Almost 20 years, a powerhouse band emerged from Long Island, New York with a work ethic like no other. Founded by vocalist Jenny Mann and guitarist Tim Barbour, the band had one of the best DIY approaches of anyone on the scene. They toured relentlessly, appeared several times on the Vans Warped Tour and released several albums and EPs. The band created a jewelry company about six years ago called Strung that takes Tim’s broken guitar strings and makes bracelets and other jewelry items out of them. Strung grew tremendously and sort of took over their world. Their focus was taking their new jewelry product to major festivals such as Welcome to Rockville, Louder Than Life and more. Yet, music has still been flowing through their blood. They recorded a few songs with red hot Producer Erik Ron and released “Came for Blood” two years ago. They re-emerged onto the music scene recently and released a new one called “All or Nothing” along with a video. We sat down with Jenny and Tim recently who caught us up to speed on all things Blameshift.
You guys know I’m a fan of the band and I will have to admit I got very excited when I heard there was new music and a video coming out. I’m sure and I know I am not the only one so this is awesome!
Jenny Mann/Blameshift: That’s awesome; we appreciate it!
“Came for Blood” was two years ago, so what the heck’s been going on since then?
Jenny: A lot has been going on! Tim and I started our jewelry company Strung about six years ago and it has taken over our whole world. Obviously, music has always been and will always be our number one. So we recorded “Came for Blood,” our new song “All or Nothing” and another one which we will release within a year. We recorded them all within the same time, during Covid actually. It took a while to get “Came for Blood” out and a little longer to get this one out which we’re really excited to finally get out.
What’s the feedback been like on the new single?
Jenny: The song is a little different from us. The vibe is, lyrically it is and just has a different feel. We wanted to do something a little different. All of our music is usually really have energy and this is a little more moody with a different kind of feel for us which we’re excited for our fans to hear. We’re getting great feedback on it so far and I think the fans really seem to love it.
It’s cool for a band to peel back a layer and show a different side of themselves. How did that come about? Was it organically, on purpose or what?
Jenny: We’ve been working with our producer Erik Ron for about ten years now. He’s had his hand just about every major rock song that you listen to these days. He’s been working with us since we were a baby band and we’ve done the high energy rock stuff in the past. We wrote the song and took it to him and he was on board to try out something a little out of our wheelhouse yet still Blameshift.
Tim Barbour/Blameshift: I think if you listen to a couple of the other songs off of Secrets that weren’t our singles or top streaming songs, they had a similar kind of vibe. We never pushed them as singles or made music videos of them. So we wanted to do something with a little different edge to what we’ve done in the past. We choose which songs we want to release and promote the hardest and we usually go with something like our live show, the high energy stuff. This song just kind of worked and it felt like it could be a solid single for us. We did it without really caring what anyone else was going to think about it other than us. This is what felt right and what we wanted to do.
That’s the best way to do it, right?
Tim: You’re going to lose some fans here and there and they’re going to bitch ‘why doesn’t it sound like the first album that you put out?’ That’s what being a musician is about. You have to go down a different creative path and try new stuff and keep it fun for yourself as an artist.
If it doesn’t feel honest to you then how honest are you being as a musician, right?
Tim: A lot of musicians would answer that differently because they’re getting paid by 10 different songwriters to help them write, so they’re doing it strictly to get a paycheck. We’ve never been about that and we never really got paychecks from doing this (laughs).
The video just came out and it’s a beautifully done video. I love the stunning imagery of the lights hanging down like that. Did you guys have that concept or did someone else?
Jenny: Tim and I were taking a walk around this big lake and we came up with the idea. We were having a creative block of what we wanted to do for the video. We didn’t want to do too much like a story which we’ve done that in the past a lot. We wanted to do something a little more simple, but more exciting visually. We actually hung each and every one of those lights ourselves with one of our friends who is in the video at the beginning. He plays the doctor and he helped us hang those lights.
Tim: The setup for the video probably took longer than the actual video shoot itself. We were able to get into the studio a full day early and with a crew of people to help us. The Long Island Trading Post, who is all about music, donated a lot of stuff and they lent us all the props for the video. We got a lot of cool stuff from them which is why I’m also doing them a shout out. They’re really good people and they helped us with the video as well.
Was it hot in there with all those lights on?
Tim: They’re all LEDs and the AC system was cranked. If it would have been eight years ago when they were regular halogen lights it would have been a sauna in there.
So, when are we going to get you guys back out on the road?
Tim: We have been doing every major rock and country festival all around the country with our Strung company. We’re trying to get some momentum back with this new song. We have a couple of radio stations that have already picked it up. We’re going to see what we can build with it and a lot of this momentum is happening organically online. If we can try to get onto some of these festivals that we’ve been doing Strung on and then maybe work some tours in between. We don’t want to go out and do another 250 days a year again and live in a bus like we used to do but we really do miss playing out on the road and being in front of people. It’s something that we hope that will be in the works for next year.
