With its critically acclaimed records and a loyal fan following, The Blood Brothers has proved that a band can be successful without fitting into the cookie cutter, mainstream mold.

Although they have been described as everything from a hardcore, art punk, and screamo band, Jordan Blilie, one of the band’s two vocalists, said they do not consider themselves as a hardcore band, nor is it their goal to be considered mainstream.

“In some ways, we’re a little too abrasive for some people’s tastes. And then on the flip side we’re not abrasive enough for other people’s tastes. We exist in this gray area of sorts,” Blilie said in a phone interview.

“I don’t listen to much stuff that would be considered mainstream music, so I’m happy that we don’t fit because if we did, I would be making music I wasn’t too pleased with,” Blilie said.

The band’s signature sound lies in Blilie’s and Johnny Whitney’s shrieking vocals and frenetic sound.

Forming in Seattle’s punk music scene in 1997, The Blood Brothers started opening for bands such as The Murder City Devils and Botch, and playing at all-ages venues such as Seattle’s The Velvet Elvis.

Along with vocalists Blilie and Whitney, guitar player Cody Votolato, bass player Morgan Henderson and drummer Mark Gajadhar, the band has more recently toured with Cursive, Coheed and Cambria, and The Plot to Blow Up The Eiffel Tower. The band is currently touring with Celebration and Mika Miko on the southern California leg of its tour.

The Blood Brothers’ tour manager, Zoe Verkuylen, 27, said The Blood Brothers usually tours with bands that they are friends with.

“It’s nice for everyone, those bands included, to be out with people that you’re friends with and that you know, or that you’ve toured with before because it’s just kind of a family thing,” Verkuylen said in a phone interview.

Since its formation, The Blood Brothers has released six full-length albums and two EPs. The band’s newest record, Young Machetes, co-produced by Guy Picciotto of the influential bands Fugazi and Rites of Spring, has demonstrated The Blood Brothers’ progression and maturation as a band.

Besides Young Machetes’ stripped down music, there are also differences in the record’s vocals. While usually functioning as a team, the new record allows Blilie and Whitney the opportunity to assume sole vocalist roles on a couple of songs. Blilie said it was the first time that the band split vocal duties since it started.

“Sir” Charles Rowell, 22, guitar player of the former band and Blood Brothers’ touring mates, The Plot to Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, said the new record demonstrates the natural progression of its music.

“Their sound is just maturing like every great band. You know, from [Radiohead's] “Pablo Honey” to “Kid A”, from [Talking Heads'] “77″ to [Wire's] “Remain In Light”, from “Pink Flag” to “Read & Burn”, from “This Adultery [Is Ripe]” to “Young Machetes,” Rowell said in an e-mail interview.

“We just wanted to write the best songs we could come up with at the time and we’re all very pleased with how it turned out,” Blilie said.

“I think their music is plenty accessible to me, and that’s all it has to be. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t hold it in such high regard, and neither would their massive following. They play good music and have created great art that speaks volumes about how far an “unconventional” band can go,” Rowell said.

The Blood Brothers will be playing at The Glass House in Pomona on Sunday with Celebration and Mika Miko, and on Tuesday at the El Rey Theatre in L.A. with Celebration and Suicide Club.