Bleached found this year’s SXSW more maneuverable: “There was a big blizzard on the East Coast...some bands came in two days late.”

Los Angeles’ Bleached played South By Southwest last month where they were pleasantly surprised by a less claustrophobic atmosphere. According to guitarist Jessie Clavin, “The traffic wasn’t as horrible. I guess there was a big blizzard on the East Coast and some bands missed their flights and came in two days later.”

With a little help from Mother Nature, the quartet were able to get in and out of the festival with a bit more ease than is usually the case. The band’s next adventure will be 17 dates with punk band the Damned in celebration of the 40th birthday of the latter’s Damned Damned Damned LP. Bleached will be touring in support of a slightly younger platter, 2017’s Can You Deal? EP.

The Clavins’ latest harks back to hard-rocking ’90s acts Urge Overkill and L7.

Fans of 2016’s Welcome the Worms LP can rest assured that the new EP continues in the same hard-rocking vein. Bleached is channeling a sound that would have felt at home in the ’90s (Urge Overkill, L7) but today sounds surprisingly unique. Jennifer related how she has friends in bands that could be defined as garage and pop-punk, but that Bleached doesn’t adapt so easily to standard genre classification. “I think sometimes it’s easier when you have your crew of bands that you sound similar to and you can easily book tours together and hang out,” she concluded.

The Clavin sisters are Los Angeles natives who have been playing shows in San Diego for years. In fact, the Wikipedia page for their old band, Mika Miko, features a live photograph of the band playing the Casbah in 2006. Jennifer related that they have been playing shows down here since they were teenagers, and that they love to eat at Pokez when they’re in town. She also revealed that she had a bit of a revelation after attending the Frights’ You Are Going To Hate This Fest 2 in February at the Soma.

“It was massive. I had no idea the San Diego scene was even that big. It was at some crazy, big venue, and I just thought it was so cool because I feel like every time we go to San Diego we’re playing a bar. I never got to experience the all-ages scene, and when I saw that I was thinking I want to be playing more all-ages shows in San Diego. That’s why we’re in a band…to play for everybody. Not just 21 and over,” Jennifer said.