Bleach | Furnace Fest 2025 Series

Mason is joined by Sam, Milam, and Davey from Bleach. They chat about Bleach's history, future music we can expect from the band, their influential albums, and much more.

Check out Bleach here: https://bleachisalive.com

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You've got me pretty many, abute, take any up a play,
Gotta gets straight, forty gets Tuesday, praying back, praying back
to face time.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I think it's.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
About that time I can afford.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
This, So I will say this.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
I've got Sam and Mylam with me from Bleach, the infamous,
the legendary band from of Bleach, just super so to me.
Both of you guys, y'all have been just so great
and gracious about it making this happen. So we'll get
into all things Bleach. But before we dive into all
of that, how you guys doing today?

Speaker 5 (00:48):
I'm doing great.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, it's been a good day. Yeah, yeah, it's been busy.

Speaker 6 (00:55):
I feel like there's a lot of moving parts in
life right now, you know, and so great today.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
I love hearing that. How about you, milam?

Speaker 5 (01:03):
Yeah yeah, yeah, a great day, great day in Tennessee sunshine.
I've got four kids, so yeah, I'm pretty scattered throughout
the day between work and getting them everywhere they need
to go. But today is good.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Good. I'm I'm doing well too. I actually so I
work for Are you guys familiar with seminary? Is that
a thing you guys are familiar with? So I worked
for a seminary here in Minneapolis, and we just had
our first day of classes. So it's kind of a
big day in the world of seminary. So so yeah,
we we had first day of classes and just looking

(01:42):
forward to that and so yeah, it was a good day.
All the people that should have showed up showed up,
which is always a good day.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
They did. Okod.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
So well, let's let's dive into bleach. I'd love to
for maybe both of you just here, like what maybe
even before you guys got into bleach, Like what inspired
you to start music? Like, did you guys grow up
super musical? Did you grow up in families that were musical?
Like what what made you want to play music for
a living for a little while?

Speaker 6 (02:12):
Well, I did my my my mom's side of my family,
they were very musical, like my grandpa and grandma. They
used to they would do like variety shows kind of
in the you know, fifties and stuff. They my grandpa
did stand up comedy and and they said they.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Had a quartet. They had a quartet and Grandma played piano.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
You know.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
It was just like one of those old variety shows.

Speaker 6 (02:35):
So music's always been a part of our part of
my my story and my family.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
But I mean my.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Mom was always like she taught piano, played the organ
at church. But yeah, music was just always an important,
like aspect. I just remember my dad when I was young,
always listening to like he loved like fifties and sixties
like music that he grew up with, and then would

(03:05):
would always play like the Eagles and James Taylor in
the car and so like, I'm just like, I'm hearing
music all the time. And then when I was ten,
my youth pastor took me and my brother to see
Striper and that was it game my mind. So from

(03:27):
that point on, I'm like, I've got to find a
way to do that.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
So and you only wore black and yellow for the
rest of you.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
If I have, I would have that's.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
True, yellow and black.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
Yeah, I had to wait till I got to college anyway.

Speaker 6 (03:49):
So yeah, well it's I think one thing that's kind
of cool with like and I don't want to jump
too far ahead, but part of like in my story,
the first I grew up Church of Christ, and uh,
it was a pretty you know, it was pretty are the.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Ones that like typically don't even have like musical instruments
in worship, right, yeah, that is true in.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
The South, that's true. But in the North it's a
little more. You know.

Speaker 6 (04:17):
They we had instruments, but it was like piano organ
and you know until now that's now there's drums and
things like that, you know in those churches.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
But and so, but my mom and dad were real
strict about.

Speaker 6 (04:29):
Like what music I listened to, you know, and so
like I couldn't buy The Hell with the Devil because
it said.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
It was like, isn't that what we want to do
with the Devil? Though, Like isn't that Yeah, it's like
theologically the accurate thing that we're supposed to do, right.

Speaker 6 (04:45):
Exactly I did. It didn't make sense to me. But
but the first tape I ever got was a band
called DeGarmo and Key and uh they were like, I
don't know, kind of holland o it's or some kind
of bluesy rock band. And it was a Christian Christian
rock man. And uh so, if you fast forward through
the like the beginnings of our story, a guy named

(05:06):
Eddie Degarmos who signed us to our first record deal.
So Eddie Degarmos who started Forefront Records, which was our
first record label Home and so the guy that introduced
me really to kind of like rock music, he was
the first they were the first rock band I ever
I ever heard as far as that Christian rock. Ended
up being the guy that kind of full circled and

(05:26):
is the one who signed us to our first deal.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
So kind of little that's so what it kind of
reminds me then, like you know, you you guys obviously
start playing well before. I mean I would imagine like
you guys were playing as a band a little bit
before you get signed to Forefront. So what got you
both into guitar in particular because you both are guitar players, right, right.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right, Yeah, that's right. Say that was for me.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
I got my first guitar my freshman year of high school.
Like our family, that kind of we were in in
an area called Portville, Indiana, and it's like, you know,
there was a stoplight, a dairy queen in a liquor
store pretty much, you know, that's what we had, and
a dollar general because those were in every tiny small town, right,
so there wasn't a lot to do. You know, half
our family were farmers, and so we were kind of out,

(06:16):
you know, out in that and yeah, I uh.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
Wait, I just how did you get in?

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Would you say again? I'm sorry? Oh yeah yeah?

Speaker 6 (06:25):
Oh so, so like I fell in love with I
started listening to music. I don't know, I was probably
ten or eleven when I first heard like the garmo
and key and again like my intro to like rock music,
and so yeah, I just I fell in love with
like with that sound.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I just was so fascinated by the guitar.

Speaker 6 (06:45):
And so my freshman year Christmas, for my freshman year
of high school, I was fourteen, and my mom and
dad got me my first guitar. So and then you know,
in our little town, I yea again, it was a
like pretty small, typical kind of farm community, and so
there wasn't a lot of artists or creative necessarily that
we're coming out of out of that area, and so

(07:06):
I kind of felt like the odd man out a
lot in a lot of ways growing up. But everybody
was cool too. So I just I found some other
dudes and we started playing playing music together and had
my first high school band. We were called Sanctified. It
was with a why so that way the cross could
be the big you know, it could be right in
the middle and it was it was awesome. So yeah,

(07:27):
and then and then I did that through high school
and then when we got to college, which is where
we where Davian and Matt Garrick and I met and
kind of started and so that was kind.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Of the earth we might have lost MYLN for a second.
But but yeah, like it's interesting though, like you know,
especially a lot of people that Colin and I have
interviewed that have, you know, maybe grew up in that
Christian world. They were introduced, you know, and then they
eventually maybe had like their own like Christian band or whatever,

(07:59):
but a lot of times it was like that they
were introduced to rock music in particular, but certainly like
Christian rock early on, and that's what like inspired them
to play guitar. So it's interesting that you said, like
it wasn't until much later that you even learned that
there was like Christian rock, but you were certainly obviously
playing guitar well before then, and that's what got you
into obviously guitar rock kind of music.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (08:20):
Well, yeah, it's interesting because like the music I mean,
I did. I don't want to sound like I didn't
know what rock and roll was until that point, like
I you know, like it was like the Beach Boys
and like, you know, like kind of country was what
everybody listened to.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
And then like gospel.

Speaker 6 (08:38):
I grew up in Gayther Country near Anderson, Indiana area,
so there was a lot of that southern gospel kind
of stuff, and you know that was you know, Grandma
and Grandpa always had Gayther homecoming stuff on. And so
I was around music a lot in that way. But
really where I kind of carved my own path and
figured out what I really loved was kind of all
in the mix of all that.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
But I love all kinds of you know, so I'm
brock and Rollers is what I really fell in love with. MH.

