Bleeding Counterfeit/Rockabilly Superheroes
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How many of you out there remember that old Augusta car repair commercial that said something t... How many of you out there remember that old Augusta car repair commercial that said something to tune of "with a name like crook, we'd have to be good"? One might be prompted to do a similar take when hearing the name of Augusta band Bleeding Counterfeit. Initial reactions might be an image of death metal. I immediately thought "what a great name for a cover or tribute band, get it, counterfeit as in imitation". Bleeding Counterfeit is far away from either. The soulful blues/rock band is about as real a musical group as you can get.
The quartet consists of lead vocalist/guitarist Josh Pierce, Drummer Joel Hodges, Bassist Chris Libby, Lead Guitarist Michael Baideme. I met three/fourths of bleeding counterfeit at downtown hangout metro a coffeehouse and pub over pints of draught beer and a whole mess of jokes. "We(bleeding counterfeit) came from the ashes of Josh Pierce Group." said Hodges "Josh and I decided we were ready to put something back together and I told him if we did this again, we needed a band name not just a persons name. Josh came up with Bleeding Counterfeit which came from a poem he wrote."
"It was a poem I wrote when I was really depressed." added Pierce "at the end of the poem, is says 'the only currency a worthy man holds is that which bleeds counterfeit against the nightlife's soul'."
Armed with a new moniker, Pierce and Hodges recruited Baideme, guitarist of Edison Project as well as an area bassist. Just a week out from bleeding counterfeit's debut show, band and bassist went their separate ways leading to a mad scramble to find a replacement.
"He(the bassist) decided it wasn't his thing and left us hanging." said Hodges "Libby and I had played together in Taming Bacchus. I called him and said 'hey man whatcha doing?' We threw him in the fire, he had one week to learn everything we knew."
"His fingers bled." said Pierce
"I think you guys actually told me while I was drunk." interjected the normally quiet Libby.
"So does that mean you're officially not in the band yet?" added Hodges
"I don't know." quipped Libby
To which Pierce concluded "Well we're inducting you now."
Following a week straight of daily four hour rehearsals, Bleeding Counterfeit (with a bleeding Libby) was set for it's official coming out party at the Loft. Featuring a mixture of reworked Josh Pierce Group songs and new band collaborations, the Augusta quartet set out to display an entirely new musical identity from past projects.
"We've written a lot of new stuff" said Pierce "This came from the vibe of the new lineup. We're playing piano in the band now we're doing some bluesy rock. We've written like six new tunes since the band started."
"Chris will come in and throw in a bass lick just screwing around and all of the sudden josh is like 'wait wait, do that again!'" adds Hodges "Josh runs with that so it's much more of a collective now than it was before because where josh wrote the music and lyrics before, now he gets to concentrate on the melody and the words."
Pierce figures that the new collaborative musical situation not only makes it more exciting for the entire band, it also reduces his own stress. "It's easier on my brain."
For the next several months the guys in bleeding counterfeit rotated a constant routine of rehearsals, shows, and as Pierce would say "watch made for TV sci-fi movies and cry together." Before hooking up with Sector 7G mastermind Nick Laws to record a live in-rehearsal three song demo. An experience that the band not only found enjoyable but impressive.
"I love recording studios that deliver" said Pierce. "It's cool when they show up at your house like papa johns but with microphones. We were trying to record three songs and when we got done screwing around nick was like 'I wanna go home and see my wife.' But we're actually in the studio now with nick because he did so well on the fly that we're going to do thirteen tracks with him."
The new "live" demo proved useful in procuring shows for the band and attracting new fans checking out the bands myspace page. in particular a representative from a music resource label.
"GoDIYrecords.com, they contacted through myspace and liked our sound." said Libby. "We didn't know if they were legit or not so we started grilling them alot."
"Like two weeks" added Pierce. "Basically they're more of a management company. They shop your material to records labels, radio stations, and TV stations. That's the main reason we're in the studio, we don't want them sending our quickie demo to MTV, we want quality stuff."
With a new recording engineered by Nick Laws and mastered by Steve Dierkens (Mandy Moore, The Family Guy), Bleeding Counterfeit hopes that GoDIYrecords is just the vehicle to get their music out to a wider audience and possibly get the band signed to a recording deal.
"What was weird is after we signed with them within three weeks they were calling me." said Hodges "The president, the CEO, the reps, they were calling us like everyday. They want to know how we're doing, they want to know how things are going, they let us know what they're doing, it's been a good experience, it really has."
Surely having an artist run, artist driven company behind bleeding counterfeit's music is a plus. But what exactly are GoDIYrecords goals for the band?
"We've got a contract with them for one year." said Hodges
"In that year their goal is to get us on to bigger and better things." And what in turn does bleeding counterfeit hope to achieve through their deal with GoDIY?
"What we hope to do?" asked Pierce. "I want our music to go on the next lifetime made for TV movie with Shannon Doherty and that guy from Full House....Dave Coulier and I want my own van with a midget that serves me slushies."
Now it doesn't get anymore "real" than that. To check out just how "real" bleeding counterfeit is, catch them live Thursday June 25th at metro A Coffeehouse and Pub.
By John 'Stoney' Cannon
supersonic
