Bleed Like Me

Bleed Like Me is the fourth album by alternative rock group Garbage. It was released in April 2005 worldwide, following critical appraisal and unexpectedly high chart positions for its lead-off single "Why Do You Love Me", which entered the Billboard Hot 100 and debuted in the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. Bleed Like Me debuted on the Billboard 200 at a career-high #4 - the band's first top ten album ever in the USA. Bleed Like Me had a very strong opening week globally, debuting in the top five in many countries - including the United Kingdom, Australia, and the States.

Following lacklustre response to its predecessor, 2001's beautifulgarbage, passive aggression between band members Duke Erikson, Shirley Manson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig, and a general lack of direction for the record, Garbage struggled to create the album and in October 2003 the band secretly split for four months. After sessions with John King in Los Angeles studio and a guest appearance from ex-Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on "Bad Boyfriend", the band reformed with renewed focus and completed the record by the end of 2004.

Bleed Like Me also includes contributions from drummer Matt Walker (Filter), (The Smashing Pumpkins) and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Ima Robot, Beck, Nine Inch Nails). Also contributing to songs written during sessions for the album but not used were John 5, formerly of Marilyn Manson, and Matt Chamberlain.

Album
Work on Bleed Like Me started after Vig had completed production work on albums by AFI and Jessy Moss and after Garbage had wrapped up a tour with No Doubt and The Distillers in November 2002.

The first sessions for what would become Bleed Like Me were in March 2003 at the band's own Smart Studios; although the band had made some rough demos during a two-week session in August 2002. During those sessions the band wrote at least one song called "The Beast".

On the day Garbage started proper work on the fourth record, they wrote "Right Between the Eyes" in 30 minutes. Other tracks written during the early sessions were "Hangin' With The Bitches" and "Never Be Free" (with John5). Recording for the album was halted during the summer when Manson underwent surgery on her right vocal cord and was not given the all clear to sing again until August.

From August 4, Manson began to publish a blog of the band's progress on the album on their website, as she had done previously during the recording of beautifulgarbage. On September 10 a backhoe careered into the outer walls of Smart Studios, where both Garbage and Paris, Texas had been working on their albums, causing extensive damage. on October 10, Manson stated in her journal that the record's proposed working title was Hands on a Hard Body, named after the 1997 documentary of the same name.

Due to rising tension within the band and a breakdown in communication, on October 21 the band suffered in the words of Manson: "a complete and utter band meltdown this afternoon. It was pretty intense. We all sat around a table telling home truths and it hurt but it also felt really cathartic and healthy and constructive".

Not knowing if Garbage would continue, Vig relocated to his Los Angeles base, while Manson returned to her native Scotland. During the Christmas period Vig encountered excited Garbage fans eager to hear how the album was going. Not having the heart to tell them Garbage had effectively split, he name-dropped titles to them. After this encounter he realised there was still something left in the band.

In January 2004 Garbage reconvened in Los Angeles with Dust Brother John King; working on "Bad Boyfriend", "Space Can Come Through Anyone" and "It's All Over But The Crying". During this period the band also worked with drummer Matt Chamberlain, bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and on February 6, Dave Grohl performed drums on "Bad Boyfriend His performance was regarded by the band as "raising the bar" for the record. During this period Manson also took the opportunity to record a duet with Marilyn Manson; a cover of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me", which has yet to be released as neither Shirley or Marilyn felt comfortable releasing it on either of their records.

The sessions had the effect of giving the band perspective and direction. Erikson later said "It made us realize that we do what we do in our own bizarre little way, and nobody else can really help us do that. It kicked us in the butt and made us go back and kind of reevaluate where we were at and realize that what we do is really important to us, and we are the only ones who are really gonna get it done. It was kind of seductive to think that maybe someone else was gonna come in and solve all of our problems, but in the end you gotta do it yourself." An idea to record a few tracks with producer Tony Hoffer was mooted, but most likely rejected due to the band's decision to complete their album themselves. Feeling that previous album beautifulgarbage was very fractured, the band decided what they wanted was for the record to have a 'live' sound (Vig: "We tried to go for the pumping energy that all the best raw rock records have" ).

Following the John King sessions, the band formally relocated to Los Angeles and wrote two new songs, "Metal Heart" and "Boys Wanna Fight", which were more energetic songs than the band had been writing as well as lyrically more "overtly political" both songs referencing the US and UK led 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Manson also performed backing vocals with The Distillers vocalist Brody Dalle on a Queens of the Stone Age track titled "You Got a Killer Scene There, Man...".

