Our first tour back in September went so well, that planning for the Spring 2010 tour is now in the works. Like last time, we intend to leave on a Thursday and return on a Sunday, hitting various Northeast US hot spots in between. If you’re just dying to have us play in your town, [ More ]
From the outside it may have seemed like a slow year for By Blood Alone, but trust us, this was far from the case. Originally we intended to concentrate on recording our next cd. We didn’t even actively seek any shows for the first half of the year, though we were asked to play in [ More ]
Aimsel Ponti at the Portland Press Herald gave us some nice props in her column this week: The Night Is Young by Aimsel L. Ponti My, how time flies when you’re playing a witches’ brew of Goth-anointed alternative rock/prog/metal. It’s been five years since By Blood Alone played its first show at Geno’s, and although the traditional fifth [ More ]
Geno’s Rock Club 625 Congress St – Portland ME Saturday October 24th 9pm $5 It is hard to believe it has been five years since we played our very first gig at our home away from home, Geno’s (the Brown St. Geno’s). We want to thank Barb for having giving us the support we needed from the very [ More ]
Some pics of us on the road are on our facebook and myspace pages. check them our here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125829&id=38637272185&l=bd8a8b7ed2 http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=4081446&albumId=2732540 [ More ]
Sept 13th: After sleeping for 9 hours we were up and packing the van, then off to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Thank god they are everywhere. The trip back was 4 and a half hours straight through, constantly updating the maps app on my phone to watch the miles wind down. I was so looking [ More ]
Utica Music and Arts Festival Sept 12th: The Utica Music and Arts Festival had us scheduled to go on really early – 5:45pm – so unfortunately I only got 3 and a half hours sleep before we had to be on the road. Breakfast was at Dunkin Donuts and we actually sat in the van in [ More ]
w/ Seven Witches, Sacred Oath, Infernophonic Sept 11th: During the tour planning Nicky our publicist in the UK suggested contacting another band of his, Infernophonic, for some ideas about a gig in New Jersey, as that’s their home base. Turns out that not only is Kevin from Infernophonic a great guy and a big help with [ More ]
w/ Amneon, A Wanted Awakening, Evince Ethos Sept 10th: Aside from booking the actual shows, I was surprised to find that arranging the rental van was the hardest party of tour planning. I figured I would just head over to Hertz or Avis and rent a 14 passenger van – end of story, but it seems [ More ]
With a “what the heck” attitude we agreed to do this show even though the last time there in 2005 was fun but not terribly well attended. Attendance at this show was even worse, but at least there were more people watching us than any of the other bands, and we played great. In actuality [ More ]
A late night drive to Bangor and back with a radio interview in the middle. I’ve never been to Bangor at night, but it was quite peaceful. Dave the host asked more than his share of insightful questions, which was nice for a change. Most interviewers don’t really “get” us and ask generic questions. We [ More ]
w/Hatchetface and the Vipers, Ghouls Night Out For some reason Portsmouth is not a rock friendly town. A waitress at a local eatery blames the town council. Regardless, the one venue in town that has shows regularly (The Muddy) tends towards hippie jam bands, but when an associate of mine got the gig booking there, we [ More ]
A week after an ice stormed knocked out power to half the state, the first big snowstorm of the season hit us on the night of our last show for the year, a one song performance at WCYY’s “Home for the Holidaze” at the Big Easy. Mark Curdo from WCYY kept texting all the participants [ More ]
Based on the strength of our performance at Mark Curdo’s Spinal Tap tribute show, Robin Ivy (WCYY’s morning gal) asked us to perform unplugged on the air as a promo for the WCYY “Home for the Holidaze” show at the Big Easy, where local bands all play holiday songs. Unfortunately, the song that the band [ More ]
w/Red Cross Sky BBA has never played at The Bridge Street Taven before, but I had gone to check out the venue when we booked the gig. The joint turned out to be a neighborhood bar, but a really clean nice one with a very friendly and local-music enthusiastic staff. The patronage was diverse – regular [ More ]
Mark Curdo, who is a DJ on WCYY-FM (Portland’s primary modern rock radio station) called us a month or so ago and asked if we wanted to be involved in his pet project, a Spinal Tap tribute show involving all local bands. In particular, he wanted us to perform the one song on the disc [ More ]
