by Alexander Bradley
on the
Bullet For My Valentine had been spotted several times at Download Festival throughout the duration of the weekend. Sparking rumours that they would be performing and perhaps even showing off a little more of their upcoming release ‘Venom’. We caught up with the heavy metallers backstage at the event to chat about their new album, upcoming tour and to these dispell rumours.
Let’s get straight into it then! Are you playing Download or not?
We’re not. Wish we were, but we’re not. There’s a few rumours out there, I’m not sure where they’ve come from. We bumped into a few kids watching ‘Parkway [Drive]’ and they were like what time is it? And we were like it’s not happening, sorry guys.
Maybe if we all grouped together with a bit of cash…
Oh, we were totally up for it! We did put our services out there but it just didn’t come together in time. It is what it is.
In that case, who are you here to see?
We’re just here to hang out! We’re just here with friends y’know? Every time I come to this festival it’s to play a show, so I’m just here to hang out.
What are you thinking of it so far?
It’s awesome, man! The weather always puts a dampener on it but it is what it is, it’s part of the festival now!
Let’s talk ‘Venom’, are you looking forward to releasing that?
Yes! Super happy y’know. This period of waiting now is the annoying part for us, we’ve been sitting on it for a while now and it’s gonna be a kick ass record. Game changer I reckon.
You got back into the studio with Colin Richardson for this record, what was that like?
It was good, man. It was a whole nostalgia trip from the first couple of records that we did. We did it all here in the U.K. We didn’t go anywhere fancy. The energy was there; it was exciting, relaxed. It was cool!
You’ve talked about bringing back heavier elements to this album. How do you view the last records now that you’re going back to heavier ones?
They are what they are you know? We always know what we want to do before we do it, and that’s what we do. We don’t tend to do anything other than what we want to do. That heavier element did get lost, especially on the last one, but again we did that because that’s what we wanted to do! We just feel like the time is right to step it up in the aggressive areas, and it feels really good!
You kicked off the new record with ‘No Way Out’. It’s heavier sonically and lyrically. How do you feel about putting yourself out like that in a song?
Yeah, that’s alright, man. That’s part of what a lyricist should be doing y’know? Writing about something that means something to you, regardless of how happy or dark it is. As long as it’s relevant, heartfelt, and it comes across well in the song. It’s a very dark song lyrically, and that’s kind of what made us who we were in the first place. It’s something that we’ve always done and something that I feel I’m good at.
How did the fans react to ‘No Way Out’?
It’s been amazing; it’s kicked off big time again. It’s definitely something that the fans are excited about now. From all the feedback and reviews we’ve had, people are excited again y’know? It’s something that we haven’t felt for the last couple of years for whatever reason. But just off the back of that one song things are brewing, people are expecting something special, and I think we’re gonna deliver that.
Will it be long before we hear a bit more?
No at the end of this month there’s going to be another song coming out. It’s a beast as well. It’s equally as good, if not better than, ‘No Way Out’.
You’re heading out on tour in October, which is the first time in quite a while. What’s going to be different about this tour?
The whole concept behind it is something we’ve never done before. We kind of skipped the more regional style tour, growing up as a band. We’ve done the arena tours twice, so we just want to take things back to basics, play the smaller rooms and go to places we’ve never been before. I think we’ve always expected people to travel to us, but now we’re going to go to them!
Again, feedback for the tour has been amazing; tickets are flying! We were a little skeptical at first because we didn’t want people to think the band has taken a step backwards.
So you’ve gone back with the record, and you’ve gone back to the regional tour. Has Bullet For My Valentine stripped back to the bare bones again?
Yeah, we just took a back seat and tried to re-invigorate what made us our band in the first place, rather than trying to make these massive rock records that would appeal to the masses. Let’s make it heavy, aggressive and angry. It just feels good.
We took a bit of inspiration from bands like Kasabian and Faith No More because they can do whatever they want. They can play big arena shows but every other tour they’ll go back to Brixton or Blow and spice it up. They can do it, let’s give it a go.
Final thing. As you’re here as a punter, what would be your advice to the festival goers.
Just be prepared to be miserable physically. Also, mother nature is a b***h, she always s***s on us this time of year, especially at this festival. But as long as you’re here to rock out with your mates and see some f***ing kick ass bands it’s all good!
