Bloody Heels recently released their incredible new album Rotten Romance through Frontiers Records. Lead singer Vicky White took some time to answer a few questions about the album and the beginnings of the band.
Rob: Can you tell the readers about the roots of the band? How did you guys meet? And when did it really musically click for you guys as far as song-writing and chemistry between the band?
Vicky: The first dude I ever met from the band was Chris Flint, our previous bassist, he participated on the Summer Nights EP, the debut album Through Mystery and co-wrote some songs on Ignite The Sky. But I think it was almost 2012 when I was walking home from a party and somehow took another route home and while walking another friend called me and said there’s a party so I should come by, so I went there cause I took that route. I met Chris there and didn’t like the guy at all at the first, But then he I think put some Def Leppard or Motley on speakers and it was love at first sight, haha. So I said I’m a singer, he said he has a band that’s looking for a singer… a week went by before i went to the first rehearsal, met our drummer Gus and the other guys that are no longer in the band and here we are almost 10 years later. But the chemistry was always there, On the first few albums we wrote all together in the rehearsal room and we pretty much knew what we want to play so it was easy.
Rob: In my opinion, Bloody Heels is one of the most unique bands in the modern movement. You guys don’t really sound like anyone else, your sound is audibly rooted in 80s hard rock but I can’t say you sound 80s. I think the musical diversity in your sound has expanded with every release. What artists influence you guys and when did you personally decide that you wanted to do music?
Vicky: Thank you ! It’s definitely more now rooted with the new album, but we definitely tried to sound like our idols, especially with the debut album and then maybe a bit less with Ignite The Sky. But yeah – it happened naturally, you start to enjoy other things as well and for us it came a point where we just started to write what’s inside of us and not try to write like Dokken did in the 80s. Don’t get me wrong – I and we still do love all of those bands and as you said there’s definitely a lot of them till this day in our music, it’s just that we somehow naturally became I guess more independent and write what we want to write. If that makes sense…
Rob: It definitely does and I think you guys are on the right track. Being true to yourself as a musician is important, there’s an authenticity about what you guys do. Some bands, like Crazy Lixx for example, Definitely feel like they fit an era and that’s their aim but you guys have really blazed your own trail in a time with a lot of great underground bands. For me as a listener I really admire when a band balances that line between progression and staying true to their legacy, Is that a hard balance to strike or for you guys does it come naturally?
Vicky: Yeah definitely ! And I enjoy bands like Crazy Lixx etc. And most importantly if they still after all these years enjoy what they’re doing and creating that’s the most important thing. For me and the guys we’re always try to explore new horizons and push the envelope. I’ve never been the AC/DC guy that wants to do the same album over and over. Again – there’s nothing wrong with that and I do like AC/DC a lot, it’s just that with our music and craft that’s never been the case. And yeah those things come naturally, even the new album, it’s more darker and with other influences and there are people that doesn’t like that and says they enjoyed our previous work more, but yeah usually my response is – it’s fine, go and listen to those albums you know… As a musician and artist firstly I want to impress myself and write, sing what I enjoy, then comes other people and if by any chance they dig what we do – it’s a blessing.
Rob: I totally get what you mean and I love Crazy Lixx, some bands have a specific sound and they do it well. Ac/dc are the extreme example, they are incredible at what they do and they know what they do well, There’s definitely nothing wrong with that. Your new album Rotten Romance is definitely darker, there’s a heaviness about it in many ways, I’d consider it in that way the polar opposite of Through Mystery. Did the pandemic have an effect on the vibe of this album or was it things that impacted you personally in your own life? (For the record Rotten Romance is an incredible album that no one should miss.)
Vicky: Yeah I’d say that the pandemic definitely had an effect on writing the album and that’s for sure one of the reasons the album is a bit darker, the world was just in a sad place and I couldn’t see myself writing all the time about happy things. There’s still definitely hope and good things on the album as well. For example a lot of people think that the song Burning Bridges is about an ex lover or something and you can definitely see that song in that kind of a way as well, but for me it was more about the pandemic and some bad habits or even addictions. Though I have to say that of course the personal stuff had the biggest impact on the album, especially lyrically. I went through some bad stuff at the time and yeah… We’ve written so many happy and hopefull songs and I love them but sometimes you have to write and put out the ugly and sad stuff as well you know and it happened to be this album.
Rob: I totally agree, it helps to write out the hard emotions and it touches people who relate. In a weird way I find those sort of songs both relatable and a positive experience for me as a listener, it just seems more real. Is that the case for you with darker songs?
