Interview with Tim Williams of bloodsimple.
Posted: 15 June 2005
Contributed By: Jay

June 14th: I met up with bloodsimple. vocalist Tim Williams outside of Coconuts in Tucson, Arizona on tour with Static-X, American Head Charge, and Asesimo.

Composed of former members of Vision of Disorder, Downset, and Medication, these guys are the band that impressed Chad Gray [Mudvayne vocals] so much, he started up Bullygoat Records and signed the group immediately. Catch them live to find out why.

TuneLab Music: For those who don't know exactly who bloodsimple is, can you give us some background?

Tim: Yeah, me and Mike Kennedy were in a band called Vision of Disorder... towards the end of VOD's career or whatever you wanna call it, things got a little weird. It's all good, but me and Mike liked the musical direction, but we still wanted to do heavy music. So we were in Europe on tour and sitting in front of the bus one day like "dude, we want to start another band that's more heavy and upbeat and we'll still have VOD and have a double thing and it'll be cool." That was the beginning of it, we started looking for musicians, we got back stateside and VOD kinda just took a break. Once that break happened, me and Mike were like "fuck it, this is gonna be our full time thing, if VOD comes back, fine, if it doesn't, whatever." So we started looking for members and shit like that, and we started doing demos on our own, writing songs and shit. We found Nick Rowe, our guitar player. I'd say that's really when bloodsimple started. When Nick came into the picture, it really became like a totally different band, it wan't like VOD part 2. It was kinda horrible when just me and Mike were writing songs on VOD. Nick brought a cooler element in the band, and we started to grow, then we found our drummer Chris Hamilton, formerly of Downset and shit like that. Then Chris introduced us to Kyle Sanders [bass] who he played in a band together [Medication] with for a short while. Tried him out, worked out, and then we moved along and started playing shows and shit.

TL: How did you find yourself on Bullygoat/Reprise? It seemed to start up and you were instantly already signed to it.

Tim: Yeah, Chris [drums] knew Chad [Mudvayne vocals] from previous bands. And I guess our drummer worked for Mudvayne at some point. I don't know what the hell he did, but he did something. So they became good friends. bloodsimple was probably together for about a year and a half where nothing was going on. We were just writing songs, playing really small shows, just getting comfortable with the lineup. Chris was like "you should send this to Chad from Mudvayne, hopefully he'll like it and maybe we'll get some tours out of him or a couple shows." We said yeah, and we got a proper demo together and said give him this one. "Sounds fucking good." Gave it to Chad, Chad comes back and says "you guys are really fucking good, I wanna meet you guys, and we're doing a side date from the Sanitarium tour in Philly, why don't you guys come and open up for us. I wanna see what you guys are like. Come meet me and we'll play a show together." That night we went on right before them and killed [the crowd] because VOD was pretty big in Philly. There was a lot of kids there. So we killed it and right after the show Chad came up to us and said "I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I'm starting my own label it's not together yet, but when i do get my shit together would you guys like to be the first band?" We're like "yeah, sure, no problem." Walked away being like "yeah, whatever, we'll see what happens." Like a month later he called us, and his manager calls us, (who's our manager now) and says "we're getting you guys on a plane to California this week to do a showcase for this label, that label, and that label, and you'll be on your way." And that was it, the rest was history. It came together pretty quick, it was pretty cool the way it came together.

TL: How's the crowd reacting? Do you see a lot of old VOD fans? And do you find yourself gaining new fans every night?

Tim: We're definitely gaining masses of new fans. We've been doing nothing but metal tours. That's what we set out to do, we don't want to get pigeon-holed. We'll eventually do some hardcore tours, but we just wanted to start this way. That's the way wer'e doing it. We're gaining mad new fans. We're selling CDs every night. There's always a handfull of kids that are like "oh, VOD, blah blah blah" and all that, which is totally cool. But we're definitely doing really well. Like the tour we did with Otep, we thought it would be just a decent warmup tour for Mudvayne, you know? But Otep was sick! Every show was really good. So that went well, then Mudvayne without saying went really well. Then we started Static-X thinking "well, it might be cool," but you can see kids are coming out and ther coming out early. We played tonight.. I think some band played last night, and there was like 88 people here. I forget who it was, but they were a well-known band. I figured it would be like that, but there was a lot of fucking people in there. Last night [Tempe, AZ] there was like 1,000 people, but I thought tonight's show killed last night's dude. Tonight was a really good show.

TL: How are you guys getting along together on tour?

