Back to basics. Take your time. Guitars and golden noise. Meet Bleached, two sisters from LA creating rough-hewed, high-collared, melodic Rock & Roll. Formerly part of Mika Miko, Jessica and Jennifer Clavin were best known for their freewheeling ’77 punk and riot girl lawlessness. In Bleached, they share the same slant towards the hard-edged, but instead veer towards a more vintage ensemble of Ramones bubble-gum, Merle Haggard country, and 60s psychedelic rock.
Raised up deep in the San Fernando Valley, their suburban isolation nurtured the girl’s creativity, as they started making their own music at a young age. Sneaking into punk shows over the hill in Hollywood, they grew up to become teenaged underground staples at the all-ages Downtown DIY venue, The Smell. Signed to Kill Rock Stars and Post Present Medium, their all-girl punk band Mika Miko drew international acclaim and won them slots on tours with No Age, Black Lips, and The Gossip.
Bleached originally formed when the Clavin sisters resolved to continue working with each other upon the break up of Mika Miko. Plans were postponed when Jennifer was asked to join NY band, Cold Cave, where she toured extensively and relocated east. With Jennifer away, Jessie began to play with the popular LA band, Cold Showers. Since moving back to her hometown, Bleached now serves as both girls’ chief creative outlet. Earlier this year, they released their first 7" on Ooga Booga, a Los Angeles art, book and fashion boutique imprint.
On their new single “Think of You,” Bleached’s playful harmonizing masks the dark topics they sing about: the struggles experienced upon failed relationships and all the sad themes that Stevie Nicks once eloquently expressed. That’s the goal, the sugary and sour repurposed by two aggressively harmonic musicians and songwriters.
The band’s “Carter” 7" was released on July 19th on Art Fag Recordings. The girls have plans to release another 7" soon and are playing a number of shows in California. Known for their raucous irrepressibly fun live shows, Bleached will tour the West Coast in August with San Diego surf rockers, Heavy Hawaii.
Press
“Lead single of their 7" off Art Fag Records which drops 7/17, “Think of You” sounds like The Misfits and says something that sounds small but is actually big: that it’s scary to tell a boy that you love him because it’s hard — probably impossible in the long run — to guarantee that affection is mutual. It does this in less than three minutes, and when it’s over, you immediately want to relearn the lesson” — Fader
“Think of You” is a Strummy heartbreaker that finds them in much less abrasive territory” — Pitchfork
“If you swept up all the vegan muffin crumbs and other detritus from the Smell’s floor, combined it with some sawdust from a dirtbag country bar where Merle Haggard once drunkenly two-stepped, and then threw in some tangy candy bits only found at a little corner store around the way from where Joey Ramone’s grandmother lived, you’d have something like Bleached” — LA Times
“Think Of You,” is bouncy, sunny punk-pop” — Stereogum
“We’ve just found a new band to blast the entire way to the beach… we’re already giving them a prime slot in our summer soundtrack” — Nylon