So you mentioned another single?
Jenny: I’m hoping in less than a year that we’ll release another single that we did with Eric. We’re hoping to get that out sooner than later, so let’s shoot for less than six months.
You beat me to the punch with mentioning Strung, your jewelry company. So, Tim had all of these broken guitar strings laying around and you decided to make something out of them?
Jenny: Yeah, it started out on the road.
Tim: I usually give Jenny all the credit for starting it but the way you just put it I am actually the one that started it so thank you.
Jenny: Thanks a lot (laughs). I just randomly started making bracelets out of the guitar strings on the bus. I would stop at Michaels and get all the little charms and stuff and it was very DIY. I would sell them at our shows and I would have a line of people waiting to buy them. It was very organic and wholesome with how it started and it turned into this pretty amazing company that’s grown very fast. We have a lot of very cool unique things on the horizon. We have a lot of cool partnerships; we just did a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame official bracelet. We also have partnerships with Hard Rock and a lot of famous artists so it really has grown tremendously. It has definitely taken over but the cool thing is we are still in the music world so it’s not like this is something completely random. It’s totally who we are and it’s a lot of fun.
Other than Strung, what is on your radar?
Tim: I do think we want to write a lot of new music. We’re thirsty to get back into the studio and we’ve been writing some stuff in our home studio. We do want to get back out and do some more songs with Erik (Ron). We never want to stop playing music and putting out new songs and new content. A lot of people when they stopped touring they don’t pursue the band anymore. We’ll never really stop doing what we’re doing because it’s in our blood for life in both a positive and negative way.
Can you believe it’s almost been 20 years since the band started?
Jenny: Yeah, when you put it like that it makes us feel very old (laughs). It is crazy; this has been my one and only band. I was never in any other band and it has been our baby that we started from absolutely nothing. Every single accomplishment that we’ve had we’ve created ourselves too and I always talk about it. Our friends have regular average normal lives and we’ve had this unique, crazy life. We would never change a thing because it’s been the most fun experience living on the road on $5 a day and we would do it again in a heartbeat.
Tim: I think a big thing about that too is we learn so much living out on the road trying to survive. How much money do we make on merch and what kind of food can we eat the next week based on what we make. It was real kind of do or die stuff for us. When you’re a musician touring like that, no one really gets that unless they’ve been in our shoes. You get stranded in the middle of the country, you have no money to fix your vehicle and you try to crowd fund with your fans so you can get back home. There were points where we were really screwed and our fans really showed up at our show giving us places to stay, giving us food, allowing us to park in their driveway so we could plug into their electric. They have crafted us into people who are better people and stronger.
It’s amazing the family that you curate throughout the years and throughout all the miles all across the world.
Tim: When we’re doing these festivals now, we see fans all the time. People recognize us and they tell the stories of when they met us and when they saw us and they want to take photos with us. They tell stories about being in a bar in Texas or in Washington state. They tell us these stories and they remember the band and hopefully they’ll keep supporting us. They’ll share the new music video and stream the new single and all that good stuff.
It’s been so great talking to you guys! I see that our time is about up but before I go, I’d like to end this with something we call Three for the Road. We hit you with the easy questions to loosen you up and let you stretch. Now, it’s time for the tough questions. What posters did you have on your walls growing up?
Tim: I had a picture of some hot 80s chick on a Lamborghini.
Jenny: No, music posters.
Tim: I had Poison; C.C. DeVille of Poison was one of my go-to idols. I also had a Guns and Roses poster and one of those glow-in-the-dark mushroom guys who was smoking a bong under a mushroom (laughs). What did you have?
Jenny: Probably Green Day, Alanis Morissette and Smashing Pumpkins. I love Smashing Pumpkins!
If you could have anyone as your own inner voice, cartoon character, actor, actress, anyone, who would it be?
Jenny: This is a really hard one; it would have to be someone funny. I would have to go with Sebastian Maniscalco, He’s a really, really funny Italian comedian. It has to be like a guy because I don’t think like a girl and it has to be someone who’s very cynical about everything.
Tim: Mine would be Al Bundy (laughs).
Jenny: Two unique ones for you (laughs).
If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Tim: I used to love wrestling.
Jenny: I used to love wrestling too. It would have to be something little because I’m tiny. It would be Little Fry which was my name growing up.
Tim: I’d be Beefcake Barber 2.
Jenny: That’s hysterical! I want to know what yours is.
Oh you flip the script me! The first thing that comes to mind is a Seinfeld reference. It would be George Costanza’s porn name Buck Naked. I would be the new version of Val Venus from the WWE Attitude Era.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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