BLOODSHOT // Dig Into Their New EP ‘Mono Pneuma’

We may be calling Sydney’s Bloodshot the rising stars of the metalcore world now, but if their debut EP Mono Pneuma is anything to go by, these guys will soon be on the path to total scene domination.

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The record was inspired by Oz titans Northlane, Alpha Wolf and Polaris, and will be on heavy rotation for any self-proclaimed mosh warrior. Following its release, we got vocalist Emad Ghaffar and Guitarist Toby Chantharasy to run us through how it came together and more.

Hysteria: How’d the band get started?

Emad: It’s a bit of a weird one. Me and our drummer Wangsu are friends from high school. And Toby and our guitarist Matt are also friends from high school. Wangsu and I met Matt at uni and thought we should get together, and then he brought in Toby.

Toby: Once we all realised we were into the same type of music, it was pretty cool. We respect each other as musicians, so it was great to get together and write.

Congratulations on the release of Mono Pneuma. What’s life been like for the band since it dropped?

Emad: It’s been pretty good. It’s done a lot better than we thought, so it’s really blown my expectations. We’re just trying to live up to it now and connect with everyone that’s liking it.

Toby: It surprised us how many people from different countries found it. When we get comments from people from the UK or America, we get super happy. It’s great that people so far away are enjoying our music.

Give us a view into the recording studio. How’d this one come together?

Emad: We actually rented out a little office for three or four months. We made it our own little studio and started writing the EP. Then we decided just to record it all there as well. We did the drums with Mark Matula, but everything else was done in that small room.

We wanted the name to reflect all of us putting in the work. We wanted it to reflect one mind and one soul; it pretty much just means all of us putting our minds together.
[ Emad Ghaffar ]

We love the juxtaposition on the EP and how it mixes those heavier sounds with positive lyrics. So what would you say inspired this record lyrically?

Toby: It was more the vibe of each song. We had a lot of demos and riffs lying around, and we wanted the EP to be very versatile. So if we had a few heavy songs, we wanted the others to be a little more melodic. We sat down and discussed what themes we found interesting and what we wanted to explore. That’s why there’s such a range of concepts tackled in each song.

What does the title Mono Pneuma mean to the band?

Emad: It took a long time for us to come across that name. We were brainstorming a lot of different things, and one night we decided we wanted the name to reflect all of us putting in the work. We wanted it to reflect one mind and one soul; it pretty much just means all of us putting our minds together.

How do you feel you achieved that in your recording studio?

Emad: Oh, we definitely did butt heads at some points.

Toby: We were getting to know each other when we first started writing together. And we were learning what we all liked, we all listen to different types of music. In the earlier times when we would butt heads, we would be stubborn about certain things. We’ve matured now, and give way to others’ ideas easier.

It must be such an awesome feeling being part of our amazing Oz heavy scene. Who would you say are some of your favourite homegrown bands?

Emad: Northlane and Polaris.

Toby: I’d also say, Thornhill and Alpha Wolf. They’re all bands we really look up to.

What’s next?

Emad: We’ve got started on some future releases. They’re all in the early stages because we’ve been in lockdown and haven’t had the chance to get together, but there will hopefully be some new releases dropping soon. We hope to have a new music video dropping soon too.

Toby: Yeah, we were sitting on this EP for a while. There are definitely other things we’ve been working on since then, and we’d love to get them out.