New Bruises

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Interview With Eric From New Bruises By Chris 4/7/06

New Bruises is a great post hardcore band
There album Transmit! Transmit! is excellent and worth a
listen
So of course an interview was on the cards
So read the interview and check out their tunes.
New Bruises
MySpace Page

1. How did the band form?

Well, just like any other story of a band forming it was
some guys knew some other guys who wanted to play in a punk
rock band and so on. The real twist is that I knew that
this band would be something different and exciting because
the first talk we had about playing together was at a house
party in Seminole Heights. There was an out of control
outdoor baby pool wrestling match in Jell-O and Eric was
drunkenly taking about how great this band was going to be!
I should have not then what I had in store for me. I mean,
the first time I even met Bryon and Eric they were just
finishing an eating contest at golden coral. I thought what
the hell is wrong with these guys?

2. Who were your idols growing up?

My idols growing up are probably different than a lot of
other peoples. They were all people involved in my local
scene. I grew up in Orlando Florida where there was a small
local record store in where called DIY Records. The owner
Jeff and a lot of the employees were the ones who got me
into punk and hardcore, having an awesome selection and
hosting a lot of shows to many amazing touring bands. I
always like that he just kept going no matter what, he
seemed to really have a drive for what he was doing, I
really looked up to him like a role model for that.

3. Who were your influences?

I could rattle off a list of bands here just but I won’t
air out that laundry list here. I believe you can pretty
much pick up New Bruise’s influences simply by listening to
us. Personally, I’m always listening to music, and all
kinds. I find it harder with newer bands and some of the
popular sound right now but I try to give everyone a
chance.

4. Who would you most like to a split CD with?

If time had no relevance it would have to be Jawbreaker,
Braid, or Superchunk. Realistically, since we have not
working time machine, it would be rad to do something with
our friends such as Tim Version, No Truth Lies, New Mexican
Disaster Squad, J.Page, and/or Pink Razors.

5. What have responses been like to the album?

Surprisingly great! We have a lot of positive feedback. We
weren’t sure how people would take it because although we
have not recreated the wheel we don’t sound like most of
the records coming out right now. It has been awesome that
people have been so stoked on it. We still get bad reviews
too, which is good to keep you in check. I think it is
better to have people love us or hate us. It sucks when
people sit on the fence because it make you think that the
record may be inconsequential.

6. Has the Internet helped with your music?

It has helped out a decent amount. It is really helpful to
get your music out there to people who may not find out
about us, otherwise. We have had an amazing response in the
UK and that is probably due directly to the Internet. In
the same way that it is helping us it is also hurting us.
There are too many bands out there promoting themselves and
so a lot of people don’t even want to deal with sifting
through all the trash to find a treasure. A lot of people
are sick of having bands shoved down their throats through
MySpace mass mailing and such. We are trying really hard to
just let people find us.

7. Do you think tools like MySpace are useful?

MySpace can be great if used wisely. It seems like too many
people have fallen victim to the posed photos, bad hair
cuts, scantily clad underage girls, and how many comments
or friends they can get on their profile. Somehow MySpace
has become the Internet cool club. I personally love it for
keeping in touch with friends all over the place! Hell,
I’ve found friends from high school that I haven’t talked
to in years and now we keep up with each other. For the
band we have met tons of new friends and bands and like I
said earlier it has exposed our music to people across the
world we may have not gotten to otherwise. I guess with the
Internet in general you have a choice. A) Is it a resource,
like an encyclopedia, consumer digest, an atlas, or a
phonebook? Or B) is it a gossip column, trashy magazine,
advertisement, or porn box? I think it all has to do with
the way we choose to use it.

8. Who you would most like to tour with?

Probably just friend’s bands! What other reason is there to
go on tour, get together people you know and drive across
the world having as much fun as you possibly can have. We
aren’t into it to make money and we know we are lucky if we
make enough gas half the time. We do it because we love it
and believe in it. So the best reason to bring friends is
to support them and they support you. We can’t control how
good the shows are or how many kids like us but touring
with friends is a recipe for a successful tour. Guaranteed
Fun!

9. If you could work with any one who would it
be?

In the Studio, I’ve personally always wanted to work with
J. Robbins, pretty much based on my love of Jawbox. We had
a really great time working with Ronnie Cates and Derron
Nuefer at Rec Room studios, and I’d like to work with them
again when we do our next recording.

10. Have you had much press about the album?

This question is pretty lost to me because Bryon takes care
off all of that kind of stuff. As far as I know we are
getting out there. Every so often I will do an Internet
search and find reviews of “Transmit! Transmit!” in many
different random zines. I also know that part of the reason
I am answering these questions is because Bryon has already
done a bunch of interviews and he wanted other guys in the
band to get a chance to voice their opinion or share their
perspective of the band.

