Blindspott break the silence

Blindspott's 2006 line-up are (from left) Dave McDermott, Damian Alexander, Shelton Woolright, Brandon Reihana and Marcus Powell.

Most bands leave the fireworks until they get on stage. But Shelton Woolright has just thrown a double happy on to the floor of Blindspott's dressing room.

The drummer, class clown and resident celeb of the group thinks it's a bloody great joke. He might be angling for a clip round the ear, but there's something likeable about this self-confessed Westie.

"I'm a 26-year-old, mature, young man," he grins.

Guitarist Marcus Powell just raises an eyebrow and rolls his eyes at his hyperactive bandmate.

They're about to go on stage in support of American metallers Korn at the Supertop. It's one of the first chances for fans to hear the band's new songs. Of the seven they deliver tonight, only two - Nil By Mouth and S.U.I.T. - are from their multi-platinum 2002 self-titled debut. The rest spring from new album, End the Silence.

They may have played only a few shows lately but, as they launch into new single, Drown, it's apparent they are back and firing on all cylinders.

Powell lurches around, wielding his guitar as if it was something heavy and hydraulic; frontman Damian Alexander leaps about, howling like a pitbull, his hoodie up and baggy pants almost down; a shirtless Woolright belts his drums brutally; new members bassist Dave McDermott and guitarist Brandon Reihana already look the part.

The crowd's response shows many of the band's fans have remained loyal even though it's been three-and-a-half years since their breakthrough debut album.

The last two years have been difficult times in the Blindspott camp. As rock'n'roll soap operas go, the band has had it all - celebrity scandals, music industry excess, back-stabbing, band members quitting, and, on a more positive note, a wedding and a birth.

These distractions delayed the release of End the Silence.

"All the outside things affected us," says Powell. "We kinda needed band counselling I guess. There was lots of fighting and scraps and you'd go away thinking, 'That bastard'," he laughs.

Powell reckons there nearly wasn't a Blindspott, let alone a second album.

However, Woolright and Alexander aren't so adamant.

"I think deep down inside," says the straight-talking singer, "whatever happened between us personally, the album was going to happen, and more albums will happen. The fact we went through some personal stuff brought us closer together and made us better people and definitely produced a really amazing album."

More on the new album later. First, some juicy rock'n'roll tales.

When Woolright started going out with Nicky Watson in mid-2004, it changed his life. Their every move was followed during the couple's year-long relationship.

"I'd experienced being in the media with Blindspott, but not that type of media, and I didn't know how to handle that," says Woolright. "But I didn't care, because I was in love."

When Watson left him for Dancing With the Stars judge, Brendan Cole, things turned nasty and Woolright sold his story to the New Zealand Woman's Weekly. It detailed everything from the couple's first meeting (when Watson was still living at former partner Matthew Ridge's house in Karaka) to when she started seeing Cole.

Woolright lamented: "I hope giving this interview will end the speculation and the gossip. I want to get on with my life now."

But, he says, the story was the biggest mistake he's made.

"I didn't want to be that guy and I didn't want people to know me for that. I created a No 1 album, I'm in a big band, and I should be known for that.

"But still, to this day, it just doesn't go away."

No violins please, because Woolright says it was "the biggest life lesson" and making the album was a saviour.

Another disruption came in August 2004 when two of Blindspott's original members left the band - bassist Gareth Fleming for personal reasons and DJ Karl Vilisini citing musical differences. But there were other distractions, too, and Powell, Alexander and Woolright were growing apart. They weren't writing new songs and hardly practising.

"Damian getting married took a lot of time, but we didn't hold it against him, though," says Powell, smiling. "And I had my own stuff going on," he says more seriously.

His brother died of cancer and it hit him and his family hard. The song, Yours Truly, on the new album, is about his passing.

Powell was also living in a "drug-orientated" house in Massey. "Just being surrounded by that, there's that big, negative vibe that goes with it and you tend to be angry and take things out on everybody else. You think it's their fault, but really it's you alone in this situation.

"So getting away from that place out west, and going out with Louise [his girlfriend], put a bit of focus in me and she batted out all the dumb shit," he says, laughing.

Meanwhile, Alexander got hitched to Tracy Magan, effectively marrying into a local music industry dynasty. (She's the boss of Goldenhorse's label Siren Records and the daughter of veteran promoter Ian Magan.)

The birth of their daughter Charlotte last year was the catalyst for Alexander to get back into music.

"I realised the two most important things in my life are my family first, and my music. These guys [the band] are some of the most important people in the world to me, some of the greatest guys I know."

He stops and laughs at himself, "Mr Positivity."

Adding McDermott (who is known as "the Big Bad Wolf") and Reihana to the band also had a calming effect.

"It was quite easy to blend in as a friend because I'm pretty easy-going," laughs Reihana. "We just started hanging out, getting drunk and playing music and now here I am."

"Maybe Brandon and I bring the even-more-regular-dude aspect to the band," adds McDermott.

