Bring Me The Horizon
By:
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 (U.K.) 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 U.K., 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 U.K. But with “Count Your Blessings” finally getting an official U.S. 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 U.S. audiences, how well their debut album was faring a year after it’s 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 well received from the U.S. 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 U.S. 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," surmises Sykes. "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 U.S. 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.”
|
