Q&A: bloodsports Reintroduce Themselves With Debut Album ‘Anything Can Be A Hammer’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY EMMI SHOCKLEY ☆
AS BLOODSPORTS ACTIVELY BECOMES A FIXTURE IN THE BROOKLYN DIY SCENE—it’s a good time to learn how to talk about them. The four-piece, formed in 2023, is composed of Sam Murphy (frontman, guitar/vocals), Jeremy Mock (Guitar), Liv Eriksen (bass/vocals) and Scott Hale (drums). While the members struggle to define themselves (as most bands do), Jeremy will assert that people he “respects and trusts” have called them a slowcore band.
“I feel like we're more theatrical, though,” Murphy counters. “Especially live. I feel like there's way more theater involved than what you'd normally think of when you think of a slowcore band.”
“When I first met Sam, he talked to me a lot about bands that still participate in theatrical performance” Eriksen says. “As we moved forward with the band, I kept that in mind. It really resonated with me. It’s not like we're doing anything crazy. We’re just adding some kind of story and life to it, outside of just the sound.”
I have to agree. While this is definitely the first time I’ve ever tried to use the phrase “theatrical slowcore,” this might be the most accurate way to try and sum them up. Anything Can Be A Hammer is bloodsports’ debut full-length album. The record is fully realized and assertive; the cohesion they’ve established as a group is undeniable. The builds are tightly wound and hypnotic. The blowouts that ensue ring cathartic and satisfying.
From their first-time collaboration with producer Hayden Ticehurst to their recent signing with the newly formed Good English Records, this full-length ushers in a new era for the band. This time period also seems to mark a successful transition from transplant band (with founding members Sam and Jeremy only moving into town from Denver a few years ago) to an embraced mainstay in the New York scene (a scene they admit has been warmer than they expected). These days, you can catch them playing Brooklyn venues like Nightclub 101, TV Eye, plenty of bills at trans-pecos, and on October 18, at Union Pool for their album release show presented by Stereogum. I have a good feeling you’ll find them hanging out on the patio after their set.
Keep reading for a conversation with Sam Murphy, Jeremy Mock, Liv Eriksen, and Scott Hale of bloodsports.
Photo Credit: Meghan Hancock
LUNA: Talk me through the formation of bloodsports. How did you all find each other?
MURPHY: Jeremy and I met in college in Denver. He was playing in other bands, and when we met, I showed him a song that I had. He liked it enough to say we could record it. Jeremy joined the band as a full-time member, and we had two other friends who played bass and drums, and we played around Denver for like six months or so. Then Jeremy and I moved to New York together, where we met Liv and Scott. We wrote a bunch of new stuff that became this record, and here we are.
MOCK: The band we were in Denver felt like a totally different band.
LUNA: Were you still called bloodsports?
MOCK: Well originally we were called—
ERIKSEN: No way.
MURPHY: That lore is too deep! It’s too deep.
LUNA: You can’t say it?
MURPHY: Okay, so we had the song “Sustain,” which I wrote in 2022, and originally we were called… State Fair. But we changed it, because that was bad.
LUNA: Hate Fair?
MURPHY: No, State Fair. Like, an Iowa State Fair. Where they have corn dogs and stuff.
LUNA: Yeah, I prefer bloodsports.
MOCK: I feel like being called bloodsports helped us a little bit in Denver because it’s such a big hardcore town. The name makes us sound like a hardcore band. I almost feel like we got put on bills sometimes just because people thought we were a hardcore band, even though we’re just totally not.
ERIKSEN: People are usually a bit surprised if they haven't listened to us before. Some of my friends will come out to a show and be like, “Oh, that's not what I expected at all. I thought it was gonna be some heavy metal.”
LUNA: Liv and Scott, what were you guys doing before Sam and Jeremy came in from Denver?
ERIKSEN: I’m from Austin, as is Jeremy, so that’s our connection. We grew up there, then I moved to New York about three and a half years ago. I was here a little bit before these guys, not as long as Scott. I've been playing some tunes since, like, middle school. Jeremy and I had actually played a couple of singer-songwriter shows and coffee shops together in Austin. Then I just popped over to New York, and luckily, got roped in with these guys.
HALE: I moved to New York in 2020, and I was teaching eighth-grade algebra and then I started law school a year after that. I knew Jeremy through a mutual friend, someone I used to play music with in Memphis. I was a fan and a listener of bloodsports before they even moved to New York. So when we got connected, I was super stoked on it.
ERIKSEN: We had one practice. And he already knew all the parts.
LUNA: So you’re an algebra teacher-lawyer-drummer.
HALE: I have a lot of things going on. I don't really know how I do that.
MURPHY: He’s the one with the future.
LUNA: It seems like you’ve jumped headfirst into the New York DIY scene, as it stands right now. Do you have a favorite venue to play?
MOCK: I mean, the one we play the most is probably trans-pecos. It’s hard to pick a favorite. They each have their own characters that we enjoy.
HALE: We cut our teeth at trans-pecos for sure.
ERIKSEN: It also might just be based on the bill, and the vibes, and hanging out with other bands. That always influences it for me. TV Eye is a really cool venue, too. Honestly, anywhere with an outdoors. There has to be a patio.
LUNA: The TV Eye patio is so good.
MOCK: We just spent like, six hours there a few days ago.
LUNA: Tell me about the two-week US tour you guys did back in April.
HALE: We started in Ohio, then played Chicago, then we did Nashville, then Asheville, then snaked our way up the coast.
