Jessie Sanchez of Bonded By Blood talks about upcoming headlining tour for The Aftermath
Bonded by Blood are about to start on a brand spanking new
tour. They will blitzkrieg across the USA until October. They are supporting the
critically acclaimed The Aftermath which was released earlier this summer on
Earache Records. I shanghaied “new” bassist Jessie Sanchez and asked him about
the upcoming tour, his new endorsement, and life as a musician.
KaliDiaries: Mr. Jessie Sanchez, you are the “new” bass
player for one Bonded By Blood from California. How is professional musician
life treating you?
Mr. Sanchez: It feels great to finally be in a band again
that I feel 100% comfortable to be myself in. It’s like being in high school
all over again, except I don’t have to wake up at 0730am every day for class.
KaliDiaries: From the look at your last tour schedule and
this one, I’m thinking you are working harder now than when you were in high
school. Promoting a new album must be grueling.
Mr. Sanchez: It’s a fun type of working hard because I’m
doing what I love to do. I’ve always felt the most like myself when I’m jamming on
my bass or picking up a guitar. Writing and performing is my favourite comfort
zone! Now that The Aftermath is finally out, it feels good to finally hear a
lot of the riffs I wrote being played on satellite or internet radio. I’m sure
most of the guy’s in my band are used to it; but every time I hear it I’m
reminded of how all the hard work is paying off.
It’s funny because I used to hate waking up at 6 or 7 AM to
go to work. I used to work a lot of random jobs. But waking up that early to
get on a plane or drive to a gig or anything band related doesn’t faze me at
all.
KaliDiaries: That sounds like an awesome feeling, turning on
the radio and it’s playing something YOU created! You posted on both your Facebook
page http://www.facebook.com/officialbondedbyblood
and your fan page http://www.facebook.com/officialbondedbyblood#!/JessieSanchezHQ a VH1 commercial where one of the people in
the video was wearing a Bonded By Blood T-shirt. That was sweet!
Mr. Sanchez: Yea! We have some of the most supportive fans
out there! I think the guy wearing that shirt is from a local band here in LA
called Fiar. We’ve played with them a few times.
KaliDiaries: What comes across the most the many times I’ve
seen you guys live since Fall of 2010: Bloodstock is that you put on some
killer live shows. Those first shows you weren’t in the band, but the energy
level onstage has just gone thru the roof since you joined! I can tell you
really love what you are doing. How is the reaction to The Aftermath? You
played some of the tracks live on the last tour before it was released.
Mr. Sanchez: During our last tour with Kittie, we started
throwing a lot more new songs into the set. In my gut I always knew the fans
would respond well because of the realness and the formula that went into
writing that album and the crowd seemed to really enjoy the new songs. We’ve
got some great reviews online and it’s starting to spread like fire. Back on
that tour The Aftermath wasn’t released yet so the only song most fans got to
hear ahead of time was our first single, ‘Restless Minds’. But now that the
album is out more people know our lyrics and are singing along more at shows.
It’s really rad!
KaliDiaries: I for one LOVED hearing the songs live. I
couldn’t wait for the album to be released so I could talk about it. LOL I
truly think it will be in the Top 3 Best Albums of 2012! I noticed a lot of people video-taped the shows. Was that
something pre-planned or did it happen organically? Will you continue to let
fans tape the shows and start a brisk trading network like Metallica and Dave
Matthews Band have?
Mr. Sanchez: I could understand why a lot of musicians
choose to have video rules, especially if there’s a mistake on stage. That
video isn’t going to lie. Hell, it might even taint your “image”. But
personally, I don’t mind at all if anyone records our shows because we try to
out play and out perform ourselves every single night. Mauro is always saying
something new and random on the mic. Carlos is always throwing in new fills.
Juan will try out little texture changes in his leads and I always try to keep
my bass playing fun and occasionally bust a drum and bass jam with Carlos in
between songs. Not to mention the show itself is like one big party. You’ll
never see the same BBB show twice.
KaliDiaries: Now that IS exciting! You’ve only had about
four months in between tours. Are you well rested and ready to for life on the
road again? How long will you be out this time? Not to mention you are
headlining, too sweet!
Mr. Sanchez: I’m more than well rested! Four months is a lot
of time off when all you want to do is gig gig gig! Hahahaha The time off did
help us get a few things out of the way that we needed to do. I recently got
endorsed by Ibanez so I got my new bass and took promo shots for them. We
filmed a music video for our second single, ‘Crawling in the Shadows’. Dave
Vorhes (who shot the last video for ‘Prototype Death Machine’ along with videos
for White Wizzard, Holy Grail, and Warbringer) shot the video last week so he’s
currently going through the grueling process of sorting through footage and
editing this monster we’re brewing. I
just finished editing “The Making Of” to be put online soon.
We also played a bunch of shows in California in between. Our
headline tour kicks off Friday September 21 in Berkley, California and runs
until October 6 in Allentown, PA. Then we link up with our friends in Death
Angel, Threat Signal, Wretched and Potential Threat for a few weeks from
October 7th – 19th.
KaliDiaries: An endorsement deal is a major accomplishment.
How did that come about?
Mr. Sanchez: Juan has had a deal with them for years now. I
met their representative Mike Orrigo over time and we kept in touch before he
asked me to join the Ibanez familia.
KaliDiaries: That’s awesome! I’m sure it’s also helpful in
terms of getting new and better equipment.
Mr. Sanchez: Of course I was stoked to do so since Ibanez
rules.
KaliDiaries: And rules mightily in your hands!
Mr. Sanchez: Hahahaha, damn right!
KaliDiaries: You are a video tech guy. You do all the videos
from the road and what not. How is that going? Are you getting good reactions
from the fans?
Mr. Sanchez: Yes, I do all the road updates and promo vids.
Aside from being a music geek, I’m also a video geek. I love editing random
projects. I have a few pranks and behind the scene videos on my YouTube
Channel: www.youtube.com/rammsteinorgy
KaliDiaries: I think it’s totally choice that you do those.
It’s a treat for me to keep updated on the band, and I’m sure the fans
appreciate them too. Geeks Rule!
Mr. Sanchez: I do it for the fans. I’m a fan of bands too,
so I love it when anyone puts out something that shows a glimpse of what it’s
like on the road. Yes! GEEKS Unite!
KaliDiaries: Anything special planned for the headlining
portion of your tour? Anything different in the set list? Special light shows?
Togas? Midget tossing?
Mr. Sanchez: Every night we’re bringing a bag filled with
random snakes that we’re going to release into the crowd randomly during our
set, just to keep our fans on their toes. Hahahaha We have some new songs and
some classics in the set for this run. I think our fans will be in for a real
treat; just in time for Halloween!
KaliDiaries: For this tour, do you have regular lodging
sorted or are you still sleeping in the van in Wal-Mart parking lots?
Mr. Sanchez: For this tour we’ll be taking our van back on
the road, the S.S.B.B.B. So keep an eye out for our big green boat. If we aren’t
staying in the van it’s because we lucked out and a fan invited us to crash at
their place or we have a hotel. I never know what to expect. Every night is
something new.
KaliDiaries: That keeps YOU on your toes. LOL But in a very
uncomfortable way. Blerg. This tour goes through October. Any plans for Europe
or the UK or festival dates?
Mr. Sanchez: We have tour news coming up very soon for
Europe, so stay tuned! All I can say is we’ll be back overseas before this year
is over!
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Subscribe to Channel X: www.youtube.com/rammsteinorgy
Tweet that biotch: www.twitter.com/jessiethekid
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