Interview with John Graveside and Cruella of By Blood Alone
February 2008 by Steve Green

The Music:
As everyone loves to pigeonhole bands these days, are you Progressive Rock, or because you have a female singer, does that make you Goth?
John Graveside: we're both gothic metal and progressive metal at the same time, as well as a few other things to a lesser degree. I realize that most people (as well as the music industry) want their music compartmentalized, but when that happens fans identify themselves as fans of a genre, not a particular artist, and that's the musical equivalent of identifying yourself with an "ist" or an "ism". Not a good thing. I think it's really important that musicians let their creative juices flow without concern for what market they have to sell it to. It is what it is, and if it crosses into multiple genres that's great - more people will find something they like in it. We play shows with a lot of different bands in vaguely related genres (metal, new wave, horror punk, prog, goth & goth metal, death & black metal, doom) and we're usually the standout band of the night, because we're usually the only ones not following a formula. (People tend to comment what a good mix we are with doom bands in particular for some reason.)

Do you have a fascination with the sea? Your music has a certain ebb and flow about it and I’m tying that up with the album title and the ensuing cover artwork.
John Graveside: Interesting you picked up on that. I've always lived on the east coast of the US relatively near the ocean. To me it just seems right, and can't imagine being in a landlocked state - that's just too weird for me! I love dramatic tales of the sea - men going down with the ship and all, in both story and song. "Nantucket Sleighride" by Mountain is a personal favorite of mine, with it's rolling riffs and sad tale of human tragedy. On top of that, the seagoing rhythm is great fun to play on guitar - very natural for me.

Cruella: The Ocean is Life. I have lived in New England most of my whole life and have always felt a strong connection to the sea. I draw inspiration from the ocean and find peace from it when I need it. This connection also stems from my family which includes many fishermen and sailors alike. My grandparents , who were artists, also used the ocean as their subject matter in various paintings and would include elements from the ocean and beaches in their sculpture.

Seas of Blood is directly influenced by my personal history. In addition to that, I had watched a nature program on television a while back that stated if you replaced all of the ocean’s water with human blood 90% of sea life would be able to survive in it. I found that to be fascinating. The sea is the Earth’s blood. It is life force for the planet. It is power.

"Serpentarius" is a very bold statement for an opening number. It’s a complicated, yet free-flowing kind of song. Were you afraid that is would alienate the more mainstream reviewers? Or was this album all about what you, as a band, wanted to create?
John Graveside: It's always about what the band wants to create. If you're not true to your own nature the music suffers for it. Plus, the majority of reviewers are already into genres that we fit into (metal, goth, prog, etc.)

That being said, we do get covered by more "mainstream" reviewers in the local newspapers (who are sort of forced to cover us because we are part of the local scene), and they are all very complimentary, and sort of surprised at how much they like us. I guess their pre-conceived notions about us were driven away by our - dare I say - tunefulness? Maybe that goes along with what I said before about fitting in with many styles and yet standing out amongst them. Turning the doubters around to your way of thinking is one of the most rewarding parts of creating.

As for "Serpentarius" itself, thanks for the compliment. As a songwriter, the real challenge for me is not coming up with parts, but making the parts fit together. It's very important to me that everything flows, as opposed to the awkward and jarring transitions that most prog-metal bands use.

Cruella: I don’t concern myself at all with alienating mainstream reviewers. The band creates for itself. I know that so many bands say that, but we really mean it. Otherwise we would just be writing radio friendly cookie cutter crap. I imagine that we will continue to follow this line of thinking and creating for as long as we are together. What is the point of making music for the critics and reviewers? My biggest hope is that other people will "get it".

The Promotion:
I’m presuming you are completely hands on with all aspects of the band: How arduous a task have you found it trying to get distribution for your album?
John Graveside: I was lucky that old relationships from my days in an active band in New York City led to our deal with Relapse Distro. It was totally a who-knows-who sort of thing. We also work with CDbaby.com, and while they are not really a distributor, they do make our cds available for retail on a worldwide basis, and that covers a lot of our distribution needs. CDbaby is also very honest and pays on time, and that's a big plus. We could in theory arrange distro with a lot of other distributors, and then expend a lot of time and energy staying on top of them and stopping them from ripping us off. Distro is a notoriously crooked business.

I see that I-tunes are carrying your album. How difficult is it for an underground band to get involved in the digital generation? How does illegal downloading hit a band like By Blood Alone and how can you combat it?
John Graveside: Getting digital distro is actually quite easy. Our cd is available on itunes through our relationship with CDBaby. It's available from other download retailers as well, but it seems that nobody uses them. itunes has the market pretty much sewn up.

I don't think illegal downloading affects By Blood Alone much. That's generally a problem for more mainstream artists with fans who are too young to realize the mistake they are making.