Speaker 4 (09:07):
So, my limb, How did you get into guitar?

Speaker 6 (09:10):
Like?

Speaker 4 (09:10):
What what inspired you?

Speaker 2 (09:12):
What?

Speaker 4 (09:12):
What was the what was the impetus around that?

Speaker 5 (09:15):
Yeah, I mean it literally started seeing Striper, you know,
and then but it wasn't until a few years later.
I think I was in the eighth grade and I
got my first electric. I had kind of been playing
around like a one hundred dollars like acoustic for about
a year and you know, tearing up my fingers and
trying to learn chords and stuff, and but eighth grade,

(09:38):
like my dad said, I'll take you to guitar lessons,
and I wasn't. Like my older brother was like all
into sports and like doing all the things, and I wasn't.
And so guitar just kind of became that thing for
me and just went to a guitar shop. I was
living in Reno, Nevada at the time, so just took

(10:00):
lessons every week and never practiced like my teacher would
was so frustrated with me because he would teach me
a song and be like, how long did you practice
this this week? And it was never And so it
took me a little while to like, I think I
had to hit a stride where I'm like, oh, I
can do this. It was still like really frustrating. It

(10:22):
was really hard for me. And then honestly, like it
became very natural when I went off to college because
I just took a guitar with me and didn't know
anybody and moved across the country to South Carolina to
go to college. And I was playing guitar three or
four hours a day at that point, and you know

(10:43):
that leads to like starting your first band or playing
some covers in the college coffee shop, and then you know,
one thing leads to another and I'm playing all the time.
So yeah, I just I wanted to play the guitar
or like that was always going to be the instrument
for me. It took me a little while. Yeah, I

(11:05):
wasn't like some wonder kid that just learned it right away. Right.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
That reminds me of when I was a kid and
I got my first guitar and my parents were pretty
you know, diligent on me. You know, they were like,
if you want to get this, like we want you to,
you know, we want to like, you know, you to
invest time into it. So yeah, I remember going and
taking lessons and getting this like guitar lesson book or whatever,
and it's like, you know, you're just putting one finger

(11:31):
on one string and like I don't know what I
probably learned like hot crossbunds or whatever, and I'm like,
for whatever reason, I'm like, I'm listening to like emo
music at that time, and I was really into pop
punk and all of that, and I was just like,
this sounds nothing like what I'm trying to, like what
I'm learning in my guitar lessons, And so I think
just because of the fact that, like the music I
was learning to learn how to play guitar was so

(11:53):
different than what I was actually intune. The reason why
I wanted to play guitar, I just I never connected
with it. It wasn't until probably a number of years
later that I learned like, oh, guitar tabs, and so
I like would start to learn like guitar tab stuff,
and then and then later on like learning chords and
then realizing like, oh wait, like there's there's some guitar
centric music that I really like where it's pretty easy

(12:14):
to play just like a few chords and it sounds
just like that song. And that's when I was like,
just because it was the songs that I liked that
I could easily play on an acoustic or an electric guitar,
that's when I like really was able to connect with it.
So yeah, my lam, I don't know if that was
like the case for you, where it's like once you
got into like actually playing music that you were actually
into that you were like, oh wait, like now I
actually really want to learn this instrument.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Yeah. I was learning like all the
hair metal stuff and like drag scannered, Zeppelin, of course,
but yeah, yeah, it started to make more sense than Yeah.

Speaker 6 (12:52):
Well, when I figured out like it was like four chords,
I'm like, I'm down, I can do this, you know,
And like there was some thing about the you know,
sometimes mumplicity of the basic idea of a rock song
that did.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
I didn't feel intimidated.

Speaker 6 (13:08):
I think when I listened to like these bands, it
was intimidating to me at first.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
And then when I figured out, oh, the kind of
the you just learned the kind of the the root
of this.

Speaker 6 (13:18):
It's pretty simple most of the time, you know, So
that that was a that was an AHA for me
too learn.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Well, let's let's hear the story of how Bleach came together.
I know you guys met at college, but is there
any fun exciting story, Like you guys just ran into
each other and somebody dropped their books and now, I mean,
I guess that's more of a love story kind of story.
But but yeah, how'd you guys meet? Yeah, what what's
the fun story or if there is a fun story
about how Bleach formed, there.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
Is I mean, well, it's interesting because we originally so
we met Mylam later on, Yeah, so Mylam we had
the original five guys.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
We met in college and it.

Speaker 6 (14:00):
Was it was me and Davy bassing Her, who was
our singer forever, and Matt Gingrick who played drums at
the time, Todd Kirby who played bass, and then brad Ford,
so we were all just college kids. Part of the Yeah,
this is kind of funny. Part of how we met
was me and Dave, Me and Matt met first.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
And it's funny.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
The first thing we ever did together was go to
a Prayer Chain and Mortal.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Show in Louisville.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
And what's funny is in two weekends we're going to
see Prayer Chain and Mortal again.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
So it feels like this full circle kind of moment
right now.

Speaker 6 (14:34):
But yeah, so but we so we met and just
started you know, we were kind of we just clicked
and so we did.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
We both He was a drummer, I was a guitar player.
It made sense.

Speaker 6 (14:42):
So we started playing some just writing some songs, and
you know, like Tooth and Nail had just really begun.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
I mean, I think PET I.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
Think is when Brandon started it. I think officially ninety
four is when they officially launched as a label. But yeah,
he was like starting at ninety three.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, because we.

Speaker 6 (15:00):
Had like Pat and the Fish I remember in Starflyer
for the nine was at Silver Like there was a
few of those early playing like so we loved all that.
It like totally struck a chord, so as we and
when we met the other guys over the course of
the next few months and we just started playing.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
But part of we were at Bible College. We were
at Kentucky Christian College is where we met.

Speaker 6 (15:21):
Kind of funny fact is that's where Audio Adrenaline met
a couple of years before us. And it was a
school of like six hundred kids, so it's not like
it's some big university and there was no music program,
which was I mean outside of there was a choir program.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
So we all went.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
I was like, what are the chances that two bands
that like come out of there.

Speaker 6 (15:40):
It's wild. It's kind of wild. But so we just
started playing together. And you know, because it was a
ministry school, a lot of our friends had like youth
ministries on the weekends, and so we would go play
a show for their youth ministry. And one of the
things that Casey it's Casey U now Kentucky Christian University,
but one of the deal at the time was you
had to have so many service points to graduate, like,

(16:03):
you know, whether it was serving the community where So
me and Matt and Day were like, hey, what.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
I wonder if they would let us count these shows
as like service points. So and we talked.

Speaker 6 (16:12):
So we talked through the administration and they were like, yeah,
we'll let you do that, which was super cool. So
we would just go play these shows and we were
you know, it was helping us towards our goal of graduating,
having no idea that we would be going, you know,
that that what the rest of the story would look like.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
I was going to be a youth pastor.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
And I mean we were all studying you know, ministry
or business and and so yeah. Man, so all of
a sudden, like we we did a demo and then
the next summer, Barry Blair, who was the guitar player
at the time for Audio Drone, he had heard a
demo and reached out to us and asked if if

(16:50):
he if we would want to work with him and
have him produce another another few songs, and we were
like heck yeah, Like it was like the golden ticket.
It felt like like this is the opportunity, and so.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
We did it.

Speaker 6 (17:03):
And I'm real glad that that that one didn't go
too far because we didn't know how to tune a guitar.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I mean, there was it was, it was rough, but
somehow it made it to Forefront and Eddie Degarmoa there
at Forefront, and Eddie heard something in those songs. There
was a song called Epidermis Girl, which was on our
first record, the demo of that.

