On The Road Again: Garbage "Bleed Like Me (Japan, Warner Bros. Records, WPCR-12037)"

viernes, 14 de junio de 2024

Garbage "Bleed Like Me (Japan, Warner Bros. Records, WPCR-12037)"

Bleed Like Me is the fourth studio album by American rock band Garbage. It was released worldwide on April 11, 2005, through Warner Music imprint A&E Records, with a North American release on Geffen Records the following day. For this album, the band chose a straight rock sound reminiscent of their live performances instead of the electronica that permeated their previous album Beautiful Garbage (2001). The first recording sessions took place in March 2003, but were mostly unproductive due to passive aggression between band members and a general lack of direction. As they struggled to record the album, Garbage quietly split for four months starting in October 2003. They reunited under producer John King in Los Angeles and, following a guest appearance by Dave Grohl on "Bad Boyfriend", they found a renewed focus on production. Garbage recruited drummer Matt Walker and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen for new recording sessions and completed the album by late 2004.

Following critical praise and high chart positions for its lead single "Why Do You Love Me", Bleed Like Me had a strong opening week globally, debuting in the top five in eight countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.

Garbage's third album Beautiful Garbage had been promoted by a fourteen-month world tour, which culminated in a run of North American shows co-headlined with No Doubt and supported by The Distillers in October and November 2002. Before the tour started, the band spent two weeks at Smart Studios—their recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin—to write new material for their upcoming album. Upon completion of the tour in December 2002, the group took some time off; Shirley Manson returned to her native Scotland, while Butch Vig completed production work on albums by AFI and Jessy Moss. The band regrouped in February 2003 to perform "Pride (In the Name of Love)" at a MusiCares tribute to U2 frontman Bono. Immediately after the event, they returned to Madison to continue working on their follow-up record.

On the first day in the studio, Garbage composed a new track, "Right Between the Eyes", in 30 minutes. Other tracks written during the early sessions were "Hangin' with the Bitches" and "Never Be Free" (with John 5). Vig said that the quick start made the band feel optimistic and gave the impression that the album would be completed as rapidly as in six months, but "[the album] took a slow spiral downhill". Recording for the album was halted during the summer when Manson underwent surgery to remove a cyst on her right vocal cord, forcing her to recuperate until August 2003. On September 10, a backhoe careened into the outer walls of Smart Studios, causing extensive damage. Both Garbage and the band Paris, Texas had been working on their albums in the studio. The sessions were permeated by passive-aggressive tensions and an overall lack of artistic focus. According to Vig, "there were a lot of personal arguments and we couldn't agree on songs". Manson suffered writer's block and had trouble writing lyrics, and Vig did not like the way the songs sounded. The drummer said that the group frequently argued during production, and that the entire band almost quit. Duke Erikson said that nobody could agree about the music's direction, and the band was on the verge of breaking up. He said, "When you lose that common bond of the music, you've got nothing". Eventually, the group suffered "a complete and utter band meltdown" in October, leading the band members splitting and taking a break from the sessions.

Vig left the studio and returned to Los Angeles. Over the Christmas period, he encountered excited Garbage fans eager to hear about the album's progress. Not wanting to disappoint them, he disclosed some song titles to them; after this encounter, he realized that the band still had a future. During the break, Vig met Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters in a party, and casually asked if he would perform drums on a Garbage track, "Bad Boyfriend", as Vig had been frustrated with the song's existing drum track.

At the beginning of 2004, the band decided to try to salvage the album, taking their management's suggestion to work with an external producer for the first time. The musicians also decided that neutral territory would be beneficial, and went to Los Angeles. John King, one half of the production duo Dust Brothers, was enlisted to produce "Bad Boyfriend". Drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen were hired to perform on the songs. The recordings were completed in King's studio The Boat and Sound City in Los Angeles. Towards the end of the recording sessions, Grohl spent a day performing on drums for "Bad Boyfriend". The band said his performance was "raising the bar" for the record, and Vig said that Grohl "brought a different energy level to the song", which Erikson and Steve Marker tried to follow with their guitar playing. This influenced most of the songs that followed; the musicians wanted the songs to be "scrappy and primal sounding".

The experience with King, despite only resulting in the completion of one track, "Bad Boyfriend", gave the band perspective and direction. Manson said that because the band members still had problems speaking to each other, King could not get much work out of the band, so they realized that they needed to work out their differences and was the catalyst for the band getting back together and working harmoniously. Vig said that the tensions led the band members to become "burned out on each other", and that reuniting made them feel able to play "fast and furious—as if our lives depended on it". Manson overcame her writer's block and began to inject political slants into her lyrics, matching them with some new material the band wrote immediately after the King sessions; both "Metal Heart" and "Boys Wanna Fight" referenced the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Despite a plan to record some material with producer Tony Hoffer, the band decided to complete the rest of the album themselves. Erikson later said, "It was kind of seductive to think that maybe someone else [would] solve all of our problems, but in the end you gotta do it yourself".

Feeling that previous album Beautiful Garbage seemed fractured, the band decided to use their live sound; Vig said that he wanted "the pumping energy that all the best raw rock records have". The band decided that their fourth album would have a straightforward rock sound, instead of a reliance upon electronica and computer interventions. The musicians composed separately at their home studios, sending each other tracks through e-mail and couriers, and the band returned to Wisconsin to finish the album. Bleed Like Me emerged from a collage of samples and loops, and this time the sound was simpler. Erikson said that rather than production, they depended on the songs. Vig opted to focus on the production duties and leave the drums to guest musicians such as Grohl, whom he considered better at the instrument than him. He also played more guitars on the album, which he found liberating. As a result, drummer Matt Walker also played on several tracks on the album, while Meldal-Johnsen played bass guitar. Most of Manson's vocals were recorded at Vig's home studio, GrungeIsDead.

On October 18, the band began mixing the album. Some songs were mixed several times; "Sex Is Not the Enemy" was re-recorded three times during the mixing process, "Right Between the Eyes" was recalled from mastering twice, and the band included live strings at the last minute on "Happy Home". While the project's working title was Hands on a Hard Body, after the 1997 documentary of the same name, when Manson announced the album's release in November 2004, she confirmed that it would be titled Bleed Like Me. By December 6, 2004, the album was officially completed. It was mastered in New York City; the initial mastering was completed on December 15, 2004, and the final master was ready for January 6, 2005.

Bleed Like Me debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 73,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming the band's first top-10 album on the chart. It fell to number 24 the following week, selling 32,000 copies. By October 2011, the album had sold 284,000 copies in the United States. Bleed Like Me debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, selling 27,375 copies in its first week. The album had sold 84,339 copies in the United Kingdom as of July 2007, and on July 22, 2013, it was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Bleed Like Me also charted within the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Mexico, and Sweden.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Garbage, except where noted