San Diego-based Blessure Grave started when frontman T. Grave began working on a side project, taking a break from his band Night Wounds. Bandmate Reyna Kay soon jumped on board the new Goth-pop outfit to contribute lyrically and vocally. With the help of several indie labels, the band gained an underground following from vinyl and tape releases of their songs. Their debut album, 'Judged by 12, Carried by 6,' was released on Feb. 9. Recently, T. Grave talked with Spinner about his band and his thoughts on Blessure Grave's upcoming debut at SXSW.

Describe Blessure Grave's sound.

I think our focus on this band was to pull from a lot of our favorite stuff, like Death in June and the Cure, a lot of the older death punk, post-punk, goth bands from the 1980s. Instead of copying or emulating them 100 percent, we're dumbing it down a little bit and putting it into two-and-a-half to three-minute pop songs. A lot of the Cure stuff is just very long and Death in June's stuff is far from accessible in terms of being commercial. So we wanted to combine pop sensibility with some of the darker goth.

How did this band form?

I was playing in another band, my serious band at the time called Night Wounds. It was more like a chaotic, heavy, noisy version of Sonic Youth. For five years, we released records and whatnot, but we just lost money on every endeavor. I wanted to do something by myself with a little more focus on the music that I was really into. I used to hang out with this kid when I first moved down here in San Diego who had an 8-track. These were kind of my experiments and it took off. Reyna decided that she wanted to contribute and pretty soon we found that we were writing and recording a song every single day for a good three to four months straight and that the formula worked pretty well.

How did you come up with the name Blessure Grave?

We were sitting in the car one day and I had pulled down the mirror to pick something out of my teeth. It said something about serious injury for not buckling your seat belt. The only other translation that they had was French, so it said "Blessure Grave." I looked at that and said, "Wow, that'd be the perfect name for a goth band." I still think it's a good name.

What are your musical influences?

It's not just the Cure and Death in June. It really is all over the place. I think a lot of the stuff that we listen to wouldn't be that much of a surprise to people. But Reyna, for instance, is really into a lot of old punk and stuff that I would never listen to like the Toy Dolls. Most of what I listen to on a daily basis is early 1980s UK punk stuff, but also black metal. We listen to a lot of, like, modern hip-hop, R&B radio, just because it's the only thing that comes through while we're driving around. We're really into so much different stuff, but I just like depressing music in general.

What would you say is your musical guilty pleasure?

That wouldn't be me. It would be something that Reyna would say and I wouldn't want to embarrass her. I don't know if she's comfortable having me talk about it.

What is the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

The craziest, craziest, craziest night was when Night Wounds played a lackluster show in Providence and one of my friends invited us over to stay at his house and he stayed in probably one of the worst neighborhoods. Only three of us in the band decided to stay there. We walked in and his roommate had found this stray dog. The stray dog attacks our drummer and just rips into his leg. He's bleeding everywhere and he's like "F--- this, I'm out of here."

Is this your first time going to SXSW?

I've never been with any band. All of my friends have said pretty negative stuff in terms of it just being more overwhelming than good. I think that we've done as good of a job as possible to book some good shows leading up to it. Both of the showcases that we have confirmed are with people that we really like. So I think that all in all, in terms of going up there and hanging out and having fun, it's going to be awesome. Hopefully we'll play pretty well.

What's in your festival survival kit?

A lot of water for hydration, since I know that it's probably going to be fairly hot. Reyna and I both are really into food so maybe a little list of the best eateries in the area. In reality, the most important thing of all is just a comfortable place to sleep.


Sarah Vasquez is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.