Speaker 6 (17:24):
So he came and saw us a few times. And
then at the end of our junior year. It was
the end of Davy sophomore year and me and Matt's
junior Yeah, he offered us a deal and and so
that was kind of the beginning.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Did you guys know the Audio Adrenaline guys, I mean
or were they like were they kind of like did
they not overlap with you guys? Like, well, it's a relationship.

Speaker 6 (17:47):
So it was funny because we knew them because you know,
the Christian churchurch of christ World was pretty small as far.
I mean, I thought it was the biggest thing ever,
but it wasn't. And so you know, they from the
same school, but we went to a lot of the
conferences and stuff that they would play at and there's
a couple of really big churches in that brotherhood, Southeast
and Louisville and Southland and Lexington. So we were all

(18:09):
kind of uh and just kind of we would see
them all the time at conferences.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
They were called a one eighty at the time.

Speaker 6 (18:16):
They weren't audio drilling yet, but that's what that's who
became audio drilling and so yeah, No, it was a
couple of years separated our time at school, so it
was just it just happened to kind of, you know,
happen that way. We didn't cross over in that way
at all.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
So it wasn't like they kind of just were like
they took you under your wing or their wing and
like made this signing happen or whatever.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
No, No, not at all.

Speaker 6 (18:39):
It was just kind of a you know, I don't
want to say it fluke, but it was just one
of those things that just, you know, everything kind of
worked out in that way. Yeah, it wasn't like we
were we didn't know each other. Really, we knew I
knew them. They didn't know me, you know at the time,
just because I was, you know, a high school kid
that was loving their their concerts at conference, right.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah, what what was it like for your families? You know,
you're coming back home, you're doing this band thing, You're
going through school and you know, I'm sure you guys
are like on pace to graduate, but yeah, what was
it like for you guys to get to a point
where it's like, well, mom, Dad, like this is actually
kind of becoming the thing now, Like I'm not actually
just gonna go on and become a full time youth pastor,
like I'm actually going to do music. Like what was

(19:20):
it like to go back home and break that news
to the families?

Speaker 6 (19:23):
Well, it's funny you say that, because that was actually
a really important piece in the story. Was because we
were all in college and it was a you know,
private university, so it wasn't cheap, and you know, our
parents had all invested a lot of a lot of
money into our education. So Eddie would not sign us
unless all of our parents agreed to the signow.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
So I mean, even though we were legally adults.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, you're like, probably what twenty two at this point?

Speaker 6 (19:51):
I was I think I was nineteen or twenty. We
were pretty young. I okay twenty when he signed, Yeah,
I was maybe twenty twenty one and so yeah, so
they but I always just you know, now as a
you know, a father of adult kids, and I appreciate,
I appreciate that that you know, that that he he

(20:12):
wasn't just willing to just pull us out of this
investment our parents had made, like it was. I think
he really wanted to make sure it was something that
we were really after, but also that our parents understood
that hey, this you know, you know, I know, you've
made a big investment, and there's probably more investment you're
you're signing up for with these guys. And they the
parents were amazing, and so they all had to sign

(20:35):
off on it.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Though that's cool. I appreciate somebody that, like, you know,
they foresee that as like, hey, this is this is
going to be important for these nineteen twenty twenty one
year olds. Milam, How did you get roped into the band?
It sounds like you came on just a little later a.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
Few years later. Yeah, So I was in ninety nine,
I toured with these guys. I was playing guitar for
an artist named Miss Angie and we were direct support
on Bleach's Fall tour in ninety nine, and so, uh,
we had crossed paths maybe like once or twice before that,

(21:12):
but you know, being on the road together for three
months straight, they just instantly felt like brothers. And the
guy that was playing guitar for them at the time,
Russ Fox, got off the road right after that tour
because he had his first baby and wanted to wanted
to be home, and so they called me and I

(21:32):
happily joined soon after that. They just called and said, hey,
we've got some festivals in the spring, can you help
us out? And it happened really quick after that, right.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
That.

Speaker 5 (21:46):
Yeah, it was awesome.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Is that how your brother got involved to because you know,
I know he was, you know, kind of a longtime drummer.
So what did your did you did? Was it so
of like a sort of a pairing where it's like
you buy one.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
You get. Yeah, I mean none of us knew that
at the time because Matt was still in the band.
I mean I was in the band with Matt for
the whole first year. And similarly, like we got to
the end of that year and Matt we knew Matt
was going to be leaving, and Jared was actually playing

(22:23):
for Reliant K at the time. He had moved up
to Canton, Ohio, and it's doing stuff with him, and
they were already doing like demos and getting ready to
record their second record. And I remember he came out
to a show in Columbus, Ohio, and we took him
out after the show and we're like, hey, I mean,

(22:43):
if you want to play drums with us, like, I
think that's possible now and love Yeah, and he did.
I think he chose his brother over the k guys,
which is purely a business decision, was a terrible idea,
but yeah, I don't think you've never regretted it. We had.

(23:04):
It was great, And Jared and I had been making
music together for a while, nothing anybody ever heard, but
like writing together and like so a lot of those
you know, first Bleach songs when it was like the
five of us that signed the Tooth and Nail and
made those last three records, a lot of those early
ideas where Jared and I bringing stuff to the table

(23:26):
from just us, like writing together and jamming together at home.
So it was fun to have an outlet and to
do it with guys that we just loved. It was
just like an instant like brotherhood amongst the poles.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
So Sam, did you ever have to break up any
brother fights?

Speaker 2 (23:46):
No, I don't think it's crazy. We didn't really fight.

Speaker 6 (23:48):
I mean we would, like, you know, everybody get pissed
or something irritated a little bit, but it was never like,
I don't know that we really ever had any huge battles,
did we.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
Jared and I never fought on the road, not that
I remember.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
I don't on the road though, that that's the sipulation
right there, right, yeah, yeah, anywhere else fist or flying.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
I mean, there were.

Speaker 6 (24:10):
Definitely moments, I mean, somebody would get tore up, and
you know, but I think we always, like, I'm so
thankful we talk about this a lot too, you know,
now so many years later that we were willing to
like talk about it and squash stuff and like and
understand that this is more important than whatever we're battling
about or frustrated about. And so we never lost sight

(24:32):
of the importance of the community and of the brotherhood
and the It's I love that I can say, even
after all these years, these guys are still my best friends.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
We all live. Davy lives two blocks from me, you know,
and he was over.

Speaker 6 (24:46):
We hung out today, you know, and Milam is just
like you know, at least once or twice a week
we're hanging out or getting coffee or something, and so
it's just it's just normal and natural and they're my bros.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
You know, So.

Speaker 4 (25:02):
I love that. Like, you know, obviously we see all
the time, like bands breaking up because of largely because
of you know, fights either with among themselves or you know,
with label or whatever. It's always cool when you hear
bands that like still love each other maybe even love
like the label that they were on, and you know,
you know, I don't know why I'm reminded of this

(25:22):
right now, but like I know, like Oasis is on
tour and it's like, yeah, man, that just is notorious
for the fact that they break out the tour because
of fights, you know. And so it's it's cool when
you see bands that I actually, at the end of
the day like they're still best friends because being in
a band, like you know, Colin and I hear this
all the time, like, you know, especially with a lot
of guys that you know have moved on. You know,

(25:43):
I'm sure you guys are kind of the same place
where it's like you move on in life, you end
up getting married, have kids or whatever, and you realize,
like you know, marriage is you know, its own thing, right,
but you kind of like to some degree when you're
like nineteen twenty twenty one years old and you're in
the same van together for maybe two hundred days a year, Yeah,
you learn, you learned that like that to some degree

(26:04):
is kind of like a marriage.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
And you learn how to like you learn how to
love each other well, you'll learn how to fight fight
each other well, and you just learn that. And so
I'm sure there's a lot of lessons for you for
you guys, like even you know, moving on and getting
married by just being in a band because you're just
in close approximate proximity and you're in a tight relationship
with people.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
That's right.

