Bleach Says Farewell ... Again!
They'd said that 2003's Astronomy would be their last CD, and even followed up with a goodbye tour. But with their newest farewell album, this time they mean it. Really!
by Andy Argyrakis | posted 4/25/2005
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Bleach
, a mainstay on the Christian music scene for the last ten years, has had its share of ups and downs. In the late '90s, they scored Christian radio hits with catchy ditties like "Super Good Feeling," and then earned attention for bolting ForeFront Records for Tooth and Nail—a move that improved the band's rock credibility, as critics gave their T&N albums positive ratings. Then Bleach hit a major roadblock in the summer of 2003 when members Milam and Jared Byers lost their brother Joshua, a U.S. Army captain, to the war in Iraq. After dedicating what was then apparently its last album to Joshua, the quintet decided to call it quits and went on a lengthy farewell tour. But it would now seem that the end isn't quite yet in sight, according to vocalist Dave Baysinger and guitarist Milam, who talked to us about the group's history, saying goodbye, their latest "finale" CD Farewell Old Friends, and plans for a retrospective collection.
Why did you decide to go on tour again after you decided Bleach was done?
Milam Byers When we decided we didn't want to be a band anymore, we still had a lot of shows on the books and we wanted to honor everything. We also booked other shows mainly as a chance for everyone to hang out and see us play one last time. It was kind of a long process because we made the decision [last] January, played our last show August 29, did some more recording and we're still talking about it all!
What was the last show like for you guys?
Byers It was surreal and kind of hard to believe that you can pour your life into something for that many years and then in one night it can just be over. We had a lot of time to prepare for it, but it was still really overwhelming in a lot of ways and really gratifying. People came from all over to Nashville and it was a blast.
Dave Baysinger It was so awesome to see the fruits of what we had done. We were never really a big band, but it was awesome that God still used us for impact. If you really want to know how the last show was, Tooth and Nail is probably going to put out a hits package and we're going to try and hopefully tack on the last show in DVD format.
Why did you choose to make Farewell Old Friends after the tour and after saying you were finished as a band?
Baysinger We had really good energy going and there was not a lot of pressure on us at all. We just really enjoyed making a record again and we also had most of the songs as demos already, a lot written before pre-production. I know that sounds like it should be the normal thing to do, having songs done before you start recording, but that's not how it usually worked for us. We were able to step back and give these songs the attention they deserve. It's turned out to be my favorite for sure because we didn't have to think about anything besides the heart of the music.
How did Bleach evolve from the "Super Good Feeling" days to the current sound?
Baysinger The first two records weren't exactly our favorites; we were still kids who started real young. I look at those two more like demos, which I realize people don't like hearing me say, but that's how I feel. I think [1999's self-titled] couch record was the first one where we knew what we were doing in terms of musical sections, and it got better from there. I'm certainly not trying to sell any of the songs short and we've always been about pop songs, but now they have sections and more of a musicality to them than when we first started.
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