Exclusive Interview: Bloodlights Vocalist Captain Poon

You know how I keep talking about Bloodlights? I talked and talked, and then I talked to lead singer and founder Captain Poon. Now you can read how good they are straight from the horse’s mouth. Er, no disrespect intended.

So! Tell me things. Tell me stories! Talk about the band! Introduce yourself! Why should the ornery MetalSucks community at large pay attention to Bloodlights?

We released our third album, Stand or Die, a few months ago, and we’ve been touring a little bit in Europe and trying to get our feet wet with new material and stuff. At the end of September we went on a month-long tour and it’s all been good. Really good… it seems people are starting to accept this band, you know? It’s not all this bullshit going on about [previous band] Gluecifer this and Gluecifer that. Bloodlights are finally standing on their own feet and it feels pretty good. Things are better than ever! I’m pretty excited, I have to say.

Yeah, you guys are getting popular. People like that Motörhead influence.

You think we sound like Motörhead?!

Well yes, every once in a while. Especially the earlier stuff. I think it was on some local band’s MySpace page. I started listening to you guys and completely forgot about them. Don’t even remember their name. Oops.

No, it’s okay. It’s hard to get your hands on new stuff. Especially when it’s like, “underground” like we are, then its more coincidence that people find us.

Honestly, I’d never heard of your previous band, Gluecifer, until after I heard Bloodlights. I checked them out too, but mnyeah, I think I prefer Bloodlights, sorry.

Oh, you shouldn’t say sorry! I’m happy to hear that.

Tell me more about my favorite song from Bloodlights’ self-titled debut, “One Eye Open.” You recorded that for a horror movie called Fritt Vilt?

That was more or less coincidental as well. The producer of the film called me up like, “Hey what are you up to these days after Gluecifer?” And we had recorded that song. Soo he listened to it and said, “Wow, that would be a cool song for the soundtrack of our new movie.” So that came along very easily. We didn’t have to do anything in particular for that, and they used it just as it was.

Would you like to contribute more music like that for movies or video games? I always thought it would be fun to collaborate on stuff like that.

For me, anything that can spread the music is great. I mean, I wouldn’t want my music playing in, like, a McDonald’s ad, but to use ii in movies and other places is a good way to spread your music around and get it heard. Especially these days, when you have to find alternative ways to reach people. You should be more open to… pretty much everything I guess.

Yeah, there are a lot of ways to get music out now. It’s kind of cool but also a little harder now, too, right?

It’s kind of cool and kind of depressing, you know. Sometimes it’s so fucking boring to dig your head into stuff you don’t give a fuck about and have people be like, “Wow you don’t know about this? You don’t about that? This is the way to do it these days.” And it’s like okay what the fuck? It feels like you’re being outplayed the whole time. But there are positive parts to it, too. Like, anyone can find a way to discover your band.

You went on tour recently, how was that? Tour stories, especially featuring food, are my favorite.

It was a good tour. We covered most of central Europe, and it was our first long tour in a few years, because it took a shit load of time to get things back on track. So I was really excited to do it. It’s the kind of stuff we were waiting to do, to get back out there and do it properly. Finally it seems like things are going well. We visited all the big cities like Paris, Milan, Budapest, Vienna, Barcelona… pretty much everywhere.

I don’t know, I think I’ve been pretty fortunate. The horrible tour food stories you hear, we haven’t been confronted with too much of that. That was just like in the beginning with Gluecifer, when we did our first couple of tours and played like squats and shit like that, you get crap, but you can just wait until after the show and go get pizza instead. I try to avoid the shitty food on tour. I appreciate food, you know, so I’d rather pay for a decent meal than eat some shit for free.

You mentioned “getting things back on track.” Can you elaborate as to what that means? 

Sure. I think it comes up in all the interviews like, “Sooo you had a full, finished record and you threw it out and started from scratch?” And yes, that’s what we did. It was a pretty weird thing to do, but on the other hand, when you have an album and you feel like “Fuck this, this might be our last record and this is what we have?”… I didn’t want it to be our last record, so we changed a few things and tried to figure out a better way to make this band sound good, and that took some time and effort and… I wouldn’t say tears, but at least blood and sweat. It was really tough but I’m really happy we did it, because the sound that we have now is much better than it used to be, and things are moving in the right direction, so it’s all good.

I think I might be one of the few that has all the old songs you scrapped. When you’re selling out arenas, I’ll be putting those on eBay.

Yeah! You are one of the very few. Potentially could make enemies…

What about shows in North America and Japan? Japan especially would be a huge market for Bloodlights, since there’s already a pattern of favor with similar other bands there. 

We were in Japan once! But I think it was four years ago and it was fun, but we didn’t get to score a proper deal or anything to get things rolling and go back. So we just have to start all over again. We have to hustle and work to get back there, because it was definitely a lot of fun being there. I do want to go back. When it comes to North America, I mean, I haven’t played a show in North America since the very last Gluecifer show, which was in New York. Before that, we hadn’t been back since like 2000 or 2001. And the sad thing, for me, is that all the tours and shows I played in the States were the most fun I’ve ever had on tour. You know, you meet people who have a sense of who you are and can communicate in a much easier way. You go to like Spain or Italy or someplace and if you don’t speak their language it’s impossible to communicate. I’m lucky enough to know German, but German and English speakers aren’t that common around there either. It makes touring a lot more fun when you can talk to the people and crack some jokes and have a good time rather than looking at someone who doesn’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

I never thought about it like that, actually.

Yeah, it’s an important thing. For example, Spain is a country that I really love and the people are so enthusiastic and so devoted, and then when you try to talk to them it gets very, very hard, and you’re standing there like a fucking idiot… so I even tried to learn Spanish. But then my motivation sort of dropped, so I should probably get back on track at some point. Learn it properly. Because I think languages are important, especially when you travel as much as I do. It’s much more fun when you can talk to the local people.

So then Japan must’ve been worse since they don’t really speak much English there.

That’s a hopeless case. There you have to have a translator to walk with you and get your message straight. We had the worst guides in Japan when we played there. We played mostly Tokyo and a couple places outside the city, but [the translator/guide] didn’t seem to know Tokyo at all,  so were pretty much hanging out in the same area the whole time. So when you visit the same bar for the fifth fucking time and you’re in Tokyo, you get a little bummed out. It would’ve been nice to get some of that touristy stuff going.

Aww, did you go to the metal bar at least? Tiny, little basement place called Godz where you can pick the music that plays?

Yeah, I’ve been there!

…Okay, I have to ask. What is that poster behind you? 

That?

I’ve been staring at it this whole interview and it’s bugging me now.

I got it because it looked like [Monster Magnet’s] David Wyndorf, but it turned out it wasn’t. Here, have a closer look and see if he does look like him.

He dooooes!

Do you collect stuff from your travels and tours?

It’s not often that I remember where I’ve been, so it’s nice to have small stuff to remember it! Backstage passes and tickets, yeah, I keep them. It’s cool to have these collectibles as well.

Any last words to further convince people to listen and pay attention and get the new record?

You know, there’s not much I can do to make people listen to my music other than saying like I did at the beginning: the band sounds better than ever, and it feels good to know that we’re in it for the long haul. We’re going to stick to it and keep doing our thing and hopefully more and more people will recognize what we’re up to. This combination of edgy punk rock and hard rock — Bloodlights — is a pretty decent alternative to listen to these days.

Get more information on Bloodlights here.