Speaker 6 (26:23):
Yeah, that's so true, man, so true. And because I mean, yeah,
they're really good training. But it's a yeah, like I
just I mean, I nothing was ever more important I
think than the relationship.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Like we never we never elevated.

Speaker 6 (26:39):
Things past that, Like like that was you know, some
of the highest value in it was that we get
get to do this together and that we get to
like love people together this way and create you know,
fun or dumb or whatever songs that maybe encourage and
so I feel like through you know, yeah, there's hard moments,

(26:59):
but that we that we didn't lose sight of that
at least as a as a group, you know, and
I'm really thankful for that because you do hear a
lot of the other stories.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Right right.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Yeah, So I'd love to kind of dive into you know,
you mentioned that you early on got signed to Forefront,
and when I think of Forefront, and maybe it's just
my own like bias of like when I came up
listening to music, but you know, I think a Forefront
is kind of like pretty like traditional Christian music around
just like yeah, very CCM. And maybe maybe it was

(27:30):
like that when you guys first got signed. But then
you guys obviously move on to Tooth and Nail, and
you still move on to Tooth and Nail at a
point where Tooth and Nail still was having a lot
of like indie bands, a lot of punk bands, a
lot of alternative bands, and I'm curious, like this is
a thought that I've had, and maybe this doesn't like
come through on the studio recordings, but maybe it does.

(27:51):
But like, did you guys think moving from Forefront to
tooth and Nail. Did you feel like there was some
sort of sense of freedom around like maybe we can
go more indie or more alternative or more punk or
whatever that was, Like, did there feel like there was
some sort of freedom from like a sound standpoint that
you could like change your sound a little bit. Yeah,
I'm just curious around that.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
Yeah, that's a great question for part of part of
that because we did three Do we need three records
with Forefront?

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (28:18):
Our first three were with Forefront, And what we kind
of talk about is like, honestly, it feels like our
first two records are our demos, you know, like.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Our first record.

Speaker 6 (28:28):
You know, you have your whole life to write your
first record, and so and then you don't have any
idea what you're doing. So you know, at least at
that point, you know, in the early nineties, you know,
we and it was cool because I think people were
trying things and it was kind of a bit of
a wild West, you know, right in a cool way.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
So we just we were just we wrote the songs
that we wrote.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
Then when we got in the studio or when we
after our first record, it's like, oh wait, we have
to have another record out.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Here in a few months or a year or whatever.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
And so then there's kind of the pressure of learning
how to write in that way, like write songs. And
at that point, you know, definitely in CCM, there's a
there was a big push for like, you know, having
enough Jesus Is in your songs or have it you know,
and just kind of you know, that whole thing.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
But also, I don't.

Speaker 6 (29:16):
Know, a lot of pressure to have a great second
like your sophomore relief. That's why, you know, the idea
of the sophomore slump used to be a big thing,
like you don't want to have a sophomore slump, And
so it was I felt like we felt a lot
of pressure to write songs that and I don't like
that record has gone on and done you know, awesome
things like Static did. But I think I know for

(29:36):
me where I was at during that time, there was
I was just conflicted a little bit about like what
we were the songs you were writing, versus who we
felt like we were. And so for our third record
on Forefront, we weren't very smart. We told we're like, look,
this is where kind of the free we really started
to experience the need for that more of that freedom

(29:56):
and understanding the importance that we kind of told hey, like,
we're not worried about radio for this record. We're just
gonna write songs that we love. And they're like okay,
And then they gave our budget to another band, you know,
because I guess you're not supposed to say things like
that to your record label.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
But it was okay because that.

Speaker 6 (30:13):
Third record, which is our self titled, feels like I
think from that on feels like we figured out who
we are.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 6 (30:22):
So it was just a lot of learning in those
first couple and hopefully taking from those and then learning
how to become who we were, you know, who we
are as artists.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
So yeah, I'll have to say, like, I definitely think
your Tooth Andnail releases, at least for me, are some
of my more favorite. Like no, I would imagine maybe
to some degree, like your Forefront ones might be a
little bit more commercially successful, but at least for me
as a listener of you know, especially somebody who loved
Tooth and Nail, especially kind of mid two thousands tooth

(30:52):
and Nail stuff that pretty much anything that was coming
out at that time. I just it captured my ear
a little bit more than any of the early Forefront stuff.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
When we signed A Tooth and Nail, I mean three
out of five of us were new to the band,
Like we had never been on a Bleach record before that,
and so you're naturally going to hear because it was
such a collaborative process for us, Like rarely did anybody
walk in with like even a song that was fifty written,

(31:27):
you know, like we would work it out like literally
in a in a shed and in a rehearsal space
that was a storage unit, like late late nights, and
spent a lot of time working on those songs. But
I mean we brought in different probably different influences, but

(31:47):
also we signed A Tooth and Nail with the thought that,
like they're not going to be looking over our shoulder
and we're just going to make what we're going to make.
And I mean we literally just handed in the record,
like there was no like where's the single, go back
and do two more, like we had all been through

(32:08):
that before. But that was not the case with I mean,
and we were pretty I mean we negotiated pretty a
pretty long time with Brandon to make sure we had
the freedom. And he was great though, I mean he
he really honored it, you know, and he let us
make the record we wanted to make, and we worked

(32:29):
with the engineer and the producer we wanted to and
I think I think there's a noticeable difference, but I mean,
naturally it's going to be if you know, sixty percent
of your band or are different guys, you know, and
Sam and Dave were always great because they they definitely
weren't like, no, this is this is what we do,

(32:51):
like we don't want you guys to input on this,
or we don't we don't we don't want to go
too far in that direction or whatever. It was like, No,
that that was just it's literally like a a snapshot
of like who we were as a group at that
time when we made any of those records.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
So that's right.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
Yeah, I mean I still look back on all all
those Tooth and Nail releases very fondly because because of that,
you know, like, yeah, we truly were doing what we
wanted to do.

Speaker 6 (33:21):
So yeah, and we had I think our experience with
Tooth and Nail was great, like Mom said, you know,
it was there was a lot of all the freedom
and not only that, but I feel like there was
a lot of trust too, in the sense that you know,
there wasn't there wasn't a lot of back and forth.
They would just you know, they would encourage, you know,

(33:41):
they'd have feedback and stuff, but it felt like encouragement,
not like you need to do this or that. And yeah,
so it was for for me, I've always looked it's been.
It was a great experience with with them. I mean,
and it's business. You're gonna have your ups and downs
in your moments where you know you're having to negotiate
and and you know, you know, can can battle a

(34:01):
little bit. But it always felt like everybody was for
each other in that even rather than too you know,
it was trying to fight for the best things.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, and he always on it, like Brandon.

Speaker 6 (34:13):
All, you know, if it was doable, he would you know,
and to the Nail and Tyson and guys like they
would help, they would get it done.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
You know. So we had a really good experience.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Yeah, It's it's always interesting to like talk with different bands,
especially a lot of bands that come from the tooth
and nail world of you know, some some have a
certainly a different experience with the label, and and some
like yourselves, like have a really positive experience, and so
it's just always interesting to hear. I kind of wonder
if like the fact that you guys had maybe some
sort of like established you were sort of established at

(34:47):
that point, because you guys had been a band for
at least five years at that point, right, Yeah, And
so I wonder if the fact that you had a
few albums under your belt, you were signed, you were
already signed a Forefront, he'd been around for at least
a half decade at that point. I wonder if that
kind of just like gives you a little bit more
credibility where you have a little bit more power within
the label. I wonder if that I wonder if that

(35:08):
like shapes the way you maybe experienced that, which is great, great,
Like I'm glad that that happened.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, it probably. I'm sure there was something too that.

