Free Blood

Free Blood originated from the shared vision of John Pugh, previously the percussionist in !!!, and fashion designer Madeline Davy, who sought to fuse the refined elegance of Manhattan dance clubs with the unfiltered vitality of Brooklyn gatherings. The pair launched the project in 2003, combining the noisy, percussion-driven dance-punk sound reminiscent of !!! with accessible pop melodies and forms while restricting the setup to bass guitar, drum machine, and vocals. They spent three years performing live, sharing bills with acts as varied as Suicide, TV on the Radio, and Melt Banana, yet delayed any studio work until late 2005, when they partnered with the production duo the Brothers, consisting of Joshua Ryan and Eric Emm. Within the following year they captured the singles "Quick & Painful" and "Never Hear Surf Music Again," then completed four additional tracks alongside the Brothers. In 2007 the U.K. imprint Adventures Close to Home issued the debut EP 1, the same year Pugh departed !!! to devote full attention to Free Blood. The group then moved to Rong Music, which issued the next singles, the 2008 releases "Never Hear Surf Music Again" and "Royal Family." These recordings, together with various remixes, appeared on the compilation The Singles in late 2008, a period when Free Blood toured extensively, enlisting the Brothers as their live rhythm section, while readying their debut full-length album.