It is four hours before Bullet For My Valentine is expected to hit the stage, and drummer, Mike "Moose" Thomas, and lead vocalist, Matt Tuck, are hanging out in their tour bus. Matt is recharging his fuel cells by munching on a banana. What could be a better time to ask them questions about the band, their idols and their music?

For a while, in 2002, the band had split up due to their bass player, Nick Crandle, leaving the on the eve of cutting a demo. When asked about the unfortunate situation, Moose had this to say, "Our old bass man left, so we were getting ready to go into the studio to do the demo, and said, 'F*** it, we're going in on our own', and cut the demo that got us the record deal." 

The production of an album can get a bit hairy. Sometimes the record company's interests can take precedence over the artists' desires to stay true to form. Luckily, according to Matt, this is not the case with them. "It's all our say," he said. "Nothing gets released musically ... art work, unless we say 'yes'. So we're blessed to have that power."

We moved on to talk about their latest release, Scream, Aim, Fire, available in stores now. Discussing some of the tracks and lyrical themes in particular, I asked both Moose and Matt if it was their intention to write about war and politics. Matt gave a most unexpected answer. "Nah, I just wanted to write something different," he said. "I hadn't done anything like that before ... something a lot more inspiring and easier to write. Stuff like that. So, I hadn't done it before - it's a change up."

Focusing specifically on one track from the new album, we talked about "Eye of the Storm". Again, Matt denied any conscious effort to place any significant meaning or connection to an event, relating to natural catastrophe, behind the lyrics. "Again, it was just to write something different. We hadn't done it with Poison ... um, the way we do things with the music it's always written before the lyrics," he said. "The sheer pace and style of the song had inspired me to write something really chaotic and nasty and I just thought kind of ... uh ... perfect storm kind of thing."

The track, "Hearts Burst Into Fire", is a calmer, more introspective song. After pointing out the lyrics sounded like they were about someone who had touched Matt's life, or perhaps was about someone who lost someone dear to them, Matt's face went a little red with embarrassment. It was as though I had inadvertently disclosed a secret he was keeping. Seeming to be too shy to look up, he playfully pointed his index finger to his girlfriend sitting next to him.

I experienced some embarrassment on my part, when I quickly realized that I might have asked too personal of a question. Matt's girlfriend, however, was very cool about the whole thing. She smiled and waved at me. Matt laughed as though he had been caught in the act, but quickly recovered when he noticed that I was genuinely sorry for having asked such a personal question.

"No, no," he said, reassuringly, "It's okay." Then he went on to explain the song's meaning. "It's about being away for so long, being away from my girlfriend. It's the same with all the boys having girlfriends. Moose has kids. Jay has a child. So, we just got kind of a uh ... been away from home song, and anyone who works away from home, has some kids, knows how it feels. So ... that's that," he said.

After investing so much time, making a record, one wonders if a musician has any favorites that he enjoys playing. Moose jumped right in with his response. "I enjoy playing all of them, so far! We've been touring two and a half years with Poison (their debut album), so playing the new songs, it's (referring to the new album) kind of my favorite thing right now," he said. He did manage to mention a specific track too: "Waking the Demon".

It takes an enormous amount of energy and stamina to play the kind of music that these guys crank out at their concerts. So, what is their secret for maintaining that incredible high energy? Moose told me, "Sitting down and relaxing, just recharging." Matt mentioned that there was no magical diet that they followed. "Nothing energetic, just good food, which is hard, being so long on tour. Um ...just relax really. Just doing what we're doing, " he said, which was sitting on the bed/couch up in the front part of the tour bus.

To make certain that they would have that opportunity to just relax, I decided to close our interview with just one last question. When asked to name the one musician or band that had the greatest influence on their lives, both Moose and Matt were in complete agreement with one another. "It's got to be, overall, Metallica! Yeah, I think," Moose answered enthusiastically, speaking for both Matt and him. Matt opened up and very candidly replied, "Yeah, Metallica. They're the reason why I got into music, let alone heavy music and playing guitar. If it wasn't for Metallica, I wouldn't be sitting here," he said. Here, meaning, on a tour bus, waiting to perform for hundreds of avid fans. The concert, in case you are wondering, was incredible.

For more info about Bullet For My Valentine, visit their MySpace.

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karen  - hello   |2008-08-29 16:44:47 Reply 0   0

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