Speaker 6 (35:15):
I mean, because you know, we had some you know,
good sales that we were bringing to the to the
table and so like yeah, yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Yeah, that's all.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
Yeah. I just like especially around that time, like a
lot of that like late nineties early two thousand's kind
of alternate music that you guys were tapping into. It
was just you know, I just there was so much
good like you know, from obviously there, you know, there
was the classic like you know, if you like Blank
secular band, you'll like Blank Christian Man. But I do

(35:47):
think like from Tooth and Nail, I would imagine like
they kind of saw them, like, saw you guys as
kind of this like on the label, they saw you
guys as like, here's our answer to in a lot
of the good altern you know actually like you know,
radioheads coming up, you know, late nineties, you know, popular
obviously early two thousands. Yeah, you think of a lot
of that other like alternative rock that was coming out

(36:08):
at that time that that would have been yeah, Weezer, Yeah,
kind of in the vein that you guys were were in.
I think, you know, I'm sure Tooth and Nail kind
of saw you guys as one of their sort of
you know, their kind of you know, versions or answers
to that. And you know, obviously there was a lot
of people that were you know, cared a lot about
your music at that time, and did you guys ever

(36:30):
like sense that there was maybe a fan shift, like
you're talking a little bit about maybe there's like a
freedom of sound kind of shift that was happening with
the transition change. Do you feel like that actually manifested
in the in who your fans were, Like, did you
go from like a bunch of like sixteen year old
youth group kids to like college age kids, Like, what

(36:51):
was that? What was the fan shift that happened potentially
from Forefront to Tooth and Nail.

Speaker 5 (37:01):
Can't tell Sam's gonna answer this or not.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
Yeah, I think I think.

Speaker 6 (37:05):
I was.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
But yeah, for you, Milam.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
There definitely was a shift. I mean, we were touring
with you know more. You know, we toured with Reliant Kay,
we toured with hot Rod Circuit, we toured with five
Ron Frenzy, Like you know, that was a shift in
and of itself where we were playing general market clubs

(37:30):
and rooms and I think in the nineties those guys
with Forefront were playing a ton of youth conferences and
you know, and we would still do that stuff. We
weren't against it, you know, we weren't running away from it.
But I feel like the opportunities did change once we
got the Tooth and Nail and and and as a

(37:52):
result of that, like started seeing different crowds and you
know when you're on tour with those with bands like
Five Iron and line Ky, like we want we want
those fans to be fans of us too. I mean
that's the role that you're playing. And so yeah, that
was fun.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
I love that. What caused just the hiatus? Like, I mean,
you know, I know you kind of came into the
band a little later, but these guys had been around
in the band for you know, almost five years before you.
Was it just simply you guys were just kind of
in different time periods of your life and you're kind
of ready for the next thing in life. I'm sure
people were getting married, kids are starting to happen. Yeah,
but yeah, was it truly just that or what was

(38:33):
there more to it? Like I'm just curious, like what
what caused at least like hiatus breakup stuff?

Speaker 5 (38:38):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean that's the short answer for sure.
That's all that was all real. Like Sam and Dave
had already been married five six years at that time,
maybe seven, So this would have been like late two
thousand and three when we made that decision, and then
we toured all of four to finish it out. Jared

(38:58):
and I had lost our brother in Iraq in two
thousand and three, so that happened in July, and Davy's
the one that came to me. We were in Europe
touring and at the end of O three and we
took a walk and he just said, man, I'm I

(39:18):
think I'm done. And so I was feeling that too,
because I didn't understand at all what I was going through,
having just lost my brother a few months earlier, and
so it felt like a relief to me, like oh, okay, yeah,
let's let's take a break. I need to get off
the road and think. And I was getting married like
a month later, so yeah, life. I mean, I think

(39:43):
there are two like you know when you're when you're
raising a family, you're married, or like in my case,
I was about to get married. And I think we
had we had kind of felt like we were we
were surviving, but we didn't really feel like we were
like growing, and it was more like we were gone

(40:05):
all the time. We weren't weren't quite in the position
where we could kind of dictate like how many days
a year we were going to tour or like hey,
let's take a bus everywhere we go. So some family
can join us when they when they want to, Like
we were just in that really tough middle ground, and

(40:29):
probably at the time, like in hindsight, probably a little
short sighted of like, well, if we can't do it
all in, then we just can't do it, you know, like,
but that was just where we were in that season,
and there really wasn't I mean, I think were we
all could kind of feel it. It was a you know,
without going too far into it, it was a heavy

(40:51):
year for all of us, so I think we all
kind of felt like, yeah, let's pick a date to
end this, to be done. But then we stopped touring
and we made we made our last record, and we
we went in the studio, turned in a turned in
a record and never toured it and and kind of

(41:12):
wrote off into the sunset that way. It was a
little bit of a different story, you know, like we
did we did keep going for about another year after that.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
But right, did it feel like at that point, especially
once out that last album came out, did it feel like,
all right, this is done, this will never happen again,
or was it was there kind of always in the
back of the mind, like if we could maybe figure
this out and the you know, years later we would
be willing to do that, Like was that a possibility

(41:43):
or at that time, was it like we're done forever.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
I don't think any of us thought we were done forever.
I don't. I don't think anybody had any idea of
like how that would look. But no, I don't think
any of us thought it was over forever. But I
mean we we would play shows, like if there was opportunity,

(42:07):
we would not say no to it, but it has
to be a well coordinated effort, you know, like like
we've played shows, but until recently, I mean this year,
it kind of feels like the first time since that
last record came out where everybody is like, Okay, it's time,

(42:29):
Like we don't know exactly what this is going to
look like or how this works anymore, because we didn't
have social media, streaming didn't exist. Like we come from
a whole nother era of making music and touring and
all that. Literally, but there's still that unity, you know.
It's like fam said, I mean, we're all still like

(42:52):
these guys are my best friends in the world, Like
they're like family, Like my kids call them uncles. One
literally is an uncle but they're all nuncles. But like, so,
I mean, it's not like we ever stopped like seeing
each other hanging out. It's just we haven't made music
a part of that in a lot of years, you know. Yeah,

(43:13):
And so I think everybody agrees that now it's now
the time, whatever that looks like or however often I
think we're all just really like ready for it and
feels right love that.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
So milam, as you're talking, what I'm hearing from you
is like, you know, at that time in two thousand
and five, you know, making music touring, it wasn't going
to work anymore, but it didn't sound like it was
going to be forever, or at least maybe didn't hope
that it would be forever. And it sounds like at
least what you're alluding to now is that, you know,
maybe there's a possibility that you know, with where you

(43:51):
all are at in life, it makes a little bit
more sense to maybe start to explore what it would
look like in your guys' relationship to make music again.
And so yeah, I'm just kind of curious, like is
that a possibility maybe, like could we maybe as Bleach
fans in the world, could we expect more Bleach music,
or at least maybe expect maybe more shows. Yeah, I'm

(44:12):
just kind of curious, like what does that look like
for you all moving forward, or at least has there
been a conversation about what that could look like for
you all moving forward?

Speaker 5 (44:22):
Yeah, there's been a lot. Yeah, yeah, a lot.

