnostic Front. Man, what was that like?

CARL: Dude, that was awesome. I remember the day I got the email from the agency out there I knew that was booking tours. They had an opportunity and they were looking for a band and we had a record (“Killafornia”) coming out and the label was going to support the tour. When I got that call, it was like one of those things when you were a kid, and these New York hardcore legends, y’know these guys you look up to, and all of a sudden you get a chance to play with them and chill with them for a month and just basically play music with them every day. It was awesome. It was totally awesome.

JW: And that’s got to be one of the more incredible parts of the experience. Not only are you hitting the road with these guys that are old enough to be your parents in some cases, but to be able to travel to Europe and see all these places that probably most of you haven’t been to before.

CARL: Yeah, it’s a trip. You know these guys have been doing it forever. These guys have been a band for what, 25-30 years? One thing I’ll never forget about those guys, I mean, a lot of the bands we tour with are really good with us, but I mean they definitely stick out. All the dudes like Roger (Miret) and Vinnie (Stigma) and the Gallo brothers and Joey (James), all those dudes, y’know, you hear it a lot, like people being down to earth and stuff like that but they were always asking if we’re taken care of and everything’s alright, was there enough to eat at the club, and stuff like that. They always look out for you, man, it’s like the stuff we’ll never forget. Any chance we get to tour with them again, we pretty much jump on. It’s a good time and those dudes actually go out of their way and make sure everything is good with you, like every day. They take care of the band they bring out with them. That’s like a really bbig thing about them.

JW: Kind of reinstills that whole philosophy of the “hardcore family” and how they take care of their own.

CARL: Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

JW: And you guys just did a West Coast tour with those guys. How did that go? Was it fun seeing those guys again?

CARL: Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. It’s amazing to think how we hadn’t seen a lot of those guys since we did that first tour with them in 2006 in the summertime and here it is the wintertime in 2008. It made you realize like how fast the time went. It felt like we were in Europe again, basically, being with the same dudes, everybody knew each other again. It was just a trip and make you think how quick the time passed. Man, it was just like the first time. It was awesome to play with them again and to be able to do it in California, in some of the cities where we have a lot of friends. It was awesome. It was totally awesome.

JW: It was bringing them out to your neck of the woods to play a home game in your backyard.

CARL: Yeah, kind of I guess, you know, just like being in places you’re used to being around a lot, y’know, on the West Coast and all of a sudden you’re doing it with dudes that are not only from the East Coast but we were sharing a tour with them on the other side of the world. It makes you think no matter where you’re going, everything’s going to be good with those guys.

JW: What do have going on this year? I know you have a new record coming out. Are you going to be hitting the road?

CARL: Yeah, for sure, I mean right now, we’ve been kind of in and out sporadically, because we’re still trying to write this record, finish it up, and get it out pretty soon. We’re getting people hitting us up on different tours, so we’re doing shows here and there. You know once you’ve been on the road for a while, you get antsy when you’ve been sitting home for a while. It’s hard trying to balance it out and being able to sit down and write some music, get studio time, and take care of all that stuff. As soon as we get it done and recorded, we’re going to be out on the road again, trying to set up tours, and just get out and get back overseas again and do as much as we can. Sometimes you have to just get out of town and just do it and do what you love doing.

JW: Tell me about the new record. How do you like how it’s going so far?

CARL: It has its ups and downs. We started writing it actually right after we were touring with Agnostic Front the first time and that was like a couple years ago. From that time until now, we’ve seen a lot of ups and downs as far as wanting to challenge ourselves or wanting to just do stuff that’s fun. I feel we’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves to try and just do what we normally do and maybe try to push it. It’s been a challenge but I think the songs we got together after all this time, we’re finally putting together material that we’re happy with and we’re going to be excited to play live. It gets to the point where you play the same songs over and over again, you got to bring something new to the table. You got to do something new that’s not only exciting for you but that kids will get into, say some more things and make an impression. You know, put an effort and you’re putting something into this music, might as well make a mark with it and say something meaningful and help kids turn their heads and maybe think about something new and change their mind a little bit and make them think about something they don’t normally think about every day. Things are going pretty good and we’re probably putting together stuff that’s gonna roll out pretty soon. We’re just waiting for all that stuff to come together. The label is still with us, Trustkill is still going to put it out, and they’ve been pushing us real good to get it done, get in the studio and buckle down. It’s good that after all this time we still got people pushing us and helping us along the way.

JW: With the way things are going right now, obviously there’s not a lack of content lyrically to write about. I mean there’s a lot going on in the world right now, things aren’t looking too bright, and I’m sure that’s really fed into what you’re doing as far as songwriting.

CARL: Oh yeah. Absolutely. You know when we started the band it was too have fun and go off and have energy, and you think about on a small dance floor, that’s really just a tiny fraction of what goes on in the world at all. Now, it’s all around you. You can’t avoid it. You keep thinking about the economy or you think about war, you think about inequality. You think about all that stuff. It’s kind of hard to shake it. At the same time, you got to find a balance between complaining about what’s wrong versus trying to come up with solutions, or highlighting what’s happening that you think is actually going in a positive direction. You know, because complaining about stuff that’s wrong gets you nowhere. That was the funk I got myself in, especially in the past year with all the stuff that goes through my head. When you’re in a hardcore band, it makes you just want to write music and be aggressive and complain about all the things that are going bad. But where do you get when you do that? Sure, it’s good to release it all but this time has helped me to sit back and think about, y’know, we acknowledge all the things that are going down and going wrong in our minds. What can we do or what do we see that is happening that gives you hope that things might be changing for the better. It’s a balance you’ve got to try and reach. I don’t want to give anyone the impression that everything’s all right, because it’s not, but you’ve got to find out what’s going good and roll with it. It’s tough. Everyone is feeling it somewhere, with the economy and jobs. You see it everywhere. Ghost town malls, people don’t come out to shop no more, small business owners, they’re struggling. People are just trying to make it and keep going by. Definitely not a shortage of anything to think about, so that’s where we’re going as far as writing.