Vicky: Yeah definitely. Those songs are like therapy to me in a way and it always helps to get it out of my chest.
Rob: When did you guys start recording the album? How was the process of writing the songs? And how long did it take you guys to complete it?
Vicky: We started to record the album late August 2021 and it was finished early November 2021 if I’m not mistaken. The recording process was smooth all in all, because we know the sound engineers for some time now, they’re good friends and we know how they work and they know us. The only pain in the ass were the lockdown restrictions, we had to be home by 9 or 10PM so there were times I called taxi 10 minutes before and was hoping that the police won’t stop the car haha.
As far as writing the album, I’ve stated this before – this is the first time we didn’t write all the songs together at our rehearsal studio. Mainly because of the restrictions. Gunn had to leave the capital and go live to an other city for some time and because of the deadlines me and Harry started to write some demos and in the end we mainly wrote the album together, so it was quite interesting process cause it was new experience. So in some ways you can say that Rotten Romance is a bit more my and Harry’s baby. But it was a long process, some ideas and some songs in early stages came already a few months after we released Ignite The Sky. Mainly because we couldn’t tour and there was nothing else to do haha.
Rob: The downtime definitely paid off, Rotten Romance is an incredible album that in a year stacked with top level albums really stands among the best. I’m curious what the modern resurgence of hard rock seems like from the perspective of a band? Because for me, this is the most exciting time I’ve seen in the genre since the early 90s. Do you guys feel a shift happening with the audience and the genre in general? And what’s the scene like in Latvia?
Vicky: It’s definitely exciting yeah, there’s plenty of great bands and we’ve shared stages with lots of them. But to be honest we focus more on ourselves and our craft cause in the end that’s the most important thing, haha. I can’t tell for sure if there’s a shift happening with the audience, first of all because I never did live through the glory days and through the complete dark times when other genres ruled. But there’s definitely bigger buzz happening each day, hopefully one day Rock and Metal music will rule the charts again. Ghost did it with their last album, so there’s definitely talent and craft so why not? As for the scene in Latvia, there’s not a big one – mainly cause we’re quite small country, less than 2 million people so you can imagine, haha. There are bands of course though more on the extreme metal side. As far as the Hard Rock scene goes, there’s our buddies Quickstrike who are great, other great mention would be Rebel Riot, check them out !
Rob: I definitely will check out both bands, thanks! I know this is a hard question for most musicians because you have such a personal relationship with your songs, but what are your favorite tracks on the new album and why?
Vicky: For me it’s definitely The Velvet. There’s also an epic acoustic version we recorded it while doing the album, so hopefully one day it will see the daylight. I also love When the Rain and I Meet, Rotten Romance and Burning Bridges. But honestly they change from day to day. I wrote them all so it’s quite hard for me to choose, haha.
Rob: Yeah, I can imagine that would be difficult. The Velvet and when the rain and I meet are definitely favourites of mine. I’d definitely love to hear that acoustic version. So, what’s next for you guys? Do you have any tour plans?
Vicky: Yeah and it’s even not like acoustic you can imagine, there are acoustic guitars involved but it has a lot of synthwave vibe to it. Well to tour yeah, we haven’t been on road for so long, we basically have to tour for two albums haha. There are some shows in the work right now, so hopefully everything goes well and we can announce them soon, but basically an European run.
Rob: Even better! I actually like synthwave and synths with acoustic guitars work really well. I hope you guys have a great tour, hopefully I’ll see you stateside one day.
Vicky: Thank you ! Hopefully one day yeah!
Rob: If you could be a fly on the wall for any album ever recorded which one would you pick and why?
Vicky: Ohhh, well let me see… There are tons of them to be honest. First that comes to my mind is Hysteria by Def Leppard, would love to see how Fields Of Nephilim recorded their Elizium album. Seeing all the shenanigans by Motley Crue recording any of their 80’s albums would be cool too. Honestly there are plenty, hard to pick one.
Rob: Totally understandable, there’s so many great ones to choose from. Last question, it’s a Rockpit classic. What’s the meaning of life? Hahaha
Vicky: That’s a good one, haha… I’ll let you know when I’ll figure it out haha. But for me I guess it’s balance and harmony I leave it at that.
Anyhow thanks for the great interview and for the support you keep on giving to us, means a lot and you’re a great dude Rob ! Cheers.
Rob: Thank you Vicky, it’s always a pleasure. Cheers!
Vicky: Same here ! Always great to talk to you ! 🙂