Artist of the Week: Ball-Busting, Dexter-Loving Metal Maniacs BloodVoid

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.

​

In all honesty, before we started working for the Press, we were by no means fans of heavy metal. We listened to Metallica a bit, but only when they'd come on MTV, and even then we did so mostly because we knew it kinda bugged our parents when we did so.

And for some weird reason we used to write "Megadeath" all over our English notebook in middle school even though we couldn't name one single song they've ever put out. Oh, and there was a brief period where we unironically tried to get everyone to believe that there was this super-secret metal band that only we knew about because we were so cool called Masterz of Dizasterz.

Jesus, what an awful, annoying child we must have been.

But over the past two years, metal has become more and more necessary in our playlist. It feels very natural to take in. And it certainly has become our second-favorite genre of music to see live, because something crazy always happens at a metal show. Which is why we were so pumped when we first heard of BloodVoid back in June of this year.

​The most music-critic-ish thing we can say about them - and we may be stealing this from The New Yorker or something, because it's just so official sounding - is that they rock the shit out of shit. It's all rocker fire and brimstone when they're on stage, and their CD jacks hard, too, which is usually an iffy situation for a lot of metal bands.

We tagged the guys for an interview, and they were all pleasant enough to sit down and answer a few of our questions about some name-changing peer pressure, a rare type of blood disease that does not exist and how horrible the metal scene in Houston is. Or something.

Rocks Off: Chris is doing some pretty heavy lifting when he's singing the songs. Do you all even call that singing? It seems like "deathing" might be more appropriate. It's pretty impressive. We're almost certain he's going to talk just like that one black guy from the blues-club scene in Weird Science in about two years.

BloodVoid, "Certain Of..."

Chris S. (Vocals): [laughs] Weird Science... I forgot about that movie.

As far as my vocals go, it's actually more difficult to sing the notes than hit the screams. I welcomed that challenge when I joined the band. The other guys and myself wanted the vocals to have an equality between the aggression and the melody. There are some songs that have harmonizing melodies and others that have no singing at all. So the "heavy lifting" as you call it, is flirting with both sides of the spectrum.

RO: Is Adam aware that he's one "e" from his last name being "Rebel"? How have you all not yet peer-pressured him into doing this? Likewise, your singer is one "t" away from being "Christ Smith." We really feel like coercing them both into these name changes should be at the top of ya'll's list of "Shit That Needs To Get Done ASAP."

Mike M. (Drums): We never really thought about that. [laughs] But I'll be the first to bust Smith's balls about anything. You gotta have a thick skin to be in this band. We talk so much shit back in forth it's ridiculous. Everyone wants the project to succeed; we're not afraid to hurt each other's feelings.

No one really gets their feelings hurt because we're all on the same page. If a cheesy guitar riff is brought to the table that sucks, everyone speaks up. If a singing part sounds whiny or weak, we bust his balls. It makes the writing process more productive.

RO: Let's talk a bit about the album. How'd you guys think that whole thing came out? It was a pretty big moment.

BloodVoid, "Plague Reversal"

Adam R. (Bass): Yeah, the album coming out was a big deal to everyone. It was stressful at times. We set this deadline for ourselves and busted ass to get there. Watching everyone tackle their specific responsibilities just revealed how focused everyone was. It was a huge accomplishment. It's on iTunes now... go buy it, fuckers! [laughs]

RO: [laughs] Technically, doesn't ya'll's name translate to mean that you all not possessed of any blood? We Googled the shit out "medical conditions + blood + void" and couldn't find any crazy diseases that maybe all of you just happened to have, so why that name?

​Chris M. (Guitar): [laughs] We were all just chillin' up at the practice room one night drinking and it kinda just popped into my head. I thought it sounded cool. Everyone agreed. Then when Smith came on board he was like, "Dude, it's a forensics term for blood-splatter... don't you watch Dexter?"

Chris S.: Dexter is awesome...

RO: You guys bill yourselves as trying to breathe life back into the Texas metal scene. So you guys are pretty much saying that all the other metal bands in Houston are shitty then? That's cool. We're digging your confidence.

Mike P. (Guitar): By no means do we think all other Houston bands are shitty. When we say "breathing life back into the scene," that's exactly what we mean. We want the metal scene in Houston to come back. San Antonio and Dallas are known for their metal, but Houston isn't.

We want all of the other bands to step up and start promoting and networking more. There is so much talent in Houston. Bands like Sever The Silence, Carry The Storm and Lao Tzu are just a few of the many kick-ass bands that Houston has to offer. All we want is for Houston's metal to emerge.

Visit www.myspace.com/bloodvoid for updates.