About

BBBLOOD 

(18/08/2019) A brief(ish) history, of which the time line may or not be 100% in order. If anyone know better please correct me! A lot of the posts on this blog are from the former MySpace blog that I would maintain in 2004. I tend to skim over some of the details, however I may come back and add more information in the fututre. This 'About' bio follows through the years and has been put together as a summary of the blog to date.

Around my late teens approx. 1999/2000 I had my first exposure to Merzbow / Masonna / MSBR and Japanese Noise music. This came via the experimental projects of Man is the Bastard Noise / Jesus Philbin, then a little later John Wiese / The Haters and a lot of the Californian (I assumed) scene. Also bits of The New Blockaders who I think have been my biggest noise influence since the start.

2002 all the punk / grindcore / experimental bands I were in were winding down or had finished at the same time, which at the time was pretty annoying. Eager to continue to make / create I started my own experimental noise under the name "Baron Bum Blood" (funny story, buy me a beer I'll tell you). At this time I was finishing my university dissertation and had A LOT of free time to stay up late / listen to music.

Armed with a DOD death metal pedal, a simple delay + the desktop PC I had at the time (which used soundforge) I started putting together my first record "Experiment 1 - Introduction to the wider world of decibel love" (end of 2002). This is a poorly recorded noise record, lots of cut up heavy layering, cheesy voice sampling, OTT processing of samples, home recorded feedback and pop music. In all it was inspired by a lot of the punk records I'd listen to back then and be a lot more rhythmic than what came later.

This on completion (2003) I self-released and at the same time was re-released a couple like minded friends who lived close by at the time who ran NoSt8ment records. To get the word out I was posting copies to anyone who was interested. I think this was around the time the whole Troniks noise message board was live and I'd totally got the noise bug, discovering a lot of new noise and the international community.

At this time the whole concept of my noise was the "experiment series", the first release I painstakingly produced an essay on noise which really doesn't make any sense at all, copy / pasting extracts from Scientific papers and running a find / replace with words/phrases like "The Baron", "Squid", "Harsh Noise", "Ear Bleeding". Looking back it makes no sense, I hope those who received copies of this record appreciated the absurdity of it all.

A few eps and  year or so later, from feedback received I felt the whole Baron Bum Blood thing a bit cheesy / gimmicky noise and not what I really wanted to make. So Baron Bum Blood was shortened to become BBBlood (I pronounce it "Bee Bee Blood", but you can call it "Buh Buh Blood" or just Blood if you fancy), the focus and intensity increased, and from there on everything changed for the better. This was about the time the MySpace scene kicked off, I was getting offered real gigs offers, and I had started to a-mass a small arsenal of pedals, tape recorders, beheringer mixing desk, and a pocket theremin. This was enough for me to play my first proper show in 2004 supporting the travelling Australian noise crooner Rank Sinatra at the Colchester Arts Centre in Colchester, Essex. Mr Sinatra was kind enough later to suggest we do a split 7", this finally came out in 2006, and by that time things were really kicking off. On this 7" my track is a odd mix of Jungle DnB, Burroughs, and harsh noise. The Baron Bum Blood / Rank Sinatra split 7" was the official end of Baron Bum Blood but for some people "The Baron" still lives on.

Somewhere a long this time I'd co-founded the Trans-Dimensional Sushi label with another local like-minded friend Matt (Guanoman) who made experimental math rock type stuff, but had a interest in noise. Together we went on to release / put out a handful of in my opinion interesting / varied releases by a wide range of artists. My favourites being the Compilation "Wasabi for your brainpipe" with it's elaborate OTT packaging that was a hell to put together / post out without breaking, (later 2008 ish) Heatsick "Muddy Paw" CDr, Helm "Optimism" CDr, and Tiger Piss (aka Wanda Group / Louis Johnstone) "Holy Future". TDS is kind of dormant, but don't be surprised if a new release comes out on this imprint, I do have two things planned... I also formed with Louis the noise group Cherry Tombs which played a couple of gigs and released two EPs. This was great at the time as it was very different to anything I'd done before.

