Liverpool-based punk/grunge trio Bleach Brain, they are due to release their debut single ‘The Collector’ independently in March 2023.
The song was recorded in ALLO Sound in Widnes with Jono Tringham.
Hattie says: ‘It was really fun to get in the studio you know, we’ve been playing for a year and to finally get a song down on tape is a big accomplishment. It was a great day, Jono’s a welcoming guy and it gave us the opportunity to dig into the track and discover what it needed.’ Quote of that day: ‘When a Ukrainian, a Southerner, and a Midlander walk into a studio – you know they went to LIPA’ © Tom.
Commenting on the song’s story, Tash says: ‘The story of the song is based on the book called ‘The Collector’ by John Fowles. The book is about a girl who was kidnapped and locked up in the basement by a man who loved collecting butterflies, pictures of them. All the man wants is for her to fall in love with him, unfortunately she is willing to give him anything, go to any length with him, but she cannot make herself fall in love with her kidnapper though she does develop pity and compassion for him, neither can she convince him to release her. This song is her scream for help. The girl is completely cut off from the outside world: no TV, no newspapers, no radios, she barely gets to see sunlight and get out of her unventilated basement, or see the doctor when needed. She attempts to escape multiple times by sending her kidnapper on elaborate tasks around town, however all with no success. I want to make people angry when they hear the song, frustrated, I want to make them feel like they can fight, because in a world so cruel, dark, and controlled, a fighting nature is in high demand.’
Bleach Brain spent a year building an audience and writing songs to pick the best one for the recording. Having performed in Manchester, Liverpool, and Birkenhead, they now have people travelling from city to city to see their gig, along with the consistent support that the band has from their Liverpool audience: ‘It is great to see our audience grow and see them get more and more comfortable with expressing themselves in the audience: they have started to mosh, sing along, talk back to us while we are on stage. It’s been beautiful. We even have a couple of inside jokes.’
Thematically, Bleach Brain serves as a reflection of all that is dark and stupid in the world: politics, money, drugs, self-doubt and self-harm. Tash is Ukrainian, so outside of the band she’s very focused on donating money, talking about the russian invasion, and staying in touch with her friends and family. Hattie is actively engaged in verbal wars against the governmental structure, capitalism, and landlord fights. Bleach Brain has first-hand involvement in the current, ongoing world problems.
Upcoming dates:
11th March – Outpost, Liverpool
18th March – Tank, St Helens
21st March – Headline show @EBGBs, Liverpool
7 th April – Kazimer stockroom, Liverpool
4 th May – Quarry, Liverpool
5 th May – The Peer Hat, Manchester
Bleach Brain are: Tash – vocals, guitar Hattie Burns – bass Tom Rush – drums
Formed in 2022 in Liverpool by three LIPA graduates of class 2020. Tash and Tom were on the same course on drums, with Hattie doing soundtech.
‘The Collector’ is an amazing sneak of what Bleach Brain are like on stage: gritty, energetic, loud, and angry. Bleach Brain sometimes start their practicing by screaming, yelling to get the anger out, the anger at landlords, neighbours, politicians, system.
This fuels the practice with great energy, which is later translated into the jams, and potentially new songs. ‘We did our first gig two months after starting the band, it was in EBGBs and we played with Polybius and Red Zenith. It was a blast!
The energy has been picking up every gig, our fans are singing more and more songs, which is really cool because as of right now, only one of them is online! It took a while for us to decide what song to record, but once ‘The Collector’ was written, the choice was very clear’ – says Tash. ‘We are honestly just trying to have fun both on stage and in practice. It works for good chemistry on stage when we are able to laugh over things that go wrong and have the energy for our fans to bounce off’.
