Bleed American – Figure It Out

Bleed American – Winnipeg’s biggest break out artists of 2014 – wasted no time, primping and priming their signature pop-punk sound, and presenting their ingenious offering to the masses.

In their much-anticipated debut album, Figure It Out, the boys pull inspiration from dark painful pasts and meld it into a record that’s equal parts moving, cathartic, spirited and downright impressive, deeming the quartet a spot in the pop-punk Hall of Fame.

Vocalist/guitarist, Jordan Voth, takes us through the highs and lows of writing and recording and the public’s ever-growing opinion that they’ll be the genre’s saving grace.

Figure It Out is available for digital download on through Bandcamp and iTunes. Winnipeggers can grab physical copies at Into the Music, Music Trader & Planet of Sound.

JA: From the time you started in early 2014 to now, what has been the biggest change you have gone through as a band?
JV: We’re a fair bit tighter than we were when we started. The recording process this time around was a fair bit easier. It took three weeks to do the whole album, from the first note to mastering. The EP took two weeks, but that was only five songs. So those five songs took two weeks and these nine songs took three. It was also pretty easy to do.

JA: You can tell you guys have developed a much more cohesive sound. You can hear a song and think, ‘Yeah that’s Bleed American.’ So how did you guys decide this was what Bleed American was going to be? I mean it’s one thing to say we’re going to play pop-punk but there’s so many other elements pulled into that.
JV: Some of the things that come with our sound were deliberate right from the start, like guitar styles, using less distortion. The clean guitars were a big part of it and the dual vocal play was something we wanted to do a bit more of. I think it came out with a bit more of that where the vocals play off of mine and Matt’s [Voth] (bass/vocals) different voices. That, and the use of dynamics to create drama and such – that’s basically where that signature sound comes from.

JA: Where did you record?
JV: Drums were recorded in our jam space. Guitars we did at my apartment. Vocals I did at my dad’s and I mixed all of it at my apartment. This was the first time we used all our own equipment. This time around we tried to keep it as true to what you’d hear live – Jorb [Jordan Ngantian] on the left. I’m on the right. The drum kit is Jarrod’s [Mikolajczyk] drum kit. It’s him playing. The bass is Matt’s bass. It’s all very true to form.

JA: Is that your favourite part about self-recording?
JV: Yeah it’s nice to be able to make your own decisions like that, and it’s nice to have that kind of control. It’s a trust thing too. It’s nice to be able to trust the person you’re working with and I think the guys know they can trust that I’m going to make a good decision with how it’s going to turn out. So yeah, self-recording is the best way for us for sure.

JA: There’s much deeper content on this record than the last. Can you go through what Figure It Out is all about?
JV: The whole album is themed around the breakup of my family as a result of my mother’s alcoholism. There are two songs on the album that are not about that – “Bloom” and “Disregard.” “Bloom” is about a person that I don’t like and “Disregard” is about a person that I do like. The other seven songs all deal with the events that happened which lead to the breakup of my family.

JA: Did you find it was a big emotional release while you were writing?
JV: There are some lyrics that I sang for the first time while recording and I choked up when I sang them. There were some spots that I hear and it still has a lot of weight to me. Some of the stuff I’m singing about are on-going issues but yeah, it was pretty relieving. Lyrically, it’s very much an album we can all relate to. All four of us have this kind of family history. Of course Matt and I because we’re brothers but Jarrod and Jorb also identify with the issues addressed in our songs. That’s pretty remarkable to me. But as relieving as it is it’s also a bit stressful because my mom’s going to hear that. People that I know are going to hear it and are going to know what it’s about. That’s pretty stressful.

JA: Would you rather her not listen to it?
JV: I don’t know. I think if there was something in there that could get through to her then that would be great. If she does listen to it and takes something from it, great. If she doesn’t, whatever.

JA: There are a lot of people saying that this is the record that proves pop-punk is not dead or maybe never was. What’s your take on that whole thing?
JV: It never was. It hasn’t really gone away. Whether it’s a genre that’s in vogue or not I don’t think getting too caught up in what a genre of music is, is of any merit. There are great songs in absolutely every genre from rap to metal to hard rock to pop and R&B. I don’t think it’s so important that we bring pop-punk back but that we write strong songs. There are already a lot of bands – a lot of local bands- that write strong songs.

Obviously that’s a genre that, maybe we’re not totally immersed in now, but we definitely grew up loving so it is flattering. But it’s way more important that we write good songs, and not necessarily to save a genre that hasn’t died. It’s about writing, taking thoughts and feelings and putting them out there, in a way that is meaningful.