Having spawned from the ashes of previous incarnation Jeff Killed John in the current hot bed of metal talent that is Wales, it's Bullet For My Valentine. Their eponymous debut mini-album released last year caused quite a stir upon its release and more recently they've been thrilling fans in the live arena with their visceral shows. Gigwise duly caught up with Padge and Jay from the band while they're in the midst of huge tour and with an album on the horizon to discuss all...
Gigwise: 10am….holiday inn, Rock and roll huh?
Padge: Yeah, we know, rock and roll
G: So you've got a big tour coming up?
Jay: yeah our first one, so it’s really important to us.
G: Has it been a struggle getting to this point?
Jay: it was a struggle for years back home, you know, we were in loads of small bands that just didn’t get anywhere, but the last year has been incredible, our feet haven’t touched the floor. It’s moving so fast, we can hardly keep up with it.
G: Did you think you’d be at this point by now? With a big headline tour and big album coming out?
Padge: well we all believed in it, we struggled, but we always believed that it would happen, so when we finally got a deal… we couldn’t really believe it.
G: Well you guys have been struggling for quite a while, has it been hard seeing other bands from your area, like lostprophets, funeral for a friend, etc, do well?
Padge: We just kept thinking “what are we doing wrong?” `All these bands were getting signed up and we’d been going just as long, if not longer than some of those bands and we couldn’t figure it out.
Jay: I remember seeing the Lostprophets play just after their first album came out, and they were so amazing, they were so heavy and had such great stage presence that it really pushed us, it should us what we should be like.
G: So other welsh band’s success motivated you guys?
Jay: Yeah, I mean a year later they were playing the Carling Stage at Reading so it really pushed us to try and follow on from that.
G: Did you guys feel at all bitter? Thinking that you should be up there instead?Padge: Not instead, but along with them.
Jay: We just felt like if they could do it, we could. There’s been talk of doing a big tour with like us, Funeral, Hondo, ‘Prophets, you know, all the welsh bands.
Jay: There might be a big of a clash of …interests there though.
Padge: Clash of egos more like.
G: Where are you guys from musically?
Padge: It’s all old school thrash.
Jay: We haven’t bothered with any of the modern day stuff, there’s just nothing that grabs our attention at all in today’s music. So it’s all old school bands, like Pantera, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Testament, Stuck Mojo, Megadeth….mainly just
classic rock.
Padge: Yeah, we’re into the proper stuff, all the new music that’s around is just about noise and smashing people’s faces off for 7 minutes, we’re not into that just being loud for the sake of it. We’re into harmonies and having proper songs.
G: How do you feel about some of the other metal bands around?
Jay: As I Lay Dying are great.
Padge: I’ll tell you what I’m not a big fan of, all this make-up malarky, All that crap around the eyes. Some bands are just covered in the stuff, and it’s just not about music anymore and you think “what are you doing? Just play your fucking music!” It’s like they’re trying to cover up something about themselves. It’s ridiculous.
G: Like who?
Padge: Like Eighteen Visions. I just don’t see the point of it, and I’m sure some kids are going to hate us for that, but it’s the truth.
G: Metal is becoming really palatable these days, with bands like Killswitch Engage and Arch Enemy actually doing really well for themselves, and there are tons of bands around, what do you guys think sets you apart?
Jay: Definitely the songs, we structure things, we actually think about them.
Padge: yeah we’re not just trying to burn people’s faces off with riffs, we have melody, we have actual songs, we have lyrics that mean something. And I don’t think other bands come close, it’s all about playing as hard and as fast as you can, we actually care about the song.
G: What with a big tour coming up, a critically well-received album and a big fanbase, what’s next for you guys?
Jay: Well there’s still America, we’re planning on going over there next year.
G: How do you think people over here will react to that? The British public haven’t looked too favourably on British bands that have gone to America in the past.
Jay: A lot of the bands, go over there and try to take on the American lifestyle, you know, and start speaking like an American and acting like one, we’re British and we just want to go over there and show them what we can do. We’re totally loyal to our country, but we just want to do the best we can.
G: So what does the future hold?
Jay: Well the album came out on Monday and we rehearsed on Friday, and we wrote two new songs, so we’re already thinking about the next album, I mean we want this to last you know? Iron Maiden and Metallica have made careers out of this and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to up there with them.