"Brandon works flipping chicken [at Fatimas] and I work rolling denim [at the Illicit clothing factory]. They are two of the most regular boring jobs you can get, and neither of us are rock stars."

Now Blindspott was a band again, they started playing.

"We had to find the love of jamming again, and that was quite a difficult thing," says Powell. "But once we started doing it, it was fun. We thought, '[expletive], this is what it used to be like when we were mates who went out on the piss and played for a box of Lion Red'. That got us back together as mates."

Finally, they were ready to record End the Silence.

GO BACK a couple of years and Blindspott were suddenly very big.

When their self-titled debut came out in November, 2002, it went straight to No 1, beating albums by the Foo Fighters and Nirvana which were released the same week. The multi-platinum album sold well here and the band made a big splash in Asia, selling 25,000 copies legally in that region (and 200,000 pirated versions, the band believe). While on tour there they played to crowds of up to 70,000.

With the first album the band were lumped into the nu-metal genre with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

But, says Reihana: "I didn't hear Linkin Park. The only thing you [could] compare between the bands was the DJ, musically they were completely different."

Though the band never associated themselves strictly with that brief musical fad, there was no denying their fit.

On End the Silence their sound has changed and it has a lot to do with the influence of Swedish producers Pelle Henrickson and Eskil Lovestrom, who have worked with bands such as hardcore punks, Poison the Well and The Refused, and mood metallers, Cult of Luna (see sidebar).

The Swedes pushed the band to the extreme and the result is an album throbbing with atmosphere and with a more consistent heaviness when compared to the soft-loud attack of their debut.

There are mellower moments, too - like the beautiful Lull, which features Anika Moa, and the swooning epic, For This Love.

"We kinda got pigeonholed with the last album with, 'You guys are just like Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit'," adds Powell.

"But we grew out of that and going for the rock thing is just what came naturally. It's a more mature sound and losing Karl means the hip-hop element has gone. It's more rock, and more fun."

"It's just as brutal on the heavy side of things but we've traded the adolescent side of the last record for a more mature aggression. But I think it's going to be hard for some people to get this album," says Alexander.

"We wrote an album that hopefully people can't pigeonhole. I don't think this album can be easily slapped into any genre. It's a metal album I guess," says McDermott.

Woolright says it was difficult to let go of their trademark sound. "But the producers wanted the whole song to be driving, driving, driving.

"They'd say, 'Don't chill people out. Why do you want to do that?'

"I hated it at first. I'm really precious about music, and stubborn as a musician, and I knew they were big producers, but there was a couple of times like, 'Well who the [expletive] do you think you are?' But then I sat back and knew I had to trust these guys."

Woolright is realistic about the possibility of the band losing some fans "because we've lost the DJ and the hip-hop. But maybe we'll gain some, and I definitely think we'll get a few more older, mature metal fans.

"Anyone that likes Blindspott for the pop side, and I'm not afraid to admit it, we do have pop hooks, maybe they will not quite get the album at first. They might not have the patience to sit through it."

Backstage at the Supertop the band return to the dressing room and no one talks much about the set.

Going by how relaxed they are, it went well. Really, nothing much has changed. They're just a bunch of fun-loving Westies who love giving each other shit and grab something to drink from the backstage supplies.

These lads are just happy to have a new album out and to be playing live again. Hence that album title.

Says Alexander: "It's time to end it. It's been a while."

Swede as production

Blindspott have been "Swedified" by two Scandinavians called Pelle Henrickson and Eskil Lovestrom. The Swedish producers are largely responsible for the band's new atmospheric sound on their second album, End the Silence.

"For This Love was a pretty straight up song until the Swedes came in and Swedified it," jokes guitarist Marcus Powell.

Says bass player Dave McDermott: "They wanted to make the album a journey and at first I thought, 'Man, these guys are hippies.' But when you listen to it right through it has an atmosphere, and it's eerie and dark and pretty original."

The Swedes have worked with heavy cult bands such as Poison the Well, The Refused and Cult of Luna.

Don't think Blindspott lay down and let themselves be toyed with. Apparently they argued more with the Swedish pair than any other band has.

Still, drummer Shelton Woolright was told he played like a girl, guitarist Brandon Reihana had to slow down and frontman Damian Alexander followed a high-protein diet to help his singing.

"They stripped us of everything that we thought we knew about writing music.

"They destroyed our souls first, and then remoulded us into something that's bigger and better than we were before," says Alexander.

So there's no hard feelings.

The Swedes stayed with Woolright's parents and drove round in Alexander's "shitty" Toyota.

"We didn't need to hire them a big wagon," laughs Alexander. "They're brothers now."

LOWDOWN

WHO: Blindspott
WHAT: West Auckland metallers
LINE-UP: Damian Alexander (vocals), Marcus Powell and Brandon Reihana (guitars), Shelton Woolright (drums), Dave McDermott (bass)
NEW ALBUM: End the Silence, out Monday
ALSO: Blindspott (2002)