On May 25, Garbage posted a message at their website confirming their working title for the album (Hands on a Hard Body) and a list of 14 songs being worked on for the record, including new titles "Run", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Bleed Like Me", "Calling All Girls", "Guilty" and "Why Don't You Come Over".

Work continued on the album throughout 2004; the band returning to their home base of Madison in September. The week of September 6, Justin Meldal-Johnsen performed bass on the tracks he hadn't already worked on. Drummer Matt Walker was asked to drum on a number of tracks on the album so that Vig could sit "behind the glass" while producing the album. On October 18, the band began to start mixing the album track by track. Some songs were mixed a number of times while one song, "Sex Is Not The Enemy" was re-recorded three times during the mixing process. Following the final mix of "Happy Home", where the band wrote in live strings at the last minute, on December 6 the record was officially completed. From there the band took the album to New York City to be mastered which was completed by December 15.

On November 19, Garbage confirmed that their fourth album had the official title of Bleed Like Me. On January 4, 2005, Bleed Like Me was confirmed for release worldwide in April of that year.

Release and success
On February 15 "Why Do You Love Me" was released to Alternative, Modern Rock and Triple-A radio in the States, and for that week to February 22 was #1 Most Added track at Modern Rock radio. On February 23 it debuts on the Modern Rock Tracks chart at #39 and is the 'Greatest Gainer' with the largest increase in detections. In the United Kingdom, "Why Do You Love Me" premiered on February 18 on Jo Whiley's Radio One show. It was C-listed at Radio One and XFM. It was made XFM's single of the week, reaching #1 on their airplay chart for several weeks.

On March 8, "Why Do You Love Me" was made available as a digital download in US and Canada. The following week "Why Do You Love Me" debuts at #97 and #81 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100 charts respectively, becoming the band's most successful single since 1999's "Special". On March 27, the single was released on CD maxi in Australia, where it debuted at #19, and across Europe the following day.

Debuting the Bleed Like Me set on March 29 Garbage supported the single release with three live dates in Paris, London and Cologne, and with a large number of televised performances including CD:UK, Popworld, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Top of the Pops, Napster Live in the United Kingdom and on Album de la semaine, 20h10 petantes and Traffic music in France. The band performed both "Why Do You Love Me" and "Bleed Like Me" at a number of these shows.

"Why Do You Love Me" was released in the UK on April 4 on CD, DVD and limited edition 7". After reaching #4 in the mid-week chart, it debuts on April 10 at #7 after selling 10,089 copies - their highest charting single since 1996's "Stupid Girl" and also breaking a run of six consecutive singles to fall short of the Top 10.

Bleed Like Me was released worldwide on April 11, selling 29,000 copies in its first week to debut at #4 on the UK album chart. The album was released in North America on April 12 and was sold just under 75,000 copies to debut at #4 (on Billboard 200, Top Internet Albums and Comprehensive Albums charts). Bleed Like Me also debuted in the Top Tens in Australia, Greece, France, Sweden, Japan, Hong Kong, Belgium and Canada.

Despite cancelling the first date of the band's North American tour to support the release of Bleed Like Me, the band headline shows started on April 10 in San Francisco. On April 20, the band taped an in-studio show for Fuse Comp'd. On May 3, "Bleed Like Me" was released to alternative radio. It peaks at #27 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. On May 12, Garbage perform "Bleed Like Me" on the Late Show with David Letterman. Garbage completed their initial North American club tour on May 14 in Baltimore.

Beginning with a June 1 show in Copenhagen, Garbage took to Europe to promote Bleed Like Me on the festival circuit, including playing at Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Glastonbury, Download and Montreux Jazz Festivals. Supporting the band's headline London show; on June 13, "Sex Is Not The Enemy" was released in the United Kingdom; it charted at #24. After performing in a show broadcast Europe-wide (Isle of MTV) in Trieste, the band completed their European dates on July 16 in Vienna.

Garbage returned to North America with a show on July 27 in Costa Mesa for dates through to September 17 in Las Vegas. . On July 28 the band perform "Bleed Like Me" on The Tonight Show.

On August 25, Garbage cancelled their scheduled October tour dates in France, Belgium and United Kingdom and in a statement stated that the band had "somewhat overextended themselves" and had decided to conclude their tour in Australia on October 1. Due to the tour being pulled, the UK release of "Run Baby Run" 24 October was also cancelled and its music video taken off rotation from music channels. A mooted fourth UK single release, "It's All Over But The Crying", was also scrapped.

Upfront of the band's Australian tour, "Sex Is Not The Enemy" was released to Australian radio; and on September 11 FMR released a Bleed Like Me special edition with a bonus DVD. After a performance of "Why Do You Love Me" on Rove Live, the Australian tour began on September 21 in Canberra and ended on October 1 in Perth. ARIA certified Bleed Like Me gold for shipping 35,000 units.