Last time we performed on WMPG was three years ago right after “Eternally” came out. we had intended to perform in Sept 2007 but Cruella’s breast cancer got in the way of that, so a year later we made good on the original plan. Unfortunately, this time around the broadcast was fraught with technical problems [ More ]
w/Manwitch, The Hot Tarts Unlike the WMPG performance, The show at Geno’s totally crushed. The Shondes dropped off the bill last minute, which was disappointing from a musical standpoint, but a bit relieving from a logistical standpoint, so everything ran a lot smoother. Cruella’s decorations were by far the best and creepiest I have seen her [ More ]
w/ Heart Shaped Rock, The Hot Tarts, Lead Stiletto Since our last show was such a disappointment – we walked out on it without playing – the band was in a bit of a down mood about this show. Fools that we were for thinking that, because it turned out great! Great as in the best [ More ]
w/Red Cross Sky Well, the best way to sum up this show was that it is the only one in the history of By Blood Alone where we walked out on the gig without playing. It’s only the second time I have done it in my career, and only the third time in Runtt’s, and we [ More ]
w/ Ghosthunter, Pigboat We had not played in Lewiston in over a year, and were a bit surprised to find they missed us! As we hung around outside the bar before our set, some fans came up to us and exclaimed “did we miss you? did we miss you?”. We assured them they had not and [ More ]
w/ The Project Seven, Big Coffin Hunters, Thrown from the Womb The Project Seven asked us to perform with 3 other bands as well as themselves. Over the course of a few weeks, those three other bands all dropped off the bill (one of whom dropped off that evening), and were replaced by Big Coffin Hunters [ More ]
w/ Eternal Embrace, Mornalir, Forever’s Fallen Grace Runtt states time and time again (and the rest of us completely agree) that we do not fit in with the scene we normally play in. The fact is there is no other progressive/gothic rock band in Maine, and we usually stick out like a sore thumb on a [ More ]
w/ ManWitch What a difference seven months make: at our last show in Oct, the future seemed so unsteady. Now, it’s looking brighter than ever. Cruella has been back at rehearsal with us for a few months now, and her breast cancer battle seems so in the past. We have 5 new songs, and considering how [ More ]
Halloween / Seas of Blood cd Release Show w/ The Project Seven, Big Coffin Hunters I’ll be quite frank: the recording and release of “Seas of Blood” was a fucking miserable affair. Things went wrong in pretty much every stage if the process. Worst of all, Cruella was diagnosed with breast cancer right as we were finishing [ More ]
w/ The Brides, Damien Zygote While our last show at The Asylum went pretty bad, Amy at GothicMiane.com asked us to open for The Brides (a touring act form NYC) and we did not say no. How could it be worse than the last show there? Usually Amy hosts a goth dance night in the Asylum’s [ More ]
w/ Seven Stones, Trebuk, Dour After the disaster that was our last show at the Asylum, this low key affair at a local grange hall was a lot of fun. One of those DIY all-ages affairs and the cd release for the headliner, Seven Stones. We didn’t know them personally before they asked us to play [ More ]
w/The Project Seven, Pigboat, Balls Deep It’s been obvious for quite some time that local rocks fans simply do not like the Asylum, and this show did nothing to change anyone’s mind about that. I think it’s a combination of resentment of the former promoter, (he has bad people skills and is extremely disliked) and the [ More ]
w/ Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, Civil Disturbance, Kanagi Last time we played the Station was a total disaster on the venue’s part, and we swore we’d never play their again. However, an opportunity to open for Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, along with a new promoter and new PA got us in a more agreeable mood. Originally [ More ]
Halfway to Halloween Horror Ball 2: Mars Attacks! w/ Covered in Bees, Vina’s Vicious Vixens The first installment of the HWTHHB was such fun and a great sucess that we felt it had to be done again, but this time around the locale would be Geno’s, since the Space Gallery was just too much trouble to deal [ More ]
w/Kaining Amy After a long winter of recording, we needed a “warm up show” before the year’s schedule really started, and Pub 33 in Lewiston was obviously the perfect spot for it. This show would also serve another purpose: many of you know about our issues/conflict with the former vocalist of the other band on the [ More ]
