With little more than their debut four track EP 'This
Is What The Edge Of Your Seat Was Made For' (the first signing and release
to emerge through Leeds based independent label Thirty Days Of Nights
Records back in 2004) to their name, and a rapidly growing ban base,
it didn't take Sheffield (UK) based metalcore act Bring Me The Horizon
long to attract the attention of those looking out for the next big
thing to emerge from the underground scene.
And sure enough, within the space of a year, the five-piece
act (who comprise of vocalist Oliver 'Oli' Sykes, guitarists Curtis
Ward and Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean and drummer Matt Nicholls) signed
up to Visible Noise Records (the home of both Lostprophets and Bullet
For My Valentine).
While Visible Noise Records' re-release of 'This Is What
The Edge Of Your Seat Was Made For' boosted Bring Me The Horizon's profile
within the UK, it was the band's debut full-length release 'Count Your
Blessings' in 2006 that really launched the band onto the international
scene.
Since the album's release, Bring Me The Horizon has toured
relentlessly throughout the UK. But with 'Count Your Blessings' finally
getting an official US release through Earache Records in August, the
band have made the leap to that distant shore, followed by countless
miles on the road playing to an ever growing number of fans.
Finally arriving at their venue (Streeters in Traverse
City, Michigan) after a somewhat lengthy drive, I caught up with vocalist
Oliver 'Oli' Sykes to find out how Bring Me The Horizon were going down
in front of US audiences, how well their debut album was faring a year
after its release and the group's upcoming tour of Australia as a part
of this years Gigantour package.
"God, I don't even know where we are! (Laughs) We're
here in America somewhere, but I couldn't tell you exactly where. Either
way, I'm just happy to get off the road and finally arrive here at the
venue!"
While the road has been somewhat gruelling for Bring Me
The Horizon since they arrived midway through August, it hasn't been
without its positives, as the band have been well received by the US
press, and playing to ever increasing audiences with every new show.
"The album's been doing awesome here in the US. The
reactions have been really positive from the press so we're pleased
with the way things have been going so far on that side of things. As
for the tour itself, it's been really cool. Actually, it's been doing
amazing. The reactions have been crazy. It's really weird for us in
a way, because we didn't quite know what to expect. We read a lot of
the messages that some US fans had left us on our MySpace page and they
were always telling us we should get over there to tour. But we really
didn't know just how many fans we had over there or what sort of reaction
we would get from people over there. I guess we didn't really expect
that we would be as big as what we are now or get as many kids coming
out to see us. We've been playing every night and we've had people up
the front singing the words back to us. It's a really weird situation
for us. It's such a positive reaction every night. So everything so
far has been really mental."
Eager to keep on the road, once the band finish their
current run of dates with It Dies Today, Kittie, Silent Civilian and
Blessed By A Broken Heart, they'll hook up with Bury Your Dead, Ion
Dissonance and Nights Like These for yet another run around the country.
"We're just about to go out on another tour with
Bury Your Dead so we're really psyched about that. That run will last
for around four weeks. So with both tours combined, we'll have completed
two full US tours. That's a lot of touring but we're enjoying it a lot.
It really never gets too tiring for us at all. Once this tour is finished,
we'll be heading back home for a while before we start preparing for
the upcoming Australian tour."
As little as two weeks ago, Bring Me The Horizon were
officially announced as special guests to this year's Australian Gigantour
alongside Megadeth, Static-X, Lacuna Coil and DevilDriver, which is
scheduled to hit the country in mid-November.
"We're really excited about coming down to Australia.
But the real bonus is that we get to play with Megadeth as well! We're
all huge fans of Megadeth so this tour will be something really special
for us. We'll also be playing a few headlining shows for fans as well,
so that will be cool too. It'll give us a chance to show that we're
completely different from all those other bands on the Gigantour. I
guess you could say that we're pretty much a heavy, sort of in your
face metal band."
But for all the excitement the band has about the prospect
of heading down to Australia, Sykes is a little disappointed that he'll
have to bypass both Adelaide and Perth, both for the fans sake and for
his own personal reasons.
"I once lived in Australia. When I was a kid, I used
to live in Adelaide. After that, we then shifted to Perth for a while.
I think we lived over there for about five years all up. I remember
a lot about my growing up in Australia. I know that I really loved the
country so I'll be happy to come back for another visit after being
away for so long. What's a real shame is that because the first two
dates of the Megadeth tour are in Adelaide and Perth, we won't be there
to play those dates. I would have liked to go visit the place where
we used to live and all that. Maybe I can do that next time."
Immediately following the completion of Gigantour, Bring
Me The Horizon will finish up the remainder of the year with a string
of dates throughout the UK before starting work on the follow-up to
'Count Your Blessings'.
"It's weird, because it's been so long since we've
recorded anything new. We did get the opportunity to record one song
back in June. We were asked by Kerrang! Magazine to record a song that
was a cover of our choice. We really didn't know what to do initially
but then we decided that because we're all so young, and we used to
listen to a lot of nu-metal, we thought it would be funny and cool to
cover Slipknot's 'Eyeless'. We all thought it was a pretty cool song.
We were on tour when Kerrang! Magazine made the offer to record the
song so we had to do it on a day that we had to play a show. We recorded
it in around three hours or something like that. It's alright. It's
a bit of a rough recording, but I think it ended up sounding cool for
what it is. But what we're really hanging out for is the time when we
get to record some new material of our own. We're trying to put together
some new material together while we're out here on the road but it's
been pretty hard for us because we're touring so much. We have a few
things we've put together but it's only when we get back home that we'll
really be spending every moment together putting together some new songs.
We have three weeks off between the end of our US tour and the start
of the Gigantour down there in Australia, so we'll try and find a bit
of time to write some new stuff then. We may not have a lot of time
to get new stuff ready, but we do want to get another new album out
there as soon as possible."
I would like to personally thank Oliver Sykes for his
generous time. I would also like to thank Emily Kelly at Shock Records
for making the interview possible.
For more information on Bring Me The Horizon, check out
- http://www.bringmethehorizon.co.uk
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
