Bleeding Through Experience Rebirth With New Label, New Guitarist

In many ways, Bleeding Through's self-titled sixth album -- out April 13 -- marks a genuine rebirth for the Orange County, Calif. sextet. It's the band's first release for Rise Records, the first with new guitarist Dave Nassie and possibly the first that was created in equal environments of excitement and inspiration.

"We're really stoked to be on Rise," frontman Brandan Schieppati told Noisecreep. "Out of all the labels we talked to, they're the one that had a real vision for the band. They said, 'We want to help Bleeding Through grow.' And that's important because a lot of labels we talked to were all content with where Bleeding Through was and just wanted to put out a Bleeding Through record."

Schieppati described the follow-up to 2008's 'Declaration' as "'Declaration' on steroids." He added, "To me, it just sounds better. It's even more intense. It's even darker, and I feel like the emotions are even more raw."

Part of the credit for the creative resurgence goes to new guitarist Dave Nassie (No Use for a Name, Suicidal Tendencies), who replaced Jona Weinhofen in May 2009 after Weinhofen quit to go back to Australia and join Bring Me the Horizon. Schieppati knew Nassie because the musician's wives are best friends, and asked him to join the band two years ago when Weinhofen replaced Scott Danough.

"Dave couldn't do it back then because he had some things going on with his former band that he wanted to put to bed," Schieppati recalled. "But we kept in touch and played together in a side project called the Innocent, which also featured [drummer] Brooks Wackerman. That didn't really go anywhere, but it was still gonna happen. And then this opening came up and I said, 'You know what? I'd rather have you be in Bleeding Through than do a side project with you.' So it was almost like it was supposed to happen."

In addition to smoothly filling a vacancy, Nassie offered creative ideas that complimented those of co-guitarist Brian Leppke. In the end, he played a major role in the growth Bleeding Through exhibited between 'Declaration' and 'Bleeding Through.'

"He added more in quantity to the record than Jonah added to 'Declaration.' Dave added more to what Bleeding Through needed," said Schieppati. "He came through with a lot of new riffs for the record that steer it to a slightly different place. And in addition to the musical stuff, the chemistry is really great. When Jonah was in the band, I don't know if we ever considered him 100 percent a band member. He was part of it, but we always had this feeling that he was one foot out the door. And towards the end, he got really homesick and wanted to move back to Australia. Dave brings back the kind of stability we really needed."