Speaker 6 (44:25):
Real, Yeah, it's it's yeah really, I was just probably
in the last couple of months as it really kind
of all started to like like make sense, and I
think everybody kind of hitting the same stride at the
same pace. Yeah, for sure going to be shows, I
would say, for sure gonna be music. So we're we're

(44:47):
gearing up for we're kind of in the conversation about
a thirty year. Next year will be thirty years for us,
and so like doing a thirtieth anniversary tour. So there's
a lot of Yeah, there's a lot of conversation happening.
We don't have anything locked down yet, but that's that's
that's where it's headed. Yeah, we're really excited that to

(45:08):
get out there and see old friends and you know, just.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Have some fun.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Has there been like a lot of sharing of like
little you know, like you got you guys are playing
some guitar hooks and you're like, that sounds kind of
like bleach. What do you think about that? Mylam Mylon's
playing a little little guitar bit sends it over to you, Sam,
He's probably like, hey, how does that sound? Sam? Is
that a little bit of that happening right now?

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (45:30):
It is. We have we have a drop box that
is so full it's too cool. I feel like we
could make a first record again because there are so
many ideas and I don't know if any of them
are good, but we've there. There's been a lot of
bouncing back and forth, and so there's a lot of

(45:52):
material there. And you know, like when you take when
you take a twenty year break, a lot of life happened. Yeah,
So there's like I remember moments of like I don't
even know what we're writing about right now, you know,
like here we are again, like we're we got to
do another record, and that is not the case right now.

(46:14):
There's you know, a lot of life is happening and
a lot's changed, you know, So yeah, that makes it
real fun.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Well, I'm I'm looking forward to that. That sounds just
like what the world needs right now. It's a little
bit more Bleach music. So I'm just saying, so whenever
that will happen, maybe that's sometime next year, maybe it's
a year after, but you know, hopefully at some point
that Bleach will make some new music, because I can
assure you there's plenty of people out there in the
world that are like they're they're looking for it.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Oh man, thank you bro. Yeah, it's fun.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
We're just having a lot of fun too, you know,
just enjoying creating together again. It's been a long time
since we've done that, you know, so.

Speaker 4 (46:59):
I bet it does it feel like kind of riding
a bike where it just like kind of comes back
natural or is it kind of feel like you you
got a little you gotta get on those training wheels
again for just a little bit to make it feel natural.
I'm just curious, like, what what does that like again
for you guys.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
Yeah, it takes some time, it does.

Speaker 6 (47:16):
Yeah, it's yeah, yeah, we took I mean we've been
like probably for the last what three or four months,
been getting together some like, you know, getting getting coffee
is talking and dreaming and on Tuesday mornings and then
whenever we've been able to on Tuesday evening, just getting
together down here in my basement and writing and so
a lot you know.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
So yeah, so it's just kind of kind of.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
Building and seeing what seeing what what can happen with it,
you know, and where I'm really excited about some of
the songs that and some yeah, some of the songs
that have come in the last you know, twenty years
of like Moham said, just a lot of life. And
you know, when I when I stopped touring journey, my
oldest son was two.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
He's twenty four now.

Speaker 6 (47:59):
You know, Like, so there's there's a lot of like
I'm going to be a grandpa and oh.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
You you're going to be a grandpa. If my grandpa
looked like you when he was a grandpa, I would
have been so stoked as a child. I'm just saying,
thanks man.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (48:17):
Yeah, so just a lot of fun. Like there's so
much fun for like, you know, in our family and
life right now. Just a lot of new and exciting
and yeah, just really excited to share that. God think man,
you know, I just I'm excited to be able to
hopefully bring a little bit of hope into the world
and and just encourage, you know, and have fun but

(48:39):
also you know there, I think there's important conversations to have.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
And and the only hope I'm getting from you right
now is that I look like you when i'm grandpa age.
I'm just saying, holy cow, I went to college with
people that looked older than you, and you're almost your grandpa.
That blows my mind.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
I just fifty one live, so I'm.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
Wow, dang, that's impressive.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Yeah, yeah, thanks man. Yeah, I don't know. I've just
been eating my weedies.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
You're eating your whedies. I mean you you look like
you still skateboard.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Well I don't. Well, I don't anymore.

Speaker 6 (49:18):
I had a spinal fusion and about fifteen years ago,
so I've had to lay back on something. That's all
Davy and I did in college was skateboard and fit. Yeah,
and then study, like you know, in our Bible classes.
The rest of them we didn't care about. So that
was thank god. We did get a record deal about
the maybe the only good thing that would have come
out of college for us.

Speaker 4 (49:40):
That's awesome. Well, let's talk a furnace fast, because that's
why I brought you guys on is you know, obviously
guys are playing furnace Fast. Yeah, super stoked because this
is you guy's first Furnace Fest. Milam was just telling
me a bit ago he hasn't even been to the
festival yet, but yeah, what what what can Bleach fans
expect to add to the set for furness Fest.

Speaker 5 (49:59):
Yeah, yeah, we'll try to keep up with all those.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yeah that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
We played our first show a couple of a few
weeks ago at jack and Jacksonville at murray Hill Theater
and so it was kind of it was it was
fun to just get back up there and you know,
just it was just a totally fun, fun evening and
so yeah, I don't know, Malin, what should they expect.

Speaker 5 (50:26):
Yeah, we still play guitar amps, we put them on stage. Yeah,
we're not using any modern thing and so you can
expect that. Yeah, we're just trying to throw it back
a couple of decades and and have a lot of fun.
And I think Furnace is going to have to be
a pretty NonStop rock and roll set, So that's what

(50:50):
we're planning for absolutely.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
I mean I've been this is this is my first
fifth Furnace Fast and yeah, it's just it's everybody there
is just a huge rock and roll fans. So anything
that's just gonna be very guitar centric, people are gonna
love it. People are gonna freak out.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
So just saying well, we've also added another guitar player,
so we have a triple guitar. Whoa, So you're gonna
you're gonna hear guitars.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Okay, Well that's that's what matters the most. You know,
you guys made you know a little bit of a
joke about you know that. You know, there's not gonna
be any you know, modern you know, conveniences of music
for this festival, for this set. Yeah, the INVEST this
is kind of the place where it's just none of
that exists anyway. You know, there's there's a lot of metal,

(51:36):
there's a lot of punk, there's a lot of alternative,
there's a lot of emo, there's a lot of hardcore.
There's not much room for a bunch of synthesizers or
a bunch of like samples or or looped over whatever,
like this is not the place for that. Yeah, not
dogging on it. You know, some of that music is
great and wonderful. That's just for different festivals and for

(51:58):
INVEST is just not one of those.

Speaker 5 (52:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's we're so looking forward to. It's gonna
be a laugh.

Speaker 4 (52:06):
Well I'm looking forward to too. So yeah, if you're
listening right now and here we are, you know, at
the beginning of September, and you still have not gotten
your tickets, you gotta get those tickets. I'm super stoked
to see Bleach among many other bands. Yeah, are you
playing on staying around the whole festival weekend? Like, are
you hoping to see some other bands while you're there?

Speaker 5 (52:25):
Yeah? Yeah, for sure. I mean I just saw the
schedule come out and my favorite band of the whole
lineup is playing right before us. So oh, I'll have
to see as Cities burn right, love. I love that
band that a lot of years.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
So what what what guy? You in CITs Burned? That's
so funny.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
Oh, I just love it, man. I saw I saw them.
It's probably like whenever Son I loved you at your darkest. Yeah,
the first recorded I saw them on tour with the
Chariot and I just was instantly like I love these guys,
like yes, this rules. It was just like and so
I literally work out or run to a very ad

(53:13):
Cities Burned Heavy playlist to this day, Like I listened
to all of them, so love it.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
Yeah, Come Now Sleep is my favorite album of all time,
so that I just find that. Yeah, like that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (53:26):
Yeah, and I love the latest record so good.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
Oh yeah that last album eighteen maybe came out twenty
nineteen when it came out, Yeah, God.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
Worn it out. I love it so Also Amberlin's play,
So we go way back with those guys and be
good to see them again. Yeah, they're kind of from
our tooth and nail era for sure. Jimmyt World the
night before we play. Oh you have an imposter?