LUNA: Were there any stops that really stood out for you in terms of playing for a new community?
ERIKSEN: [Akron] Ohio was super tight-knit.
MURPHY: I was really blown away by the bands we played with in Chicago. Chicago obviously has a great music scene, and always has. We played with these two bands, Stalled and ira glass. They were both awesome and people really came out and supported.
ERIKSEN: They’ve become two of my favorite bands.
MOCK: We also did a few dates with Dish from Asheville. They are phenomenal.
ERIKSEN: The coolest guys ever. They're so much fun. We had a great North Carolina Waffle House night with them.
MOCK: We walked up to pay, and the cashier was like, “Are y’all in a band?” We were like, “Yeah, I guess so,” so we just hung out with the staff while they were on their break.
MURPHY: The cashier also ran a DIY venue in Raleigh. He said we should play it next time we come to Raleigh. It was a funny night.
LUNA: Which venue did y’all play in Asheville?
MURPHY: Static Age. Legendary spot.
LUNA: Who have been your main shared influences in establishing the bloodsports sound?
MOCK: Swans is a huge one. And Iceage. Those are two of my favorite bands of all time. And Women is a really big one.
MURPHY: Women especially in terms of your lead lines. For me, the impetus to start a rock band came from listening to Unwound, and a lot of those ‘90s post-hardcore and slowcore bands.
HALE: A lot of my drumming is influenced by that 90s post-hardcore era. I think that's one reason why I was kind of able to step in with this group and fit like a glove. With the new stuff we write, we’re on the same page. I think having some of that shared background really helps.
ERIKSEN: When I was younger, I went through a phase where I listened to a lot of The Breeders. That was the first thing I listened to that got me really piqued on baselines.
LUNA: How did you set out to introduce yourselves with this debut full-length? Were you thinking about that intentionally, or did the writing in the recording process do that for you?
ERIKSEN: I think the first time we had to get really intentional with it was when it came to making decisions in the recording process. Obviously, because it was being produced, we had to have conversations between us, like, “Oh, what are we thinking for the sonic idea here?” But the writing of the songs was very organic.
MOCK: There was more pressure with this than there was with past bloodsports recordings, because we paid money to get this recorded. Like, this has to happen, or we just wasted a lot of money.
MURPHY: We had five days and we had to have an album by the end of the five days.
ERIKSEN: Hayden [Ticehurst] was really great as our engineer. He helped us spark conversations amongst ourselves that we hadn't really thought to have. It was a cool growth opportunity.
LUNA: Because in the past you’ve always self-recorded?
ERIKSEN: Jeremy is an audio engineer, so that’s a plus for us.
MURPHY: Being in the studio with Hayden was so cool because we had somebody who was designated to record us and lock us in, and Jeremy could just focus on playing.
MOCK: I felt like a part of the band for the first time in the recording process.
LUNA: There’s so much build-up and release, tension and catharsis, across this record. Do you guys have any memorable, f*ck yes moments of satisfaction from the recording sessions?
ERIKSEN: The title track, “Anything Can Be a Hammer,” came together in the studio. That felt very gratifying. That one is also a very physical effort. We had to do it so many times. We were playing off each other, we couldn’t record it separately.
MURPHY: We were sitting in a room, face to face, watching each other in a circle.
ERIKSEN: It’s an eye-contact heavy song. A lot of following. We’re all such close friends. Of course, when we record stuff, if there's a push and pull between instruments and dynamics, we have to do it together. So when we're writing or recording, it's very intimate between us.
MURPHY: Not that intimate.
ERIKSEN: Musically intimate!
MURPHY: I think back on “Rot” specifically as a very bloodsports song because it was a complete group effort to put that together, and to figure out how we wanted that to sound and how we wanted the payoff to sound for that build. Everyone was saying something on “Rot.” Something clicked for me there.
ERIKSEN: It marked a turning point with the new formation and the post-Denver sound. “Rot” was also the first song I came in on vocals, which was nerve-racking. Sam and Jeremy were really supportive. That was really nice to get the push from them to take on a new role in this thing.
MOCK: And there’s organ on that song!
ERIKSEN: There were a lot of arguments about Jeremy and the organ.
MOCK: They had a gigantic organ in the studio! I couldn’t not use it. We don’t have that at home.
LUNA: You were fighting for the organ?
MOCK: I was 100% fighting for the organ. Tears were shed.
ERIKSEN: It was a blood sport.
LUNA: What drew you to sign on as the first artist with an emerging label like Good English?
MURPHY: The folks who run Good English are some of our best friends in the scene. We sent them the record when we finished it and got the masters back, just as friends. Then, a few weeks later, they told us they were starting a label and they wanted us to be the first artist on it. We were going to shop the record around, but we didn’t. At the end of the day, being able to work with people that you really connect with on a personal level, people that you spend so much time with just hanging out and going to shows, makes the whole thing way, way more enjoyable and way less of a stress. They’re really good at it so far. The amount of support we've gotten just from the two singles has been astonishing.
HALE: Running a DIY label is a labor of love. I feel that way with this band, too. They wanted to put this out because they love us as friends, and love the music, and believe in it. This is happening because they care.
ERIKSEN: We believe in them starting their label the same way they believe in us releasing our first full-length record. It’s symbiotic like that.
LUNA: Anything else you want to say to the readers? Perhaps to any readers new to bloodsports?
ERIKSEN: Don’t listen to the record on your phone speakers.