11. Have you had much response from radio?

I’m not too sure about this either. We have had some radio
airplay in like college and community radio station and we
also get requests for CDs. I guess s I have been really
turned off by the radio lately because of the massive
invasion of Clear Channel and Viacom buying up radio
airwaves everywhere and leaving little room for community
and non profit radio. It has also become increasingly
harder for pirate radio too because of our homeland
security lumping in pirate radio with terrorist
organizations and shutting them down. Radio is starting to
seem like a dying venue for Indie Punk Bands.

12. What inspired the artwork for the album?

The idea for the Album cover was kind of partially Eric and
partially Sean Brant, the kid designing it and actually
doing the artwork. We wanted something that represented
where we lived and the idea for the antenna was
representing getting a message out. The original title for
the record was going to be “I learned my lessons, I learned
them well” and we wanted to represent that also. When we
saw the finished cover we changed the name to “Transmit!
Transmit!” The artwork inspired the title and the music
inspired the artwork. Which is how we ended up working with
Sean. We met him through a network of friends and he heard
the recording and actually asked us if he could do the
layout. I am kind of surprised that he stuck with it,
because we can become difficult when we are trying to agree
on a design or a theme for something. We probably sent back
10 designs before getting the idea finalized with the
buildings and the antenna, and even that went through a
million revisions. The buildings are really from the Tampa
skyline.

13. What has been your favourite gig to date?

We got to play the FEST 4 in Gainesville last year and that
was completely incredible and something everyone should
participate in at some point. Tony and the dudes from No
Idea are super rad and know how to host a party so it seems
like that may have been our best show to date. So seems
like that should be my favourite show but in my opinion,
the best show we’ve played so far was the Skate Park of
Tampa’s Ghetto Christmas Party. Those guys like to throw a
party whenever they can, and always get a bunch of local
bands, some free beer, and then let everyone in for free.
It is a pretty solid formula for a great show. There’s no
particular reason this show was my favorite, there was just
something in the air that made it stick out, it was just
like the perfect vibe or something. The Skate Park, Matt
Welch especially, has always been a big supporter of New
Bruises and the local scene.

14. Have you had much support from radio?

I know the local college radio station WBUL out of the
University of South Florida has been good to us, but other
than that I’m lost because I really don’t pay attention to
radio. I believe we are probably getting support from kids
who like us with radio shows, at least we can hope we
are.

15. If you could be on The Simpson’s or Sponge Bob
Square pants where would you be?

Does this really need to be discussed? The Simpson’s all
the way no questions Sponge bob is a fad, The Simpson’s
have real staying power.

16. What is on your stereo at the moment?

Currently I’m listen to the Criteria “When We Break” album,
but I have also been playing The Weakerthans, Bane,
Baroness, Isis, Screeching Weasel, and J.Page in heavy
rotation lately

17. What are some of your favourite musical
artists/bands?

My all time favorites would have to be Braid, Jawbreaker,
Superchunk and Gameface. It is kind of funny that New
Bruises all draw from different areas of punk music but
most of our favorite bands are identical.

18. What movies you have seen lately you have really
enjoyed?

I’m a sucker for bad horror films, so recently I’ve seen
Silent Hill, An American Haunting, and my mom dragged me to
see the Poseidon remake. I would have to say that I am not
too picky when it comes to movies, I will watch whatever as
long as its not some monster summer blockbuster that lacks
any real substance.

19. What are your favourite movies?

I have never really had a favorite, the movies I’m obsessed
with is always changing monthly until I kill it and can’t
watch it for a while. As of this month, it is Super
Troopers and I can’t get enough of it.

20. Realty TV? Good Or Bad?

I think Reality TV is total crap. I don’t know why this has
been such a phenomenon but ever since the inception of
MTV’s “The Real World” we have been subjected and tortured
with this garbage. I can’t turn on the TV with out seeing
it. As far as I can tell people really need to get out and
live their own lives and not live vicariously through their
reality TV viewing. Why should I care if someone is voted
off some island or doesn’t choose someone to marry them?
Reality is the world going on outside you not on the
television. The world is confusing enough; we don’t need
this making it worse.

21. Beer Of Choice?

My personal beer of choice is no beer. I’m a boring
straight edge kid. Hopefully people don’t get the wrong
idea because straight edge doesn’t mean that I’m going to
go smashing beer bottles and smacking smokes out of
people’s hands. I will leave that up to Karl and the rest
of Earth Crisis. I am just doing what I think is best for
me. I am the only guy in the band who considers himself
straight edge. Isn’t Punk Rock about rebelling?