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Who is this?

Speaker 5 (54:02):
This is Davy?

Speaker 4 (54:03):
This is our singer, So Davy you just popped on.
So if you can, if you're interested, do you do
you happen right off the top of your head, do
you have a few albums that have maybe shaped you
as a person or shaped you as a musician? Uh so,

(54:24):
kind of these influential albums do you happen to have
any of those? You don't have to think of it
right now because mylam has already been prepped on this,
but but if you can think of it, just a
few albums that you know are like, oh, those are
those are the most influential albums in my life? That
that would be a good little thing that you can
chat about. But mylam, are you ready for your top five?

Speaker 5 (54:44):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (54:45):
Yeah, let's let's let's dive into it five but I'll
give you five, all right, let's well, yeah, whatever whatever
works for you. But yeah, let's let's hear let's hear
your top five and then maybe Davey can say a
few things about, uh, some of these albums to maybe
hate some of them that would become fun.

Speaker 5 (55:00):
Yeah, he probably does. Well. Appetite for Destruction is definitely
on there. That record is just like it felt so dangerous.
You know, I'm not talking about the MTV singles. I'm
talking about like the the entire album, you know, like
it was such an influential record for me and Johnny

(55:23):
Cash Live at fulsome Prison.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Oh yeah, so good.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
Just like yeah, just very influential, you know, Like I
mean it just it made me fall in love with Cash,
and I'm like a Cash history And I've read all
the books, I've seen all the documentaries. I've just been
obsessed for many years with Johnny and Okay, computer for

(55:50):
sure as a guitar player, man just blew my mind.
I totally didn't get it at first, and I didn't
really like it at first, and then over time it
became my favorite record of that of that era.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
That that's an album that I was just listening to
that maybe a few weeks ago, and I that album
when I every time I listened to it, and I've
it's been one of my my one of my more
favorite albums for maybe the last ten years. Every time
I listen to it, it still blows my mind that
it was released and I think nineteen ninety seven. Yeah,

(56:32):
it's like it's hard to believe that that it literally
it sounds so much more like in the future than that,
Like maybe it sounds like a ten years ahead of
its time to be honest at least.

Speaker 5 (56:43):
Yeah, Yeah, it's still I love listening to it to
this day. One a little more modern, a brand new
The Devil and God are raging inside.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
Just in six when that came out, that was just
I could not stop listening to it. There's sound changed
the time, but like the depth, like lyrically and just
musically like it just it just hit hit me in
a moment. You know that in the modern era of

(57:16):
like iPods and all of that. That doesn't sound that
modern anymore, but you know where you've got your music
in your pocket. I've probably listened to that record the most,
not so much in recent years, but man, and then
you know the band of the moment, Oasis was the
Story Morning Glory. Huge, I mean huge fan of that record,

(57:40):
and ironically, like didn't really get into it until like
probably like five or six years after it had been out.
I mean I had it, loved all the all the stuff,
but like realized later on They're like, Wow, this is
this is this is one of the best records I've
ever heard, and it just has that staying power. Those

(58:02):
songs are just unbelievable to this day. Like when I
hear a song come on from that record, it's just
changes their room, you know.

Speaker 4 (58:12):
So well, I'm glad that you and your brother have
a better relationship than the Gallaghers.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
I am too, because I saw them in O six
and I think they really did hate each other. In six.
I was like, oh, this isn't an act. This is
a real brutal Like.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
Do they just get separate buses? Like what how does
this work come under? Just the logistically, I like I
would love to be the manager of this band to
just figure out or at least a fly on the
wall from a manager standpoint of how does this even
work for them to be on tour?

Speaker 5 (58:47):
Well, it didn't work forever, that's for sure.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
That's true. That's true, wonderful, that's a great list that
honestly when I honestly even like the brand New and
I obviously I know that brand New album came a
little later than Bleach, but yeah, there's like there's like
little moments where it just like from the ear that
you clearly have on music, Like I hear a little
bit of that going on in Bleach, especially from a

(59:11):
guitar standpoint, especially those Tooth and Nail releases.

Speaker 5 (59:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean that was a lot of
the kind of stuff we were listening to, not just me,
but yeah, yeah by.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
That love this well, Davy, do you have a few
albums that you want to throw out there?

Speaker 5 (59:28):
Yeah? Sure?

Speaker 3 (59:29):
And also hope this is weird. I like literally Sam
called me, so he's like, hey, I got kicked off,
can you please call in? I keep getting kicked off.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
It wasn't it wasn't my fault. It was just I
think it was his It said his network was struggling,
so he can be it on his WiFi.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Well, he's a lot of things struggle with Sam, so
that's fair fair. I think early on, probably the Beach Boys.
I think, like the Beach Boys, Pet Sounds was a
big oh yeah, Brian, Yeah for sure. So and even
the record after that, Smile was a big influence or
it was, well it was Smiley Smile back then. But

(01:00:05):
I was like the one that got away from him
for a long time there. But those those records were
pretty pretty influential, and I think, you know, I don't know,
I think I was kind of even being in like
the first stages of Bleach, you know, like back in
like ninety six. I think I was still figuring out

(01:00:28):
what I liked, you know, like Weezer. Pinkerton was definitely
a very influential record, and the Blue Record too, the
gol album too, But they kind of came out right
as we were first starting trying to think of who else,
you know, early early on, actually Rich Mullens was kind
of a kind of a big one for.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
Me, speaking of Rest in Peace. Man, that guy so good.

Speaker 3 (01:00:55):
Yeah, I always and I never really like it's hard
to explain. I really I wasn't hugely drawn to his music.
I mean there's some songs that I am, but like overall,
his overall catalog and his like style of music was
not something that I was like listening to it was.
It's mainly just the like lyrical content.

Speaker 7 (01:01:17):
I felt like I connect well that in his story
is incredible, Like that dude, that dude like when he
was convicted about something, he went all in like he
there was there was no like half asking things with
him like he was.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
He was in.

Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
He was in.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
Yeah, So I love I loved him and and even
like I mean like later I heard stories you know,
of how he didn't, how he didn't even he would
get royalties and it wouldn't even get sent to him.
He would get sent to somebody else and he would
say basically like send me the like I to his
to his like finance guy. He would say, like send

(01:01:53):
me like what the median income, like what normal people make,
and send the rest to like to charity, which is
pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
So, and I feel like that came through in his
music lyrics and stuff. So another one that was kind
of another kind of later when the promise ring was
kind of a big oh, so a big thing for me.
So and I don't know if we're doing records or
bands or what.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
But yeah, what what is there a particular record that
like stands out to you?

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
With promise ring, I mean nothing feels good and very
emergency both are up there and and honestly, Johnny Cash
saying some of a lot of same ones my own
listed too, So I think we're influential.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
I love that again, like another a list of bands
even like the Johnny Cash reference that can't you know,
like from just like a like a songwriting standpoint, you
here a little bit of that going on Bleach, so
you know, obviously there's a little bit of that singer
songwriter thing going on at times with Bleach. So yeah,
I can definitely hear it all. So that what a

(01:02:59):
what a great for both of you. Like honestly, there
wasn't a band that I like, don't adore that you
guys mentioned, So that's that's a great list. So I
love it. Well, what what do you guys want to plug?
So you know, obviously furnest Fest set here in just
over a month or just under a month. Actually at
this point, I'm my goodness. Looking at the calendar right now,
just under a month, So Furnace Fast sounds like definitely

(01:03:21):
new shows are going to be happening at some point.
Sounds like new music at some point. Uh yeah, what
what do you guys want to plug?

