Mad Tree: Blissen Readies to Introduce its Sound with New Single & Debut LP
- matt smith
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
There’s many reasons these days to be optimistic about the city’s music scene: a new generation of kids packing shows at Area 54, the tremendous job by groups such as the Lavender Room and Get A Grip Studios in putting together must-see bills while simultaneously working to build community, thriving hardcore and indie scenes, and a crop of talented new bands forming and releasing excellent debuts.
Now, meet Blissen, a young Buffalo grunge band offering yet another reason to believe the scene’s future is bright.
Comprised of musicians still in high school, the group plays with a sophistication and confidence that seems well beyond its years, a point that is especially noteworthy given that Blissen’s members haven’t been playing very long at all.
“We are all self-taught,” the band told 1120 Press recently. “We started playing instruments in 2023, and then we all just started to jam and practice more and more and eventually started making originals.”
That work has now culminated in Blissen’s soon-to-be released debut album, a seven-track LP titled ‘Seeds in Tar.’
“We began writing it about a year ago,” the band said. “It was recorded in multiple studios around the Buffalo area. Three of the drum tracks were recorded and engineered at GCR Audio with Marc Hunt, and then the remaining four at Black Rock Studios, primarily by Owen Shotwell (bassist for Prairie Pavement). For guitars and vocals, we recorded at Sycamore Sounds in Kenmore. Nathan Weise (owner of Sycamore Sounds and guitarist and bassist of Romcom Victims and Velvet Bethany, respectively) was our engineer there, alongside Owen. We are super happy with the album’s sound for how much we jumped around different studios. As of now, the release date is set for October 9.”
As a run up to the release of ‘Seeds in Tar,’ Blissen will drop the album’s lead single on Friday (June 5). The song, titled ‘Mad Tree’ — (which you can pre-save HERE) — conjures the sound of Alice in Chains, featuring exquisite guitar work that rips across a foundation of foreboding rhythm as the track’s emotive vocals perfectly capture the song’s haunting desperation.
“‘Mad Tree’ talks about the struggles of suicide and mental health,” the band noted, adding its influences include Alice in Chains, Silverchair, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. “It’s one of the deepest themes we explore on our upcoming album and tries to put you into a perspective of someone who’s struggling. It’s supposed to be a push to check on the people you care about. The song follows a protagonist slowly losing themselves. The story is a reflection of the hidden selves that live within many of us every day. We only really write based off real experiences that have happened to us. We do this is so we can really dive into the issue with first-person experience. ‘Mad Tree’ was a song we put a ton of emotion into for this reason.”
Aside from writing, Blissen also has been hard at work introducing and spreading its sound, not only on the local scene — where it’s played venues including Area 54, Milkie’s, the Evening Star and Photo City Music Hall in Rochester — but beyond Western New York as well, having performed in Syracuse, Youngstown, Cleveland, Dayton Pittsburgh, and New Jersey.
“We think we’ve been received pretty well, considering the places we’ve gone and the friends that we’ve made,” said the band. “The whole Buffalo music scene has been so supportive of us and we feel very welcomed.”
Now, with its first single ready to drop on Friday in anticipation of its debut LP set for release in the fall, the band said it’s eager for people to learn more and gain a closer look at who Blissen is.
“We wanted to create an album that stayed true to ourselves and not make something that didn’t truly represent us. We’re feeling pretty great about it. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from the first single ‘Mad Tree’ and we’re hoping that the album will be received the same.”
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Blissen is comprised of Josh Ruszkowski - lead vocals and lead guitar, Michael Schnorr – drums, Timothy Gierlinger - bass and Matt Kuberski - rhythm guitar.
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