w/Big Coffin Hunters & Art of Betrayal So many things went wrong with this show that I barely know where to start. We got a vibe that this would be a stinker a few weeks ahead of time when we found out how the money works – the security and door person’s pay came out of [ More ]
w/Big Coffin Hunters In my mind any gig booked on the Saturday after Thanksgiving will not be big in terms of draw – I assume everyone will still be either out of town or in a turkey coma – but when Big Coffin Hunters asked us to share the bill I had no qualms about it. [ More ]
w/Goatwhore, Random Acts of Violence, The End of Everything Goatwhore is a USBM band from Louisiana signed to Metal Blade and on tour with Celtic Frost. They got all the black metal usuals: double-bass, grinding guitars, grunt-growl vocals. For this off-night from the CF tour the bill was originally them, Boston’s Random Acts of Violence (very [ More ]
Halloween w/Taming the Shrew and Covered in Bees Upon arriving at Pub 33 we were faced with an odd sight: a couch right where the bands usually set up. Obviously this was quite perplexing until a guy who said he was playing with Taming the Shrew that night directed us to the next room. It seems [ More ]
w/Twisted Roots, Hour Past, and Heart-Shaped Rock On fairly short notice the Twisted Roots guys asked us to play a benefit for one of their sons, who needs an operation. An old friend of mine from back in NJ is in a similar situation with his young daughter, so I know something about how the poor [ More ]
w/Dark Martini & The Dirty Olives and Some Techno Singer Playing out of town shows is getting to be a financial hardship for us, with a new cd to finance and gas prices being what they are. A bright spot of this show was that my friend Rich and his wife Jen (who I had never [ More ]
w/Coven of 13 & Medusa Maidens Generally speaking I don’t object to getting older, but 39 was met with some trepidation, since the 39th and 40th birthdays are always met with comments like “ooooh – you’re almost 40″ or “ooooh – you ARE 40!” I’m definitely looking forward to 41, when such comments stop. So, our [ More ]
w/Mata Hari & Damien Zygote Circumstances made it difficult to form a pre-conceived notion about how this show would go in terms of turnout. On one hand it was being promoted by WCYY-FM’s Spinout and dj Mark Curdo had been plugging it on-air. On the other hand there was heavy competition from another show in town [ More ]
w/Mindset X, Eden’s Lie, Porter & Red State Unlike the Spyder Room, the Milly’s gig was fairly easy to book. The guy at the club said “I know Steve from Mindset X is looking for bands for a show – here’s his number”. I called Steve and after a few days (I guess he checked out [ More ]
w/Adria, Fallow & Duke I’ll be quite frank: this gig was a bitch to book. Despite our not-too-shabby resume, it seems that many “promoters” in that whole Northeast Mass/Southern NH are not all that on-the-ball. I sent demo after demo, called and emailed when and where told, and for the most part I didn’t even get [ More ]
Halfway to Halloween Horror Ball w/Covered In Bees & Medusa Maidens Our big show, The Halfway to Halloween Horror Ball, came and went and boy was it a good-un. Probably our best ever. It was the brainchild of Covered in Bees, and of course By Blood Alone is game for anything involving horror and halloween. There was [ More ]
w/Sometimes It Burns & Hi-Fivin’ White Guys I must confess I was a tad wary of playing Lewiston again considering what happened the last time (for those of you who don’t know, just be glad you don’t), but this gig went down really well. The joint is really small, but seemed pretty full. Of course the [ More ]
w/Sometimes It Burns & Covered In Bees This second show in Lewiston was actually the result of a mis-booking from months ago, but we were invited to play the show anyway. Once again we went on early but there was already a big crowd when we started. Some fans from Portland were there to catch us [ More ]
Not really a show per se, but a live video taping that was open to the public. That day had extremely high winds and a lot of the NE lost power for a few hours or a few days. Luckily Lisbon Falls was spared. There’s not much to say – we loaded in, set up, [ More ]
w/Ogre & Taming The Shrew WCYY-FM was live at the Alehouse that night, giving away tickets and other freebies for the upcoming Jagermeister Tour (and free Jager shots). This may account for the joint being so crowded so early in the evening, and the unfamiliarity of some of the faces – just not the usual crowd, [ More ]
