We would like to thank Jade for this excellent interview with Derek ‘Deebo’ Youngsma of Bleeding Through. 1. How’s the UK/European tour going so far? It’s actually been going quite better than expected. We had a few shows in Germany and Holland, then we went to France before we came to the UK. All were surprisingly good. Of course the UK is amazing, we sold out our show in London and the crowd just went absolutely nuts when we played. We had a really good response. It’s our first time headlining shows here, so we didn’t quite know what to expect, but it’s going really really well. We’re just excited about it. 2. And how does UK/European shows differ from US shows? Not a whole lot of differences. Besides being somewhat of a new band here and not speaking the language when in France or Germany. France was weird, not a lot of English spoken there at all. They (the European tours) remind us of our early US tours, when we were a new band. It’s first time people are seeing us, but its cool. 3. I’ve noticed since your support slot on the Sick of it All tour back in early 2004, Bleeding Through’s popularity in the UK (and the rest of the world) has exploded! What are your opinions on this? It’s really cool. Something we’ve always wanted to do is go other places and play, we’ve been touring US non-stop for four years. Europe was something we didn’t know a lot about, but always wanted to do. The SOIA tour helped us out a lot. We got to meet the people who were involved with the shows and helping us out. That tour was 1000 people per night. 4. Between the Headbanger’s Ball tour and this current European/UK tour, what have Bleeding Through been up to? We’ve been writing new stuff. We’re in the process of doing the next record. We’re half way through with writing, we’re going to go home from this and finish and hopefully be in the studio April/May. If all goes to schedule, the new record should be out in September. 5. I’ve got to askí¢ä‰åŒ_How were the Danzig/Misfits shows you did in December? It was really nostalgic. The Misfits are such a big deal to us, nothing we would ever think. I never thought I’d see The Misfits play! And As I Lay Dying were also playing those shows and they are great friends of us. 6. Will Bleeding Through fans be surprised with the new album? Not necessarily. Hopefully be pleasantly surprised. We’ve got new ideas, but the same old formula í¢ä‰åäóì like really fast and heavy stuff, the lyrics are about the same stuff and we’ve all just honed our sound to how we wanted. We’re really happy with the writing and stuff fis easier for us. We’re getting things done and sounds the way we want it too. There are some new stuff, Marta is doing a lot more keyboard work than Molly did and we’re also doing some other stuff vocally. Maybe some more melodic type stuff fmixed in with the music. For the most part it is still Bleeding Through, just better! 7. How did this new title come about and what does it mean? I’m not sure (about ‘Merciless’í¢ä‰åŒ_might have to talk to Brandan. We talked about it being called ‘The Truth’ because he (Brandan) wants to lay everything out with the lyrics and tell everyone how it is and basically just say stuff that most people are afraid to say about relationships. ‘Merciless’í¢ä‰åŒ_I don’t know where that came from. (Brandan later confirmed onstage that the new album will be titled, ‘The Truth’ and wants everyone to go buy it!) 8. You recently released a limited edition ‘This is Love’, why did you decide to do this? For people who are big fans to have something in between, we realise it’s going to be a long time before this release and the new album. We always want to have something coming out and something for our fans, so they’re not waiting for a year for something come out. We had the live DVD come out. And the Roadrunner release which has some bonus tracks. We always want to have something coming out. 9. It is a known fact that Bleeding Through likes to go bowling! í¢ä‰åŒ_Have you guys been bowling in the UK yet?! We haven’t been bowling anywhere in the UK or Europe yet! There is a place in our hometown, which is a 24-hour bowling alley. And someone knows the lady that works there, so after practice, late at night, we go. I’m not very good, but Brandan, Marta, Ryan and Johnson bowl all the time, they are really good. 10. Well-known for promoting ‘Straight-edge’, have you met many sXe kids in UK/Europe? Oh yeah! Quite a few, a little more on this tour. SOIA tour had a lot of normal kids coming to the shows. But when we come alone, the older sXe kids go to our shows because we’re sXe. Quite a few in Europe. But there are a lot of smokers! The shows in France and Germany are so full of smoke. It’s illegal to California to smoke indoors. The air is clean there. 11. What music are you currently listening to? I listen to a billion things. Sixteen Horsepowerí¢ä‰åŒ_its really cool, sort of country music and Sigur Ros influence. The new Haunted album is amazingí¢ä‰åŒ_Arch Enemy, COFí¢ä‰åŒ_Himsaí¢ä‰åŒ_I am very much looking forward to their new record. I like Mastodoní¢ä‰åŒ_they are incredible liveí¢ä‰åŒ_something to see. I listen to a lot of mellow stuff, and punk rock (Nofx, Propaghandi) and hardcore (Agnostic Front) And influence from my parents (Led Zep) I love that stuff. Sometimes metal is a little bit hard to listen to ití¢ä‰åŒ_got to be in the mood. Everybody in the band listens to everything. 12. You’ve toured endlessly for the past couple years! Any bands who you haven’t yet had the opportunity to share the stage with and would love to? A lot of great bandsí¢ä‰åŒ_we’ll tour with any band. We have this idea of touring with Tiger Armyí¢ä‰åŒ_different type of tour, would be cool. Also A Life Once Lost (new Ferret Records signings). 13. Any interesting stories from this current tour to share? This tour has been pretty straightí¢ä‰åŒ_I’m probably setting us up for something to happen. We had a really long flight and we’re really tired and stuff. We flew in to Paris and then to Amsterdamí¢ä‰åŒ_no sleep, played the first show and did not remember what was going on. We get so jet lagí¢ä‰åŒ_straight of the plane to the van and to the show. 14. Any last shout outs? We’ll see you soon. We thank you for the great shows. We’ll be back in June. For festivals and loads of shows in the UK. The UK is awesome! We would like to thank streetteamer Jade Chau for the excellent interview. If you want to be a teamer like Jade CLICK HERE you might even see a beautiful picture of Jade as she is our TEAMER OF THE MONTH