Speaker 5 (01:03:29):
Yeah, so we have a should we.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Are just the regular way right now.

Speaker 5 (01:03:38):
Yeah, we're actually going to show up to Furnace Fest
with the first vinyl ever that Bleach is produced.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
So really is that with Is that what the good
folks at un original Vinyl?

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Yeah, they've they've been helping out a lot. They're not
they're not doing the packaging. I mean they've helped kind
of help guide the process. But a lot of what
we wanted to do with it is we wanted to
do a lot of this stuff kind of DIY, you know,
cross between like Seagarros and just kind of punk rock style.
So we're we're like stamping all of it, handstamping it

(01:04:13):
kind of, we're packaging it all ourselves. So and the
the content of the vinyl is actually a live show
that we did twenty years ago that was recorded on
multi track. We didn't I didn't remember it. I think

(01:04:35):
my own remembered we did it. But I didn't even
remember we did it. It was a show that we
played basically after our last show, which is kind of
funny because we did our final show. We recorded that
one too, but like this, this one was what about
six was it six months after? It's been so long ago,
I don't even I want to say it was about
six months after. We had one of our best friends

(01:04:57):
who was a graphic designer and just kind of a
creative and just in general. This guy named Aaron Mars
who he went to Alaska to film Fisherman and this
was pre deadliest Catch. Dude just drove in a like,
bought a van, drove up to Alaska, found a boat
and jumped on it and filmed all this great footage.

(01:05:21):
Then he came back to he came back to like
after the season was over. He came back to Louisville's
where he's from. And I had a birthday party in Nashville,
and he actually showed up at the birthday party just
kind of randomly knocked on the door and they're like, Davy,
you need to go check and see this at the door.
And it's my buddy Eron or our buddy Eron. And
we sat up till like probably four in the morning,

(01:05:43):
just to him just telling me stories about this how
crazy it was on this ship, you know, and what
the what the fishermen were like and all this stuff,
and told me all these stories. And then he's like
the captain of that boat called him and said, hey,
I need you back here, like right now. And he's like,
he's like, can I like in a couple of days.
He's like, no, like right now. He's like, we're getting

(01:06:04):
ready to go on this We're getting ready to go
back out, and I need I need somebody who's kind
of experienced. He's like, you're not even really experienced. You
were just filming, but at least you've been on a boat.
I need you up here. So he so he went
up and long story short, his his boat sank and
so like half of actually I think there were seven

(01:06:26):
crew members and they all all passed except for one guy.
One guy survived, and so he had all this footage
and he had and we wanted to kind of help
see it come to life and kind of help pay
some of the bills that he had kind of incurred
credit card bills and stuff, and so we did this
benefit show and that's what that's the that's the vinyl

(01:06:49):
is a live version of that. So it's it's pretty
emotional in some ways. It's also awesome. You know, it's
been twenty years since he passed and twenty years since
we did that show, and so it feels like it
just feels really special. There's some parts we we actually added,
like whole sections to songs that we that kind of

(01:07:14):
tied into the situation. Yeah, so it's it's pretty cool,
but we're working hard to get it done right now.

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Wow, that's like a.

Speaker 5 (01:07:23):
Lost a lost recording. Basically, we just discovered it a
few months ago. Mark Lee Townsend, who's my father in law,
is the one that recorded it originally and so he
mixed it. We've mastered it for vinyl.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
And.

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
Really excited for people to hear it. It was a
really special night. So it feels like a gift that
we we can listen to it twenty years later.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
That's so cool. Last sick. Well, I'm excited that that's
going to be at first best. That will definitely be
super special for especially for Bleach fans to be able
to to be able to experience that. That's so cool,
so awesome. Well, I'm excited for you guys, milon anything
else you'd like to plug.

Speaker 5 (01:08:09):
Yeah, I mean I was thinking about you know, Davey's
been a beekeeper for a lot of years, and a
lot of people may not know that, but he's been
working on a special project of just be music and.

Speaker 4 (01:08:26):
Just like the buzzing, Yeah, it's kind of it's in
B language, so.

Speaker 8 (01:08:30):
Yeahffer they have record, of course, they do dances. It's
it's it's a very intricate project and I've been trying
to help him with it. I mean for probably what
Davy twenty years. Yeah, minimal, minimally and uh been stung

(01:08:56):
a lot in the process.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
Yeah, are you guys I heard there's like a new
B movie potentially coming out. Are you guys involved in that?

Speaker 5 (01:09:05):
Dave's been very involved in creative.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
Yeah, clearly about it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:13):
I mean it's fine. I mean I get I get
that there's you know, legal contract stuff, I get that.
But my gonness is this is this the kind of
bee music where like even the people that listen to
it will start like wanting to worship a queen.

Speaker 5 (01:09:27):
Maybe.

Speaker 4 (01:09:30):
Wow, this is like this feels this feels intense, Like
I feel like, you know, I Honestly, I've never really
listened to much be music other than whatever is on
the be mood.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
There's not much out there.

Speaker 4 (01:09:42):
But I like, I've been around beehives, I've been stung
by bees, but I've never I've never been around them
enough to like get to a point where I'm like
entranced by the music of bees. So this feels like
this is a new opportunity, new experience for me.

Speaker 5 (01:10:00):
Well, it'll be amazing. I think I think a lot
of people need to hear it, you.

Speaker 4 (01:10:05):
Know, yeah, yeah, I'm kind of I'm trying to like,
you know, you said that it's in the key of bee,
which obviously, of course, of course, right, why would it
be make any other key? But I am curious, like
what would be music sound like, and like, let's say
the key of F for example.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Curious.

Speaker 4 (01:10:23):
I'm just curious. I'm just curious.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Just I mean, I like that idea.

Speaker 3 (01:10:27):
And I've tried a couple of different keys, because you know,
not every song works perfectly and the key of the
but notice when I play it for the bees, they
they seem to get a little agitated. So a lot
of stings happen then, And so I just want to
do right by them, you know, of course. Yeah, you know,
people talk about saving the bees, but I really want

(01:10:48):
to I'm really kind of more like, I think the
bees the big thing. They've been talking about saving humans,
So uh, that's kind of what we're trying to do
with this.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
Yeah, I'm mean, I don't blame them. I mean, you know,
we're we're, we're, we're we we help them a lot,
I think, in a lot of ways. So it's in
their own it's in their own best and yes, it's
right to save the humans as well, so.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
It's save each other.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
That's right. Well we'll do our best. Well, Well, thank
you guys so much for chatting more about the just
the history of Bleachs Just what a fascinating history. Chatting
a little bit more about the fact that, you know,
there's potentially new music that's gonna be happening at some
point in the next maybe a couple of years. Just
really excited about that. Literally cannot wait to see you
guys at Furness Fast. As soon as I see you guys,

(01:11:37):
I'll definitely be giving you guys a big hug. I'm
just really really extoked about it. And so yeah, just
thank you so much for being a part of this
and uh I can't wait to see you in just
less than a month.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
Yeah, oh thank you, Yeah, thanks a bunch.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Bring blad, praying back to base, pray back, praying back
to base, pray back, Brace slash, break back, break.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Back to Bay side.

Speaker 3 (01:12:07):
Whoa