EP #99 - How The Bleeders Built A New Zealand Punk Legacy

I sat down with Angelo and Gareth from the legendary New Zealand punk rock band The Bleeders as they celebrate 20 years of As Sweet As Sin. We dig into the early scene that built them, the Canada move that broke them for a while, and why live shows still beat algorithms every day of the week. We talked How the band forms through friendship and straight-up poaching from other local bands, the early “we’ve got something here” moments, radio and streaming, social media fatigue and the snowball to the 2009 breakup. What they would change with hindsight, Translating “All That Glitters” into Te Reo Māori., weird gigs, chaos shows, and meeting heroes like Lemmy and the Sex Pistols. Go support The Bleeders Linktree: https://linktr.ee/BleedersSweetasSin IG:   / bleedersofficial   FB:   / bleedersofficial   Sponsored by Infinity Sleep Get the sleep you deserve and use the promo code “onlyscott15%” and receive 15% off your first order. https://www.infinitysleep.co.nz/ My Social Media YouTube -    / @onlyscott   Instagram -   / theonlyscott01   TikTok -   / onlyscottspodcast   Facebook -   / only-scott-100091616387021   Chapter Markers 00:00 — Intro: NZ punk legends & the green and white band shirt 00:45 — Reunion or just been back the whole time? 02:32 — Celebrating 20 years of Sweet As Sin & the new vinyl press 04:11 — Hardcore punk in NZ before emo blew up 06:11 — The 2000s nostalgia & what brought the band together 07:05 — How the Bleeders actually formed 08:10 — Angelo in NYC on 9/11, the warp tour, and poaching the lineup 10:29 — Coming home driven: doing something NZ didn't have 12:43 — Every band needs a motivator 13:16 — The "oh shit, this band is something" moment 14:36 — First practice 15:12 — The Universal Records joke that actually came true 16:35 — Good Charlotte and how relationships build everything 18:43 — Hard work + luck 20:10 — Bands don't have to be good anymore 20:26 — Government arts funding 24:25 — Major labels, the content treadmill, and saturation 26:42 — There's no mystery anymore in music 27:48 — Why we play 29:08 — Fans bringing their kids to the shows 30:27 — AI influencers and bots 32:02 — The one thing you can't fake: a packed room 32:26 — Why radio still beats streaming 34:47 — Bring Back MySpace 36:40 — The Canada move 41:54 — Tunnel vision and bad timing 45:19 — Balancing Ego 46:00 — Touring Australia 47:05 — Hindsight 48:50 — Knocking on doors selling crystal balls for minimum wage 50:28 — Gareth's adult store job 52:40 — Translating "All That Glitters" to Te Reo & the corrections documentary 55:48 — Change the system from within the system 56:39 — Hardcore vs punk: smash it down vs build a solution 57:31 — Working corrections 59:25 — Weirdest gig: chaos at the Crown in Dunedin 01:00:56 — Nazi skinheads 01:02:23 — Meeting Lemmy at soundcheck 01:03:54 — Supporting the Sex Pistols last year 01:05:04 — Davy Havoc from AFI just turns up to their gig 01:05:53 — Lived the dream (just not the million bucks) 01:08:21 — Nationwide tour dates