Toronto band Bloody Diamonds rocked at House of Targ on Saturday night with their unapologetic rock and roll energy. The band are now touring Canada to promote their new EP, Tough Love. They delivered raw, sexy, homemade rock and roll anthems. With lead singer Sara Elizabeth’s cathartic howling, and the tightness of the band altogether, they punched out heavy rock, soul-rich tunes one after another. The Charlatan had the opportunity to chat with Elizabeth a few days prior to the show.
The Charlatan (TC): Where did the name “Bloody Diamonds” come from?
Sara Elizabeth (SE): It stemmed from lyrics I’d written from one of our first albums. It just kind of clicked one day — we were like, oh yeah, that’s the one.
TC: So, you write the songs then?
SE: Yeah, Jake, the guitarist, and I write all the songs. We’ve been the main members of the band since it started five years ago. We write quite a bit when we’re not on tour.
TC: What’s the writing process like for you?
SE: I usually come up with some sort of vocal melody, or hook, or an idea for a song, and I’ll bring it to Jake, and he writes all the riffs and fills in the blanks of what I can’t play on an instrument myself. At this point, we work really well together. We know what we want the songs to sound like. He normally knows exactly what I’m trying to say. It’s fun at this point.
TC: Where do you gather inspiration for your songs?
SE: We actually listen to a lot of modern rock. It’s funny because a lot of people think we listen to very old rock. We listen to a lot of Jack White. He’s definitely a huge inspiration for us. We also listen to Band of Skulls, from the [United Kingdom], Dorothy, and Samsara. They’re all super rockin’ with a chick singer kind of thing. And there’s a lot of local bands too, like Public Animal from Toronto. They’re wicked, they’re insane. We’ve seen them live a few times, and we know them a little bit, and it’s just super inspiring to see people you know so legitimately rockin’.
TC: How was the band formed?
SE: Jake and I met in music school. I played mostly singer-songwriter stuff when I was young, and Jake was in a punk band, but we met and bonded over the Dead Weather, and we were like “fuck, we need to start a band like this,” so that’s what we did. I had a bunch of singer-songwriter songs written that we turned into rock songs, and we just kind of got heavier over the years.
TC: You’ve just put out a new album, how would you describe it?
SE: We’re super happy with it. We were really trying to go for as raw-sounding, straightforward rock tunes, as possible. We spent a lot of time writing to make sure there was no bullshit in the songs, no fillers. We went in and recorded it over five days and got out and that was that. I think it really sounds like it has an almost live, off-the-floor feel.
TC: What genre would you say that your music falls into?
SE: It’s basically just rock music. But, heavy, bluesy rock is normally what we say.
TC: Which song from your new album is your favourite to perform?
SE: “Toxic.” For sure, that’s my favourite song I’ve ever written. I love singing it live. It’s just super driving, and really exciting to play.
TC: What do you think the ultimate direction is for your band?
SE: We just want to play shows all the time, we just want to tour. We really want to go to Europe. We’ve gone down to the [United States] a few times, but we just want to keep going. Hopefully we get some support soon to make more records and go on more tours. But touring, for us, is where it’s at. We started when we were really young, and we weren’t very good at it, but we’re pretty okay now. It’s awesome, playing shows for actual fans, that can sing to your songs. It’s amazing.
TC: Do you guys have a favourite venue to perform at?
SE: The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto is our spot. It was the place we played our first big Toronto show and it was just totally overwhelming, and since then we play all our homecoming shows there. They treat us like gold, and it’s just a super cool bar, it’s just rockin’ and dingy. It’s really great, we’ve had some amazing shows there. It holds a special place in our heart.
TC: Has the band faced any major challenges?
SE: I mean, touring is hard. It takes a while to be able to learn how to deal with everyone’s emotions and, you know, everyone needs a certain amount of sleep and coffee at this time and people get cranky and people get pissed off. It’s a challenge everyday to keep everything running smooth. But, [laughing] we get through it.
