Originally Published: Monday, April 18, 2005
Written by: Sarah XNicoleX
Most Precious Blood, a band name that rings familiar in any hardcore kid’s brain. A band that has had more than their fair share of hardships and still has pulled through to make a name for themselves without the help of others. After sitting down with Rachael from Most Precious Blood and asking her a few questions, I gained even more respect for the band as well as her.
After pondering on what to ask Rachael about the band and herself, I decided that it would be best to start off where they began, with the end of Rachael and Justin’s (the other guitarist in MPB) former band indecision in 2000. After what turned into indecision’s final show, Justin and Rachael rented a car and drove al the way home from El Paso, Texas where they were on tour with Kill Your Idols. When I asked their reasoning for leaving the band she answered me this,
“Justin and I didn’t leave Indecision. The band broke up in El Paso, TX on a tour with Kill Your Idols. We just pushed ourselves too far. We were all broke all the time, we were never home, and we were all stressed out because things always went wrong for us. We just hit a breaking point and that was it for the band. Justin and I drove home by ourselves and we started most precious blood about a month later. We just wanted to do the band for fun at first but eventually it turned full time though. Touring is much different now though then when Indecision was touring. You can actually make your rent money on a tour and get food at shows, etc… back then you didn’t get shit and i think a lot of bands these days take that for granted.”
Not only did Rachael and Justin start Most precious Blood but they also turned into being the only original members. They struggled through tuff times of different singers, countless drummers, and instrument swaps. Now on their second singer, their ninth drummer, and Rachael on guitar rather than bass anymore, they are holding strong and hope to stay the way they are right now. Although all seems well, there is always the question if this affects the band in anyway. So I asked Rachael if her and Justin being the only two original members ever effects the band now, good or bad, and she replied;
“Not really. Justin and I were always the ones that took care of everything. Justin writes a lot of the music and I take care of all the business stuff. So if members came and went, yeah it sucked because everyone that’s been in the band has contributed for the most part but we just felt like we could keep going. But I think at this point with our lineup now, any changes and it would be difficult to overcome it.”
After getting through where they came from, I decided to ask Rachael about where they have been and what they have experienced on tour. Many bands have their favorite cities to play in out of town so when I asked Rachael where she loves to play the most besides their home town, she said,
“we always love Albany, poughkeepsie.. kids there are awesome. and helsinki finland has been a great place for us. everyone is so nice.”
Then I began to ask her when they were on tour what were some of the things that stuck out in her mind? What she said next seemed like a series of unfortunate events in the bands history. .
“hmm… there are a lot of worst memories… being strip searched in austria, being held at the border of Hungary to Slovakia for 14 hours, being held at the border between the US and Canada in Quebec for 12 hours and having them seize all our money from 2 months of touring, getting stranded in Scotland 2 days before we were supposed to go home from Belgium after a 6 week tour, breaking down a million times in a van because Aamco couldn’t fix a transmission properly…
but as for the best things, just getting to play in front of a lot of people and travelling to so many places and meeting so many people makes it all worthwhile…”
Then I began to ask Rachael, about herself and her other band Wage of Sin. Not only on tour full time with Most Precious Blood but also working with another all girl band really must be a task, so I asked her how she can possibly balance both and what she plans to do with Wage of Sin?
“ There have been times where it’s been almost impossible to balance both bands. There have been times where I’ve had to miss shows with both bands because it was just impossible for me to keep up with both bands. That definitely caused friction between the two but I did the best that I could. As for the Wage of Sin, we toured Europe in January for 3 weeks and now we’re going to be breaking up in May after a few final shows just because none of us really have time to concentrate on the band anymore. but we definitely accomplished a lot of the stuff we wanted to and we’re all happy with everything that we did.”
I also asked her about being a girl and on tour with boys all the time. I asked her if it got awkward at times being the only girl, she replied;
“only in that i know exactly how guys think and how they think about girls. it can make me a little sick sometimes. and its not fair that they can strip down to their underwear or whatever and i have to change in the bathroom just because i would feel a little strange sitting in my underwear in front of the whole band.”
Not only can it get weird with the band but there are also perks and downfalls to being a girl In hardcore in general, especially in a band. Rachael said that;
“perks: you get a lot of attention sometimes, you can get away with sucking at your instrument downfalls:you get a lot of attention sometimes, you can get away with sucking at your instrument, people judge you more on whether you’re hot or not then whether you can play”
After talking to her about being a girl and her experiences in the hardcore scene, I began to wonder what it was like on tour and what regrets she might have, or what advice she might offer to girls and people in general. Rachael defiantly didn’t let me down. When I asked her about what exactly keeps her motivated on month long tours she replied,
“it’s what i enjoy doing. i’m thankful that I’m able to tour so much and earn a tiny living off of it. I never ever thought that would happen. I don’t really need much motivation to do what i do. The only thing that’s
hard for me is being away from my dog and from my new twin nieces…”
Then I asked her what she might change, or regret in all this time.
“I just wish I could be in the position that I’m now, and be about 5 years younger. but that’s impossible. otherwise, there’s nothing i’d change.”
The next thing I asked her really made me respect her even more, when I asked her what events or mindsets have made them successful and brought them to where they are today, she stated;
“dont really know how to answer this one. i can’t really measure how successful we are… but i guess its just working hard and when something bad happens, just trying to deal with the problem and solve it and move on without getting too discouraged.”
Finally I asked Rachael what advice she could give to girls who want to make it in the hardcore music scene, or kids in general striving to be in a band or something along those lines, she said;
“Don’t be afraid to learn an instrument or think that you can’t do it. every fucking guy in the HC scene is in a band practically and it should be the same for girls. there’s no reason why not. don’t ever feel threatened by guys or think you’re not good enough. they’re the ones who are really being threatened.”
After reading Rachael’s answer to the last question I asked it couldn’t ring any more true. This girl has gone farther than most and has put up with a lot of crap through it all. Most Precious Blood is by far a band that deserves everything they have.
