Philip A. Wickstrand recently sat down with bass guitarist Jerry Garcia of Bonded by Blood at Dante's in Portland, OR on October 22, 2010.

With the recent Thrash revival, we've managed to see some good new bands coming out and some not so good ones. Los Angeles's BONDED BY BLOOD are one of the good ones. With two albums and an EP under their belt, they have been touring the U.S. steadily for the last couple years and built themselves a nice little following. Their second album, Exiled to Earth, was released this year by Earache.

Phil: First, tell us about the new album, Exiled to Earth.

Jerry: The album Exiled to Earth was released this August tenth in the U.S., September sixth or seventh in Europe. It's concept album. It's a very metaphorical subject between Sci Fi meets real world events and then you've got all kinds of stuff with real world politic events mixed in with "Twilight Zone"-ish, outlandish Sci Fi alien stuff, but in the end, it's all metaphorical.

Phil: What was the song writing process like?

Jerry: The song writing process was very long. It took us a long time to get out of the Feed the Beast mentality. We could've easily written Feed the Beast number two, but we decided not to. It took us a few months and then we had a few setbacks with recording times and schedules and then aligning with tours, but overall, it was really promising for the future. We definitely had made ourselves better after it. We feel like we could write way better material now.

Phil: What was the production process like?

Jerry: Recording? It was awesome, man. It was really just laid back and it was very simple to just go in and record the songs and do everything on time. It was great. Our producer, Ralph Patlan, he's just and awesome dude and made sure we were comfortable and we sounded the best we could.

Phil: What would be your favorite tracks off the album?

Jerry: Favorite tracks… I don't know - there's a lot that I like. Probably "Prison Planet" is one of them, "Genetic Encryption," "Exiled to Earth" for sure. Those are probably my top three.

Phil: Tell us about the filming for the video "Prototype: Death Machine."

Jerry: Oh, man - we had a blast. It was great working with Dave. Dave Voorhees, he's the guy that directed our music video. He pitched us a pretty cool idea and we come to that conclusion of doing the "Prototype: Death Machine" thing and we got the suits done and everything and it was just a lot of fun. I can't wait to do another one.

Phil: How has the tour been so far?

Jerry: The tour's been all right. I mean, obviously, EXODUS was way bigger, but this one's been very simple to do; there have been no problems whatsoever. It's been very relaxed. And also we're going through changes with Jose not being in the band anymore, we have a new singer, but it seems to be happening very well. We've gotten extremely positive responses from everybody we've talked to, he's doing really well and it's made it as easy as it can on everybody.

Phil: Do you think having a new vocalist has given you a little bit of extra energy towards your performances?

Jerry: Maybe. I don't know. It's a different style, Jose and Mauro can do a lot of different things, you know. Jose was more of the early EXODUS style, aggressive kind of screams and Mauro can do a lot with his vocals, he can do a lot more. He's keeping true to the style. But as far as energy goes, I don't think it's much different - we're energetic no matter what and I don't think it changes.

Phil: Recommend a book for our readers and then tell why you recommend that particular work.

Jerry: A book… anything by Jaque Fresco. He's somebody that inspires me a lot, same with Juan; we're really into his ideals. If you're tired of stuff that's just fucking everything over, whether it might be [the] monetary system, government and politics… he might not be the answer, but he's definitely a way better solution to what we have now and he's an interesting mind to look into.

Phil: You guys have done a lot of touring, but you haven't managed to get yourselves into that category of "Oh God, they're coming through town again???" What do you think is the perfect amount of touring for BONDED BY BLOOD?

Jerry: What do you mean? Like people haven't gotten tired of seeing us? Well, I don't know… I don't think there's an excessive amount, no. We have a lot of touring ahead of us, so the right amount of touring? Every tour we can get.

Phil: Feel free to just slap me upside the head for asking this question, but at what age did you decide that you were fucking sick and tired of all the damn GRATEFUL DEAD jokes?

Jerry: Fuck… I don't know. I mean, never got sick and tired of it. It was actually kind of cool because people always remembered my name, so it was actually something that stuck with me. But it never really gets annoying.

Phil: Really? You are a more patient man than I would be.

Jerry: Well, I do have my limits. [laughs]

Phil: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Jerry: I hope you guys come out and see us - we're going to be on tour for a long fucking time. We're coming back probably more than two or three times near you, so we'd better fucking see you there!

Bonded by Blood's Jerry Garcia

Interviewer: Philip A. Wickstrand

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Formed 2005
Pomona, California  USA
Label: Earache Records
Genre: Thrash Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Mauro Gonzales:  Vocals
Alex Lee:  Guitar & Vocals
Juan Juarez:  Guitar & Vocals
Jerry Garcia:  Bass & Vocals
Carlos Regalado:  Drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

Four Pints Of Blood (Demo-2006)
Extinguish the Weak EP (2007)
Feed the Beast (2008)
Exiled to Earth (2010)

November 5, 2010

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

PHOTOS BY PHIL A. WICKSTRAND

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