Halloween w/Monique Ortiz & Jonah Sacks of Bourbon Princess Thanks so much to everyone who came to the show on Saturday. The turnout was even better than we expected and we we’re thrilled to see how many of you dressed up for the occasion. The local scene was well represented, with members of Supersoul Challenger, Ocean, Cover [ More ]
Eternally cd release show w/Big Coffin Hunters Our first time at the “new” Geno’s for our CD release party, and it was a bit surprising how clean and attractive the new digs are. (Very un-geno’s!) It was also our first time playing with Big Coffin Hunters, who really cranked up and put in a decidedly metallic [ More ]
w/Aepril Schaille, Dorian James & Dirge Carolers Despite it being rather cool outside for a July evening, inside the Skybar it was decidedly hot and stuffy. Too much so to spend a lot of time watching the openers, but prior to repairing to the chinese food joint next door we caught the beginning of Dorian James [ More ]
w/Shroud of Bereavement Sin of Angels and some death metal band Our first gig in RI and it’s in Pawtucket, a decidedly ratty-looking town near Providence that unpleasantly reminded me of where I grew up in NJ. Fortunately the club had a parking lot. The club itself was quite nice, though: a hangout bar in one [ More ]
w/Michale Graves of the Misfits, Mongrel, Jodi Explodi Our most recent performance at the Asylum was booked sort of late in the game, so turnout for the entire evening wasn’t quite what we had hoped for, but those who did come got quite a treat: First up, a last minute addition called Jodi Explodi opened the [ More ]
w/Confusatron & Vertigod Sometimes I wonder if promoters listen to even one song on our demo. Judging by who we share bills with, the answer might be no. I can see a bit of common ground with Confusatron: both they and BBA have some new-wave quirkyness and some cross-fanbase appeal. But Vertigod? Portland’s answer to Dillenger [ More ]
w/Hushed, Ransom & Soundbender Saturday night’s show at Legends in Lewiston was another smoker. Despite not being a “local” band, we managed to have a good sized crowd watching, many of whom were right up in front of the stage. Hushed, who also performed, were absolutely mesmerizing with their atmospheric material and dazzling light show. Seeing [ More ]
w/Hushed & Paynestaken Even though I’ve been there plenty of times, until last night I had never actually played at the Alehouse, so from a performer’s standpoint I didn’t quite know what to expect, the joint being so small and all. I must say that once we set up and were ready to go, that stage [ More ]
w/Covered in Bees, Taming the Shrew & B-Movie Extras Despite the brevity of our set, the No Hit Videos showcase at the Asylum was actually quite a big hit. A lot of people turned out on a Thursday and we really appreciate the effort made to make the night a special one. Covered in Bees and [ More ]
w/Now Transmission & some band from Bates College Both the club, Legends, and the city, Lewiston, were new ground for us, so the gig was sort of thought of as a paid audition on both the promoter’s part and ours: we were thrown on the bill on a low-key saturday night with some other new-to-the-scene acts. [ More ]
w/Aepril Schaille, Amber Spyglass & Lilac Ambush Our big “Dark Event” was originally slotted for January, but a blizzard swept through New England and forced a re-sceduling. The wait made it all the sweeter: a four-act, all-goth show at Geno’s. Aepril Schaille, making her debut as a chilling, piano-pounding songstress, opened up backed with drums and [ More ]
w/Shroud of Bereavement, Mongrel As the soundman was giving us last minute instructions I looked out onto a sea of black clothing and realized that this show was going to be good. I guess the rest of the band felt the same way as we played the best show of our thus far short career. Staging [ More ]
New Years Eve w/Pigboat, Covered in Bees, The Chairs I guess our turnout opening for Ocean impressed the club’s booking gal as well as it did us, cuz we were asked to headline on New Year’s Eve. Yee-hah! However, when we go there, apparently Pigboat and Covered in Bees were each told the same thing, so there [ More ]
w/Ocean, Down to Kill, Black Iron Prison Our second gig and it’s on a wednesday night. The last time I played on a wednesday was 15 years ago opening for Murphy’s Law, so at first this was a bit weird for me, but Portland doom gods Ocean had personally asked us to open for them on [ More ]
w/Pop-A-Wheelie, Focus-in Geno’s in Portland was the scene for By Blood Alone’s live debut. The crowd was good-sized for a first show and enthusiastic as the band tore through their set and basked in the limelight. Other bands on the bill were Bostonians Pop-A-Wheelie and Focusin, who also treated listeners with their own brand of rock [ More ]