BLEEDING HEARTS � �LOSING MY FAITH IN YOU�
(4-TRACK DEMO/ 2000)
Smile. Close your eyes, self-inflict temporary amnesia, and truthfully lie to the alibi of the state. This ain�t The Levellers, though you�d be hard-pressed to find a band much more like them, the 4 lads in Bleeding Hearts merchandising folk-rock, to include Nick Gibbs� grating fiddle� that could make them sound tacky, and that could force some folk-rock haters to snap this 4-track demo tape in half � no questions asked. But the sound quality and production values are so good, along with the songs, that you may forget this band are largely unheard of, �underground� and non-commercial leaning� and yet they regularly go play round the continent to big, big crowds, have stood in for The Levs no less @ 1996�s Farmyard Party Festival (!) and have even had a �Peel Sess.� On radio. With over 40 songs (@ time of going to press) behind them, there�s �96�s 4-track MC �Siren Songs,� �97�s 4-track �Screaming� CD and 1998�s 4-track �Sacred Cow� CD to get your hands on� and now this. EP-Opener �A Little Bit Of Love� (�Don�t tell me that you love me when you walk out of the door�) perfectly balances Steve Brown�s vox and the music, while the artier, more alternatively world-weary �Russian Girl� coldly salutes the apathy involved in surrounding war. On the Eastern Front & revolving round the tense drum-rolling chorus, Bleeding Hearts take sensitive punk in their stride, falling head over heels in love amidst such shell-shocking horrors (�All the horrors of Stalingrad would fade away��). Spirited, they even dramatise with a brief Ska taster, and then true punk �Oi!�s. A band that clearly loves recording and playing, this tape�s professionally produced, track 3 + 4 resident on side 2, so�s to waste no tape. #3, the title-track, is the broody highlight - �Losing My Faith In You�� which may sound like diseased Christian-rock fodder, but that�s indirectly political and Government scathing � an emotively sorrowful, sad, sad song� that, like the other 3, is very, very long. In someone and/ or something they�re very disappointed, current-stopping with its weeping fiddle, punk attitude lushly worn down by their ongoing struggle to rise above stinking day-from-day grind, Steve and friends sending themselves sobbing-into-hankies: proud men, but at breaking point. Lush, deep and dutifully detrimental to applying too much importance down �Hope Street,� �seems to me you never tell the truth� it�s lamented, after mentioning redundant miners� complaining �You sold us down the river� as most folk-rockers coincidentally drown. �Hey Hey Hey� is the most raucously rebelling but least engaging, Nick�s downwardly muffled and cranky fiddle originally rendering it a song for round the bonfire; if it weren�t as catchy as it is, it�d have come close to being more use burning before the guy. Not so shocking as to give you a coronary, if you like folk and rock and punk sincerity, get down to a festival next summer and see�f they�re playing. To date, see, they�ve done over 400 gigs and European festivals and aren�t exactly shrinking violets when a performance beckons, having played to crowds in xs of 5000 people, citing their best gig as Schwimbad � Germany, June 2000. Mainman Steve boasts, �We are a full on punk-inspired bunch of folk rock anarchists who can�t spell �compromise� �cus we don�t believe in it. That�s why we�re the best.� As for people they admire, it�s common knowledge �We don�t have idols, just stuff we listen to in the van when on tour � from Sex Pistols to Levellers to Oysters to Bragg to Prodigy, but no pop� well, The Levellers are no �pop band� are they?!� Wry humour, surprisingly for a folk-rock band of this sort, rates highly when they interview - unless they�re being deadly serious; when I asked when and how they formed, the band said �It was 1995, the year of our release from prison together! We were in for unspeakable acts of terror against the state. Repetitive beats and loud music was our destiny. We liked the name �Bleeding Hearts� �cus it is a phrase linked to persons with sympathy for the underdog. Plus it�s a poisonous flower� Ahh, so sweet!� (STEVE RUDD)
CONTACT BLEEDING HEARTS� FOXIE, Tel: (07966) 518726 or 7 GIBSON ROAD, LEDBURY, HEREFORDSHIRE, HR8 2US or
www.thingymajig.co.uk or [email protected]