Tim: It's all new personalities, so it's all good. You know VOD was on the road a lot... for ten years. We still didn't really hate each other, we were just kinda at each others throats here and there. One thing I can say that, which VOD didn't have, is professionalism. VOD, we were young, fucking crazy and young, and we didn't give a shit about the shows. It was all about the parties and shit. And our music suffered, our live shows suffered because of that. We still managed to pull it off, but we probably could've done a better job. bloodsimple, we're a little older now. All the members of the band have been down through the road, we're not pussies, you know, it's get on the road and get this shit done. And I think that's one of the best qualities. Personality-wise, everybody gets together, everybody pitches in. You see what we ride [a small RV with a trailer], everybody drives, everybody helps everybody, so it's definitely a good vibe.

TL: How's everything else going for you?

Tim: The shows have been going really, really good, which is really cool. The record has been getting some really great reception in the press. The label, which is Bullygoat/Reprise, has been doing some really outstanding things for us. We did a radio show in Kansas City in front of like 13,000 people the other day and just destroyed the whole festival, dude. I'm not even talking shit. There weren't many heavy bands on the bill, but we fucking killed everybody, dude. You know, we're going around the cycle. We're on our third tour and we're starting to see the kids knowing the words, which means the record's getting out there. We're just doing it, getting it done.

TL: Do you see that formula where people are just standing there when you first start, then a couple songs in heads are moving, then they're really into it towards the end?

Tim: Yeah, Otep brought people where we were like "who the fuck are these guys?" Then we would just kill and by the end we would be selling mad CDs, kids would be murdering each other. Mudvayne, some people knew us, but still there would be 2-3,000 people a night, a majority didn't know us, but by the second song, we had them. We were selling like anywhere from 30 to 50 CDs a night on Mudvayne. This tour, we're starting to see that the CDs get out there. Right at the first note kids know who we are, but we're still the underdogs, we still have a lot of fucking work to do. This tour, we did Vegas and right off the bat kids were into it. That was the first time that happened, it usually takes a minute or two. Record's getting out there and people are starting to react, it's fucking cool. Just gotta do it right, be smart. The biggest thing is not relying too much on the label, you gotta rely on yourself. That's how it's gonna happen. Everything else just falls into place.

TL: Do you like playing the smaller venues better, or festivals and such like Ozzfest?

Tim: I like small, a venue kinda like this. Believe me, Ozzfest, that's great. But a band like bloodsimple, it's just not our time yet. And I'm not just saying that. We probably could have squeezed out the money and gotten on Ozzfest if we really wanted to, we had the money to. We made a conscience decision not do do it. A: we would have wasted all our money. B: we're still too small of a band, not many people know us. We'd be going on really early; we're just not ready for it yet. We'd rather do the club tours. Maybe next summer when we're a little more established, but for now we're all looking at the clubs like tonight, my favorite type of atmosphere. Tight, small, a good amount of kids. Last night up in Tempe, it was a little too big. There's mad kids there, but it's not as close and intimate. Band-wise, we played a lot better.

TL: It always sounds much better in a smaller venue too. I've seen bands suck at an arena or amphitheater and blow me away in a small club.

Tim: Yeah, you need to either be one of the headling acts or use all the juice. And you lose the intimacy. We did a radio show with Mudvayne in St. Louis, played in front of like 3,000 kids and it was fucking awesome. Mudvayne went on and they played for like 15-20,000 people. No matter what they do, it's just so vast. You lose that intimacy. They did well, but it's just not as powerful as it would be in here. The only band I've ever seen pull it off powerfully in a huge setting like that was Pantera. They just had that monster prescence. Mudvayne did really, really well, I just think that intimacy is lost.

TL: Yeah, I think they saw that and it was part of the reason they wanted to do their guerilla tour.

Tim: Yeah, they're doing great though. That tour we did with them, that was the most consistent tour I've ever been on. If the club was 900 people, sold out. If it was 3,000 people, sold out. Yeah man, but it's been a good run. Everything's been going good.

TL: Where do you see yourself in a couple years? Headlining your own guerilla tour?

Tim: That'd be nice you know, but you can't say things when you don't know. It's a tricky fucking business. Anything can happen at any time. I can say we're a self-sufficient band. We get everything, we're smart with our money, we bought that fucking thing [the RV], we make money at the end of the tours. As long as we keep on that trail, I think we'll be alright. The main thing bloodsimple wants to achieve as a whole is longevity. Whether it's huge, whether it's small, longevity... we want to be a band. We don't wanna be a one-record side project, we want be a band. That's the goal.

TL: Good to hear. That's all I got for you, thanks for your time.

Tim: Excellent. Thank you very much dude.