An Interview with Cut Like This

Cut Like This is a New York-based band that combines metallic riffs with gothic melodies and a twisted punk attitude. The founders of the band are vocalist Rose Blood and guitarist Thorne Black, two circus acrobats. As circus performers, they performed on stage with DJs such as Diplo, Excision, and Steve Aoki. They have since left the big top to perform without a net in front of crowds of black-clad moshers and stompers. They've already released a couple of singles out digitally, an ode to lycanthropy, “Bite” and the supernatural-themed “Lights Out”. We spoke about keeping creative during quarantine, taking inspiration from horror films, and the need for diversity and representation in rock music. 

Cut Like This is playing its first post-covid show this September at the Pretty in Punk festival in Maryland. How did you guys get involved?

Rose Blood: This event is put together by a group from Philly called Horror Punks USA. They’re doing some really cool stuff. It was started by this dude Ronin who is a stunt man in addition to being a musician and manager of other horror punk bands. And he is all about the community and bringing people together. I was in their calendar called the Fear Leaders and it was all badass spooky babes. Then they were like, “we do this annual show called Pretty in Punk. It’s all bands that are female-fronted, have female members, have LGBTQIA inclusion. Would you want to be part of something like that?” And I was like, “yes. That would be awesome!” We were also in one of their quarantine compilations. When he saw that there all these bands obviously not making money, out of work, not performing, he thought about getting people’s eyes on these bands that they might not have heard of, but they might dig. So I thought all of that is something I really want to be a part of moving forward. I love the idea of bringing more representation into the scene. We are a band that is all people of color and that is not something that you really see that much in this genre of music whether it’s goth or metal.  Not as much as I would like to see.

What can audiences expect from a Cut Like This show?

Rose Blood: We are aggressive. People who may be familiar with my old band (Hate in the Box) may be surprised how much heavier this band is. We have elements of goth, horror punk, and metal all mixed together because that’s just who we are. Why fight that? I’ve never really subscribed to just one genre or style. I make the type of music I want to hear. I listened to dot a lot of old-school bands like Jack Off Jill who have that riot goth thing going on. The contrast of melodic and beautiful vocals with harsh screams. I love that. I think when you have those moments of beautiful melody and then you have an epic scream right after that’s the kind of thing that puts goosebumps on my arms.

Thorne Black: It’s audio beautiful chaos. Controlled madness.

There’s an overall artistic vision for Cut like This from your album art to your music videos and even your personal fashion choices. What influences beyond musical ones went into the creation of Cut Like This? 

Rose Blood: We are super into horror movies and tv shows. So much so that we even started our own show on our YouTube channel. We have a show called The Cutting Room Floor where we review horror and anime. And I would say anime is a really big influence on us as for our style. We just love bringing color in every sense of the word to the metal scene. We wear skulls and crossbones and at the same time, we’ll have neon hair, blue and pink braids. 

Other than the YouTube show, how else have you stayed creative during lockdown?

Rose Blood: Definity creating that show was something we did to stay sane. We learned to edit videos. We learned a whole host of new skills. We had no choice. We had to upgrade technologically during covid times. As I feel everyone had to. We like to go with the flow and move with the times. It was really cool and a lot of fun. We now have knowledge and equipment to apply to doing our own homegrown music videos going forward. 

There quite a range in the subject matter in your music. You have songs like “Lights Out” inspired by ghost stories. You also have songs based on more personal, real-world issues such as “Hidden Curses’’ which is about abusive relationships. How do you decide what type of subject makes a Cut Like This song?

Rose Blood: There are definitely some songs that are more personal to me, like “Hidden Curses’’ about abusive relationships. The song “The Sky is Falling” is a personal song too. It’s about losing a family member to terminal illness. I wrote that way before covid really hit New York and I was like, “wow.” I wrote that about losing my cousin to cancer, but there is a different significance to it now. So many people, unfortunately, understand exactly what I was going through at this moment. That feeling of helplessness and rage when you are losing somebody and there is nothing you can do to stop it, that’s what that song is about. Not being afraid to release emotions no matter how negative or dark they may perceive to be. I don’t write about things because I want to be a negative person. I do think it’s important to empty out those negative feelings.

Thorne Black: I feel like songs like that are more relatable and can potentially touch or help somebody more so than the evil story songs.

Rose Blood: I like having both.

Thorne Black: It’s a blend. It’s not about, ‘’oh this is not about a monster, so we can’t do it.” I don’t want to have any places that we can’t go. 

Rose Black: I felt really restricted in my last project as far as what subject matter I could cover or not. It was really important to me when we started this band that I can really be creative and spread my wings and talk about whatever I want to talk about. And the theme for that album is monsters. There are movies monsters and I definitely touch upon that. You can find werewolves and vampires in different  Cut Like This songs. But sometimes what’s scarier than monsters like that are people. People are the biggest monsters of them all. And we all have a little monster inside of us. I wanted to explore both, the internal and the external monster.

