Formed in 2002 by Tim Williams and guitarist Mike Kennedy (both of which were members of the legendary New York hardcore band Vision of Disorder), the band—which also features guitarist Nick Rowe and bassist Kyle Sanders—were initially discovered by Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray in 2004 and instantly hit the road (and held their own) with peers such as Otep, American Head Charge and Candiria. Since then, the band has toured with everyone from Stone Sour to Alice in Chains to Slayer, introducing their unique brand of groove-driven metal to anyone open-minded enough to listen and gaining fans all over the world.

“Whenever anyone has asked us to describe ourselves we’ve never been able to quite nail it on the head,” Sanders responds when asked how bloodsimple are able to successfully tour so many seemingly disparate acts. “We don’t want to box ourselves into a corner where we can only do underground tours or hardcore tours—and I think we’ve been pretty successful with that,” he continues. “I think that we can hold our own with any band in the rock genre and that’s something that all of us are extremely proud of.”