The end of the Australian tour also marked the end of active band promotion for Bleed Like Me. Earlier in the week, on September 23 the band confirmed that they were going "on indefinite hiatus" to dispel reports of a band split.

Track listing
Standard Edition


 * 1) "Bad Boyfriend" – 3:46
 * 2) "Run Baby Run" – 3:58
 * 3) "Right Between the Eyes" – 3:55
 * 4) "Why Do You Love Me" – 3:54
 * 5) "Bleed Like Me" – 4:01
 * 6) "Metal Heart" – 3:59
 * 7) "Sex Is Not the Enemy" – 3:06
 * 8) "It's All Over but the Crying" – 4:39
 * 9) "Boys Wanna Fight" – 4:16
 * 10) "Why Don't You Come Over" – 3:25
 * 11) "Happy Home" – 6:00

Extras


 * "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do" (track 12 on Japanese edition)
 * "Why Do You Love Me (video)" (track 12 on US & Canadian E-CD edition)
 * "Sex Is Not The Enemy video" (appears on the Australian 2005 Tour Edition bonus dvd)
 * "Making Of Sex Is Not The Enemy" (appears on the Australian 2005 Tour Edition bonus dvd)
 * "Bleed Like Me interview" (appears on the Australian 2005 Tour Edition bonus dvd)
 * "Cherry Lips (Live In Mexico)" (appears on the Australian 2005 Tour Edition bonus dvd)
 * Photo Gallery (appears on the Australian 2005 Tour Edition bonus dvd)

Outtakes
 * "Nobody Can Win"
 * "Space Can Come Through Anyone"
 * "Never Be Free"
 * "Honey Bee"

Remixes, B-sides and unreleased tracks
In contrast to Garbage's previous albums, only two of the singles from Bleed Like Me were remixed for clubs. Eric Kupper reworked "Bleed Like Me", while both Ils and Devil's Gun completed versions of "Sex Is Not The Enemy". A remix of "Bleed Like Me" by Ralphi Rosario, which later leaked online, was rejected by either Garbage or their A&R, while unofficial remixes of "Sex Is Not The Enemy" by both Naughty and Freaks circulated on separate 12" vinyls. Garbage themselves completed alternative versions of "Why Do You Love Me" for radio and a new version of "beautifulgarbage" single "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)". In 2007, Jeremey Wheatley and Brio Tallaferio remixed "It's All Over But The Crying" for its inclusion on greatest hits collection Absolute Garbage.

A number of tracks written during the sessions for Bleed Like Me but not included on the final album were released as bonus cuts on the groups international singles. These tracks were "Nobody Can Win", "Space Can Come Through Anyone", "Never Be Free" and "Honeybee". Garbage also included a demo track, "Badass", on the "Run Baby Run" single. A number of tracks written during this album cycle remain unreleased: including "The Beast", "Hanging With The Bitches", "More Than Enough", and "Guilty".

Garbage

 * Shirley Manson – vocals
 * Steve Marker – guitars, synthesizers, programming, overdubs
 * Duke Erikson – guitars, synthesizers, programming, atmospherics, mellotron, piano (on "It's All Over but the Crying" & "Happy Home")
 * Daniel Shulman – bass
 * Butch Vig – drums, efx, programming

Other personnel

 * Art direction: Big Active
 * Design & montage: Mat Maitland at Big Active
 * Photo: Rankin (Special thanks to...)
 * Band photography: Frank W. Ockenfels III
 * Management: Q Prime Inc.
 * Legal: Bill Berrol

Production

 * Recorded & produced by Garbage
 * "Bad Boyfriend" produced by John King and Garbage
 * Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin; Sound City, Van Nuys; The Boat, Los Angeles and Grungeisdead, Silverlake, California
 * Mixed by Butch Vig at Smart Studios
 * Assistant engineers: Beau Sorenson, Jay Arnold (Smart Studios); Pete Martinez (Sound City); Danny Kalb, Mark Branch & Mike Laza (The Boat)
 * Drum technicians: Ryan Macmillan, Chris Heuer
 * Mastered: Emily Lazar (The Lodge, NYC)
 * Mastering assistant: Sarah Register (The Lodge)

Publishing

 * All songs written by Garbage 2005 Deadarm Music / Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP) and Vibecrusher Music / Irving Music, Inc (BMI). Administered by Rondor Music.

Other credits

 * Shirley Manson appears courtesy of Radioactive Records.
 * Dave Grohl appears courtesy of RCA Records.