2006, I believe was when the Harbinger Sound "NO TREND" festival happened. The one where there was a power cut, the venue flooded, there was fire, mud, lighter fluid drinking, and the PA packed in. For me this also was highly influential for my noise and has been ever since. In my opinion it was here where I first started to realise there was a noise community here in the UK and made some new friendships.

Later I released the "2006 EP" which was much in the same vein as my first release, as if you wanted a copy I'd post it to you free of charge. If you've got the money to burn and the patience to burn 100 CDrs at home then I recommend it as it really does get the word out. However I think posting records back then was a lot cheaper! More gigs followed, one being the first gig I played where there was no audience at all (another funny story!). This concert actually became the b-side to "Bloodmoss" CDr on Turgid Animal.

2007 brought out the first full length CDr "Experiment 50" for BBBlood which I think was the end of the experiment series, and I think is still pretty solid today. I think from this point Discogs does a better job of detailing what I've had released to date. However I'm positive it is incomplete! I also picked up a lot of press and was interviewed for Bizarre magazine a long side a lot of the Brighton noise scene of that time. In February I did my first European tour a long with Mutant Ape and Green Mist which covered Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Antwerp, and Paris. The gig in Berlin was pretty memorable for I accidentally cut short the set by pulling the loose daisy chain power cable out of my pedals (punk rock!).

2008 was a good year as I got to play some shows with some excellent people, and release some cool records. Highlights being a poorly recorded/ rushed RRRecycled cassette on RRRecords, collaborating with a group called Bromancer and playing for the first time on ILL FM. I think this year was when this blog actually officially started, and it's taken me 10 years + to actually write a biography!

2009, really more of the same but a highlight was releasing the split 7" with noisy rock band Al Queda (ex Sutekh Hexen, Cattle Decapitation, toured with Mike Watt etc..). I think this one came about via MySpace, pretty close to the end of when everyone was using. The release now long sold out gained a lot of positive feedback and then led to more gigging, more tours.

2010, I embarked on a second mini tour of Europe playing Incubate (Tilburg) and then at De Kruen in Kortrijk (Belgium). I'd just recovered from a broken arm from riding a bike, so the shows were both pretty intense and very very drunken.

2011, really upped the Harsh Noise element of my approach. Several shows, eps and such followed at the time. However around then I started to slow down the output and perform less. I'm not sure if this was a deliberate choice but it felt at the time things were changing in new directions. 2012, I think my personal highlights were following The New Blockaders around Europe and witnessing some of the most absurd noise performances I've seen. A split CD with Japanese noise duo Umez was a interesting highlight of this year.

2013, nothing really. Some changes meant I didn't really have the time to record / make music as much which was disappointing. But looking back it was probably for the best. However I did play the now infamous set at the Wharf Chambers in Leeds which became "Live at Crater Lake" released later by Sound Holes - Heavy!

In 2014 I returned to playing shows again and went under my own name for the first time playing in collaboration with Sindre Bjerga, which came out on Chocolate Monk as "Blind Dates", I also collaborated with Clive Graham and had some compilation appearances.  Immense fun playing gigs at Electric Knife records were really memorable, and a short UK tour with Lettera 22 of Italy. Playing sets in London, Leeds, and Nottingham.

2015, was relatively quiet however I did another short tour with friends Eddie Nuttall and Duncan Harrison which covered Newcastle, Sheffield and Leeds. I think I've got a real soft-spot for playing shows in Leeds as the crowds always seem to be very receptive. However no real time to record anything new! I think it was about this time I really started to negelect posting to this blog

2016/2017, personally I did a lot more travelling than making / playing music but a split ep with Possett and Stewart Chalmers gained positive feedback and produced a follow up live performance / record. 2017 ended with a very excellent live collaboration with Sharon Gal which I hope we are able to release in the near future.

2018 to date, slower than previously yet still very much active, some more travelling and time taken out to change my working process.

2019, at time of writing I've played two shows locally and are due to release a new EP "Divorce (Proceedings) From Reality", this is named after a track by the 70s Punk band The Homosexuals. This I'm hoping will surface at some point. The plan is to continue to focus on the release of records and then see where it goes. As always this blog and my Twitter are the places to check for more information!

Thanks for reading.

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