Bloodstains Interview

Let's start off by telling me who’s all in Bloodstains and what does everyone do in the band?

The band is Nick Espinoza on bass, David Espinoza on guitar, Miles Gretsky on drums, and myself on vocals. Nick and David also do backup vocals on some songs.

How did you guys all meet and decide to play together? I have known David and Nick for like 15 years now, I believe we met at some backyard kickback and just had like similar taste in music and got along good. We decided to jam with each other almost immediately. We’ve been in and out of bands for a while but Bloodstains started in 2019.

Did you guys grow up listening to punk music? Being from Southern California I imagine it wasn’t all that hard to access. How did you get into it?
Yeah of course. Since a very young age, being in Southern California it is pretty common to find out about punk stuff. And I'm pretty sure through skateboarding. I would watch skate VHS that had a ton of sick ass bands like the Ramones, The Stitches, and Black Flag to name a few.

For your first 7”, you guys released it on Hostage. Seems like a perfect label for that release! Were you guys fans of the label prior to working with them?
Sort of. Obviously knew the label but they were putting more of the old bands by the time I heard about them and I was more interested in modern bands. But I knew the importance of the label and a fan of some of the records they put out. But yeah it worked out perfectly and am so stoked that our first release on vinyl was on Hostage.


For your debut LP, you guys recorded it with So Cal punk legend Jerry “The Animal” Adamo at his studio! How was that experience?
It was awesome. Jerry is an old school type of engineer and honestly so easy to work with. He let us do our thing and gave some advice a few times. I believe we will work with him again for our next record.



Being from L.A., a city that seems like it has a lot going on most nights, is it hard being in a band and getting people to come to shows at all?
We are not from LA, we are actually from Orange County which is about 45 mins down South. So there's not as many shows as in LA but when there is one it’s almost always a great one. I think it’s hard for us to get LA shows because there is so many shows going on.


And speaking of Bloodstains shows, I know you guys have played some pretty stacked lineups in the past. Can you tell me what one of your favorite shows you played at was and why it still sticks in your memory?
Man there have been a lot of great ones. There was a cool rooftop gig we played in Santa Ana with Chain Cult that was a fun and wild one. Our record release gig was also with Poison Ruin in Santa Ana as well and that was very special to us. We had a lot of friends and people from Orange County at that one, even my parents came to watch!

Again, being from Southern California and being in a punk band, everyone probably automatically assumes all your influences. But what are some bands that influenced your sound that you think people might be surprised by?
A lot of us love all sorts of punk and just different types of music. We start off our set with Link Wray’s “Rumble” and that’s a bit different to hear I guess. I know David is a huge fan of his guitar work. From old rockabilly, 80’s thrash metal, 90’s “grunge”, and even for myself Mexican music I grew up listening to. I think it’s important to take influence from all that stuff and apply it to how it makes sense to you. From lyrics to song structure. All that shit.


So what does the future hold for Bloodstains in 2026?
More gigs! We got a few out of state gigs planned and honestly hopefully have a new record out. We will be recording soon so going to try to have a new record out before the year ends.



Where can people go to hear your music and get your records?
You can listen to us on our Bandcamp and all streaming services. We’ve been sold out of records for the time being but working on something new and hopefully also repress the LP again