"We try not to let anything go to our heads or start expecting things that we might not really deserve," says guitarist Cody Votolato. He's dealing with an unexpected sea of hype surrounding the Blood Brothers, one of the most unlikely "buzz" bands in recent memory. Born of the Seattle underground in 1997, the Blood Brothers released This Adultery Is Ripe and March On Electric Children on indie labels Second Nature and Three One G before unexpectedly finding themselves courted by mega-producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot) and signing to ArtistDirect/BMG through his I Am imprint. The big name producer and major label was just the beginning, as accolades and hyperbole from the likes of NME, Alternative Press and The Village Voice, stoked the flames threatening to consume the Blood Brothers with expectations for their brilliant Burn Piano Island, Burn full-length.
The kicker is that this Seattle band isn't the next "great" English pop band, or the next wave of the "rock revival." They play a confrontational, spastic and schizophrenic blend of punk-influenced hardcore noise rock driven by two manic vocalists that should be anathema to the mainstream. And all this attention is starting to freak them out.
"It's cool having a lot of people be into what you're doing but it's kind of annoying; we just kind of want all the press to calm down," laughs Votolato. "When you read something like, this is the most important band in America; they're going to change things,' it's very flattering, but it's kind of [scary]. It's not that we have a problem with being reviewed and interviewed, that's awesome press is good we just don't want to survive on hype. Whenever I see a band that's on every magazine cover and they're this new thing, it starts to overshadow what they stand for and what their music is all about, and I hope that it won't happen to us. I don't want to be a trend."
The kicker is that this Seattle band isn't the next "great" English pop band, or the next wave of the "rock revival." They play a confrontational, spastic and schizophrenic blend of punk-influenced hardcore noise rock driven by two manic vocalists that should be anathema to the mainstream. And all this attention is starting to freak them out.
"It's cool having a lot of people be into what you're doing but it's kind of annoying; we just kind of want all the press to calm down," laughs Votolato. "When you read something like, this is the most important band in America; they're going to change things,' it's very flattering, but it's kind of [scary]. It's not that we have a problem with being reviewed and interviewed, that's awesome press is good we just don't want to survive on hype. Whenever I see a band that's on every magazine cover and they're this new thing, it starts to overshadow what they stand for and what their music is all about, and I hope that it won't happen to us. I don't want to be a trend."
