Bloodsimple

Sometimes, luck has a way of making everything work out. Take Bloodsimple, for example - Tim Williams, singer from the alternative metal group admits to being a huge Korn fan while growing up. In fact, he goes far enough to rapturously exclaim that their first record was "fucking amazing". And now the two bands are touring Australia together.

There's more to it than that, of course. Williams is no recent nu-metal upstart, having been a part of thrash band Vision Of Disorder since 1992. However, while the band received a good level of support from the scene, the same couldn't be said for labels Roadrunner and TVT, and split in 2002, with Williams and guitarist Mike Kennedy eventually forming Bloodsimple. Since then, says Williams, it's been "go go go" with a touring schedule he describes plainly as "crazy."

"It's the way this band operates, and we've got a decent amount of success from that, so we're going to stay pretty busy," he notes. He does readily admit the need for a break here and there, though, with Bloodsimple coming to Australia at the end of a one-month vacation. Then they spend a good deal of the rest of the year on the road.

Williams gets sick of it, naturally. "I don't know how anyone could not get sick of it," he laughs, "but that's why we take these little breaks here and there and get away from each other. We can breathe and then get back into it. All the things out there, they can definitely bring you down. But if you keep a positive mind and try and regulate everything around you and try and moderate certain things, you'll be good."

Appropriately, Bloodsimple first came into contact with Korn while touring as part of the Family Values roadshow in 2005.

"We'd finished writing the second record ['Red Harvest'] and did a three week Europe run. Then we came home and took a little break, and Family Values just came out of nowhere and we ended up jumping right on that. That was big for us, and it went really well. We me a lot of cool people, and that's half the reason we're on this Australian tour - we met Korn, and they seemed to like us, so I think they had a hand in choosing us for this. Don't quote me on that," Williams grins, "but I think they did."

Being able to tour with elder bands like Korn or Alice In Chains has had a profound effect on Bloodsimple.

"It's awesome when you tour with bands like that," Williams says, "because they kick you into gear. Bands get that big because they're really fucking good. You tour with a band like them, you really get to see what a professional machine is like. It inspires you, and it really inspired us to do our second record the way we did it. We knew it had to be a step above the rest, or it would fucking fail."

So the group went in with a mantra when recording. Not a very catchy one, to be fair, but a mantra all the same. "We just wanted to write a really amazing record that wouldn't alienate our original fanbase, but would allow us to get to a bigger audience more easily without sacrificing our integrity or aggression. That was pretty much the motto," Williams recalls.

"Keep things heavy, but in a different way. It wasn't that hard, once we all got into the studio groove. It's intimidating starting a record - you're all like, 'holy shit', because you've got that big open canvas and you don't know what to do. But once you're in there for like a week or two, things kick in and you just go."

It helps having a confidence in what you're writing, too.

"We knew that shit was good," grins Williams. "Not to sound egotistical, but we've been doing heavy music for a long time and we knew we had something good. We didn't care - we knew we'd play it well, and we did."

Alistair Wallis

Bloodsimple support Korn along with Biohazard, Chimaira and Throwdown at The Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Thurs 17 Apr.