Iowa based hard rock band SAUL released their new single “Brother” off of their latest EP titled AEONS to radio and it is now the #1 most spun song on SiriusXM Octane two weeks in a row. The single is an emotional roller coaster about death and the struggles of dealing with loss. “Brother” is the embodiment of the band and its message. It is how music should be. It’s real, raw, aggressive and satiated with intent. AEONS was produced and mixed by Chris Dawson (Seasons After). The band is currently on tour in support of the EP.
SAUL has now rounded out its lineup to include William McIlravy (Bass guitar/Backup Vocals), Joe Nichols (Drums), Blake Bedsaul (Lead Vocals), and Zach Bedsaul (Lead Guitar/Backup Vocals).
Music Madness Magazine touched base with lead vocalist Blake Bedsaul to discuss the band’s recent release as well as their upcoming tour.
Music Madness: Blake congrats on the early success of new single “Brother” which speaks to death and loss but can you give us a little more insight.
Blake: Thank you. Zach, the guitar player, and myself, lost our older brother in 2009 due to H1N1. He caught it and at first, we didn’t know what it was. We just knew he was sick. The hospital told him to stay home and he started hallucinating really bad. By the time we got him to the hospital, he had a 104 temp, and being a 27-year-old guy, that’s pretty much fatal in itself. We got him to the hospital, they tried putting him on life support but they couldn’t bring his organs back online. They couldn’t get him to function anymore, so he ended up passing away from H1N1. That was a huge loss to the family. We still talked about him almost every day. We wrote this song to try to immortalize him because everybody loved him.
We wrote this song and later on, we got William McIlravy and Joe Nichols to join the band. Well, Joe heard “Brother” and he’s like, “You wrote this song for me,” not knowing specifically what it’s about for us. He was like, “I lost my younger brother Donnie in Afghanistan in 2011 in.” It’s crazy the way it worked out.
Music Madness: I’ve listened to the song and It took me a few times of listening to the lyrics, it told a story with a good amount of energy to it. It didn’t come across in a depressing manner, if that makes sense to you.
Blake: Yep, actually we thought about that when we were first writing the song. We could’ve made it slow and … I guess sappy might be the wrong word for it, but you know what I mean. We could’ve gone that route but we knew Caleb, he lived hard, he lived fast, so let’s do it the way he lived it. So that’s the direction we decided to go with the song rather than being slow, but you can definitely tell we brought it back in that bridge when I’m screaming at the top of my lungs “Brother” for him.
Music Madness: Sometimes the message gets lost in the delivery. So you guys started playing music at an early age. How did the idea to start a band come about?
Blake: Zach and I started in high school. Like most bands, we started as a cover band just doing street dances around our hometown area in northwest Iowa. After that, we said, “Screw it, we don’t want to be labeled as the cover band, you know the Bedsaul’s cover band from Northwest Iowa.” We said, “If we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it and do it our way,” so Zach and I just started writing. This was around 2008. From there, Zach and I just left the band and we just went around doing acoustic songs. Of course, there were some covers in there, Johnny Cash, and you know, CCR and stuff like that.
But we just started doing that and all the sudden, they’re like, “Well you guys need a band name,” and we’re like, “Yeah,” rather than Blake and Zach Bedsaul doing cover tunes and doing acoustic songs that they’ve written. So, my brother Caleb was like, “Why don’t you call yourselves Saul, since the brothers Saul,” and we were like, “Okay, that’s great, and it just kind of stuck with us, and we’ve had some member changes here and there. It has always been Zach and I. I was playing bass and doing lead vocals. Zach doing guitar and backup vocals. We’ve had three drummers come and go, and now we are on the ultimate lineup, and honestly the best news that we could probably ask for right now. We’re trying to take it to the moon because we feel really good about the direction and everything that we’re doing right now, and the best team and the best crew that we have right now.
Music Madness: Very cool. I was stoked to see that you guys are making it down to our neck of the woods in May.
Blake: Yes sir.
Music Madness: Tell me a little bit about your live show. Have you gotten to play “Brother” in a live setting yet? How are people responding to the music?
Blake: It’s actually been pretty crazy. During the month of March we were just doing some CD release shows around our hometown, just Northwest Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, and by the time we get to “Brother”, it’s the last song in our set, usually I can’t hardly hear myself because the crowd’s singing, so that is an awesome feeling. Really, as a band, you never know if you’re gonna get to that point, but to be here right now and have the crowd singing just as loud as I am, it’s a little overwhelming in such a good, positive way.
Music Madness: What’s going on with the tour?
Blake: Starting April 24th, I know we’re hitting Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, then we’re heading down to Florida, which I’m excited about…I haven’t been down there. I hear a lot about alligators, so they’ll be exciting to see.
Music Madness: Just remember you gotta zig zag (laughing).
Blake: Yep. I know our manager is Chris Dawson from Seasons After and he absolutely loved Florida. He’s told us nothing but good things about down there.
Music Madness: Fans are very interactive down here. Mixing it up with the crowds down here before or after your set goes a long way.
Blake: Love that, awesome, we’re all about the fans.
Music Madness: Are there any covers that really speak to you guys that you have thought about adding next time you do an EP or an album?
Blake: Well, we do our remake rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine”. That’s religiously, every show, and we’ve actually thrown in Nine Inch Nails, “Hand that Feeds” that’s in our set as well.
Music Madness: Very cool. What kind of music did you guys grow up listening to? What’s your first love as far as music goes?
Blake: First love definitely … I mean, we grew up getting music from my dad. He loved bands like Black Sabbath and Scorpions, stuff like that. So getting music influence like that from home, and then as we got older, it progressed, like Tool, and I was a huge Pearl Jam fan. We’re huge fans of bands like Nothing More, Architects, and 12 Foot Ninja is crazy good.
When I’m at home listening to music, I listen to stuff like The Temptations and Elvis Presley and stuff. I really like everything.
Music Madness: Very cool. Do you still remember your first concert?
Blake: Yes, my first concert was Killswitch Engage and The Used for the Taste of Chaos tour in Des Moines, Iowa.
Music Madness: Nice, how old were you?
Blake: 14.
Music Madness: Have you guys been approached for anything coming up as far as festivals go this year?
Blake: Not a lot of the big ones, but we were approached for some cool things coming up and they were talking about some festivals and stuff. I hope that we’ll be announcing some stuff real soon.
Be sure to check out SAUL’s latest release and their upcoming tour.