Despite breaking up in 2008, local fuzz rock quartet drops vinyl album
The Blood Lines, a Saskatoon-based indie rock group, has made their debut vinyl album available for sale in local record stores.
The group had disbanded in 2008.
Having been fairly active during their short career, the band combined concise pop sensibilities along with elements of desert-baked fuzz rock, ’60s psych-worship and west coast indie sludge. And, having been pressed on ‘smoky’ red vinyl along with a hand-screenprinted cover, the self-titled album is a milemarker of a local group long gone.
Here’s how it all went down:
In 2005, two sets of siblings, S.J. and Maygen Kardash along with Paul and Barrett Ross, team up to form The Blood Lines. A year later the group release their debut album on CD and tour across North America, including a gig in China.
“We played the Beijing Pop Festival in September,” S.J. would go on to tell Edmonton’s Vue Weekly. “We played with big names—Nine Inch Nails, New York Dolls, Mando Diao … we were not on the main stage or anything, but still—we played for 3000 people!”
The self-titled album eventually wins “Outstanding Rock Recording” at the 2007 Western Canadian Music Awards.
The group disbands in 2008. Paul and Barrett go on to Foam Lake while S.J. and Maygen form Violent Kin.
Fast forward to 2012, The Blood Lines vinyl LP sees release locally.
“In Summer 2008, while working on our follow-up album, the Calgary-based label Saved by Vinyl pressed our debut record. But, it was only available at one show before the band broke up in September 2008,” says S.J.