of Bleeding Through!
Scott Danough, guitarist for Bleeding Through, greets me at the door, finishing up the last of his dinner, and invites me onto the bus; two plush, black leather couches underneath black tinted windows on either side of the bus, with a table next to the entrance to a hallway surrounded by bunks and leading to the back of the den-like setting that surrounds my conversation with a suprisingly down-to-earth and emotionally connected guitarist.
Scott Danough: Um....we wanted to do something that was really memorable, something different, something that would set us apart from all the other bands in our genre; I'm sure your familiar with typical Bleeding-Through-lore (laughs); the worst shit always happens to this band. I think that had an impact on what we were writing on at the time. With all those key ingredients in there, I think everything just built up to what it was and it turned out really well, I think.
RM: Was there a particular song on this album that after writing or listening to it made you think, "Yeah, this is the one"?
SD: I'm still unsure if this is "the one" though. I like to believe we have something better in us to do something better than that. I guess if there's a particular song that I'm really proud of on that record would be Line in the Sand. Definitely, just cause it's so...out of the ordinary than what we've done before and I think we actually pulled it off (smiles).
RM: Do you consider this success or is there a certain goal you want to achieve that would make you feel you achieved success?
SD: Well, I mean, as far as success is concerned I would consider us just to the point when we were making enough to pay our bills becoming a success, you know. But it’s always going to be an uphill battle, it’s always going to be one of those things that we’re always climbing the ladder to try to get further than we actually are; we’re no different than anyone else. I’m sure anybody can relate that it’s “never good enough”, you know, you always want what’s on the other side. That’s kind of how we approach things with the band; we want to keep taking things as far as we can go with it.
RM: When did you realize that a "day job" was not going to suffice?
SD: (Sigh) I’m almost 34 and I realized that before I even hit the age of 20, you know what I mean? I couldn’t work a real job and be happy doing that. I couldn’t go to college and be happy just cause it’s not what I wanted to do. So I went through years and years, probably more years than I should have of , of struggling and sacrificing literally everything until finally I accepted “Well, maybe I might not end up in a full time band so I’m just going to do a side project” and that’s initially how Bleeding Through started. Me and Brandon started doing this band as a side project. When he left 18 Visions everything sort of took off, like full swing, you know.
RM: Did you get a lot of support from your family?
SD: Initially, they were supportive of it to a point but they were always pushing me to do better in school and whatnot. “Awe, you’re not going to do that; that’s a one-in-a-million thing, it’s not going to happen.” They were discouraging of it as far as a long term goal; they were always supportive of my playing on a personal level. It’s funny, just over the last year or two my mom and dad have realized, you know, holy shit, he’s making a living doing this. He doesn’t have to ask for money ever (laughs); yeah, it’s definitely kind of a shock It’s probably one of the coolest feelings in the world when you know your mom and dad are proud of what you’re doing and what you’ve accomplished (smiles). So yeah, I’m really happy about that.
RM: They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger; do you believe with the incidents, or "curse", that Bleeding Through has delt with has made you guys stronger, or has it made you more cautious?
SD: I think all of the above; it’s definitely made us stronger. We still have bad shit happen to us all the time; we just keep truckin’ on, you know. We do what we love to do and we don’t really compromise that.
RM: What do you do in your downtime?
SD: …a couple of us have or have had a few side projects. With downtime usually I go home and try and wind down; I don’t do a damn thing except go to the beach, ride my bike. Just kind of hang-out; I don’t even like going out and going to shows when I’m home. I try to detach myself as far as I can away from “the scene” or just going to shows at all. Just so I can keep what I’m doing fresh and still enjoy it. I know I’d still enjoy it if I kept going to shows; there are probably not a whole lot of up-and-coming bands that I’m into either. Back to the side project thing, Derick and I have a little project called March of the Damned; I’d like to say we had time to have a demo ready but with Bleeding Through’s schedule it’s something that’s going to happen anytime soon. We’re definitely writing for that, Derick and I, and a few friends that have played in old, old hardcore bands like Unbroken and whatnot.
RM: What advice can you give to a band starting out, and what piece of advice do you wish someone had given you?
SD: (Heavy sigh) I think I can hit all those with one short, sweet little sentence; Basically, don’t do this unless you’re prepared to sacrifice and give up everything; I mean everything. (Scott seems to be painfully reminiscing on this sad truth, eyes glazed over, almost watery) You have to make it your first priority over anything; before girlfriends, before family…before your day job and shit. You get a tour you’ve got to be prepared to go and not look back.
RM: Do you believe this the album is your best work to date?
SD: (long sigh, as if going through his entire catalog in that one breath) Yeah. I would go ahead and say yes, definitely; it was something we worked really hard on. We sort of had a goal for this and where we were going with it before we even started writing. We knew what we wanted to do, and basically that was just to write something that’s going to be remembered 10 years from now but as far as a Bleeding Through record goes something that was different, more blunt, more…more honest than anything we’ve done before. Something that was just right in everybody’s face. Sort of our “fuck you” to the world; that’s basically what we were going for. I think we achieved it.