Along with bassist Corey Carver, you guys form a trio. What led you to decide to go without a drummer?

Thorne Black: It was just really difficult to find a drummer. Seriously it has to be the hardest thing to find in a band is a consistently good drummer who isn’t already in 15 other bands. And not a hired gun. I’m not going to start off paying out of pocket every time I need to rehearse. So it was out of necessity and convenience. In the beginning, we lost our first drummer at the end of that band cycle and we learned it was ok to have some backing drum tracks and still perform and move forward.  Then we saw how much easier it was to travel without a giant drum set. It takes up so much space. You know that, but until you don’t have a drummer and you still play a show, it doesn’t really sink in. “oh wait, I’m done setting up and breaking down? This is all the space I need? Wow!”

Rose Blood: Not for nothing, having that extra room on stage is pretty nice.

Thorne Black: We’ve been on some stages sometimes that aren’t the biggest.

Rose Blood: We literally performed shows where the stage is so small the drummer and one other person can be on it and the rest of the band performs on the floor. In the goth scene, it’s not unusual to have drum tracks backing a band. No that I’m in a heavier band I get that question a lot. “Where’s your drummer, where’s your drummer?”

Thorne Black: At this point, I’m used to it. We still have good energy. We still have a good look. I still like live drums, but it’s not the end of the world. Another good thing about never having a drummer, you got to look at the positives, is that the drums are never out of time, which means we are never out of time.

What are your thoughts on the state of the current scene in New York?

Rose Blood: I’m pretty old-school. I’ve been in the scene for a long. Like all things, it evolves. Things have to change. That’s life. I can always point out how things have widely changed. St. Mark’s isn’t what it use to be. It was the spot. You would save your cash and go hit St. Mark’s Place and there were punk and goth stores as far as the eye can see. All these stores lined up on the road.

Thorne Black: You would look forward to the weekend.

Rose Blood: The stores were like congregation spots. You would get flyers for, CDs, and compilation for free to boost the scene That’s how you would meet metalheads, goths, and punks. You didn’t have to buy anything. I became friends with the people who worked at the stores. Now that everything is online it’s different. But I feel that there still is that need to find your people. That’s why we’re really excited about our show in November at the Unconvention at the APA Hotel Woodbridge in Iselin, New Jersey. It’s exactly that kind of community vibe I want to get back to. There’s going to be vendors, there are going to be bands, and they’re all spooky. It’s cool to mix them up. I like that. People are a little more open now to mixing their genres together than they were back in the day. This floor is only going to play the spooky, peaking thru the cobwebs goth. This floor is going to play the graver industrial stompa-stompa stuff. Nowadays people mix things together and are open to different sounds. And be open to events that have all that together.

You proudly declare that your band is made up of people of color. How important is diversity in the scene for you?

Rose Blood: I know when I grew up it wasn’t ok to be Latina and to look the way I did. A lot of people of color have the same story of not fitting in with the people from their culture but also not fitting into the scene. There’s that level of exclusion. I’m definitely going to do my best to promote events that are inclusive The Unconventon put together a lot of things to make it a safe space and a welcoming space for anybody. I feel that is super important and it’s something that not everyone is concerned about. If there are any events that are excited and interested in people of color and woman-fronted acts, that’s something I prioritize moving forward.

Thorne Black: And you know there’s an audience for it.

What’s next for Cut Like This?

Rose Blood: Were still deciding which events to take. We’re making sure they are taking enough covid precautions. We want to make sure these events are safe. Every Wednesday at 7 pm on our YouTube channel is a new episode of The Cutting Room Floor. We have a new song we are working on.

Thorne Black: If everything all goes, well be debuting it at our next show.

Rose Blood: It’s a very, very catchy, boppy, heavy, super spooky song about the boogie man. And I’m mega-hyped about it.

Thorne Black: We will be starting TikTok soon.  A good portion of it won’t be on other social media. Before we needed people to edit for us. I’ll be playing metal guitar on some popular sounds that wouldn’t normally have it. You can’t do that on other platforms because of music copyright. No one wants to pay musicians except TikTok. Certain things will be TikTok exclusive. Now that we know how to edit ourselves, we’re looking forward to creating a lot more creative content from now to the end of the year.

Rose Blood: We will also have a physical album release party. We couldn’t do it before because of covid. Our album is already out on digital, but we will have a physical release date. That’s one of the dates we’re currently negotiating about.

Do you have any words to pass on to other alt people of color interested in starting a band?

Rose Blood: The biggest block that a lot of people of color face when trying to enter the music scene is that they might not have the funds for a lot of things. You all should know you have access to stuff that’s free like Cakewalk or Reaper make audio recordings. You can use DaVinci Resolve to make videos for free. You can go on YouTube to learn how to use those programs. The barriers to entry are coming down. Some people just don’t know these programs exist. So kids, listen up. Make your music if you’re tired of seeing bands that don’t look like you. Make your own band. Make your own music. Put yourself out there and you will find that there more people that understand than you ever expected.

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