Interviews : Bullet for my Valentine (Moose) – 05/09/2010

Metal Obsession recently had the chance to chat with Bullet for my Valentine’s drummer, Moose, about the upcoming tour, how their third album Fever has been received, and their future plans.

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Metal Obsession: Hey Moose, cheers for taking the time out to chat to Metal Obsession!

Moose: No problem.

MO: Its been a busy last couple of months for Bullet For My Valentine, your third album Fever was released, a US tour, straight into a euro headline/festival tour! Hows it all been going?

M: Its all going really well, the albums going a lot better than we expected, and we can’t wait to get back on tour now.

MO: You’ve been off the road now for a little over a week, are you enjoying the time off to relax a little?

M: Yeah, we just finished the european festival run, and came home, and ready to go rehearse with the boys today.

MO: As I said earlier you’re third album Fever was released a few months ago, hows the reaction been to the album from fans and media alike?

M: Amazing. It seems from the reviews everyones loving it, and they think its one of the best albums we’ve done which is good as we worked hard writing and recording it, and put a lot of effort into it, so im really happy with it and the way everyone’s reacting to it.

MO: What do you feel separates this record from your previous ones? And how do you feel about the album?

M: I think the last album, Scream Aim Fire, was trying to prove ourselves to critics saying that our previous album before that was not metal enough. We were trying to show them that we are metal, and were writing metal for them, and not for ourselves, and Matt had his voice troubles, and the operation, and for this album we just thought ‘fuck ’em’ really,  and wrote for ourselves.

MO: Does that affect how you look back on Scream Aim Fire?

M: We still love the album, it just marks a time in our career that was pretty hard. We still think its a great album, if we could go back and do it again, im sure we would, but its the best we could do at the time given the circumstances.

MO: I just read recently that the album is being rereleased in Australia, I love the extra stuff that gets released, like the with the Scream Aim Fire rerelease, is it your decision to add extra material, or is it from the record label to try and get fans to purchase another copy of the album?

M: Definitely the record companies idea, as obviously they want to sell as many copies as possible, but they do ask us first, if it’ll gain us more fans, then whatever. Its their idea, but if we didn’t like it, we wouldn’t put it out there.

MO: I was happy to see some acoustic tracks on the rerelease,  are they from a show, or the songs that have been released on singles, and floating around youtube?

M: They’re song that Matt would just jam in the studio in South Wales, they’re not live or anything, its just something we’ve always done as we like the mellow side aswell as the hard rock side.

MO: I fell in love with the piano version version of The Last Fight, do you guys have any plans to expand on that in future with a full acoustic album, or even an acoustic tour?

M: Who knows, maybe. We definitely would like to do something. I’m the biggest lover in the band of piano work, and I’m always trying to push piano stuff on the boys to put it in the album and stuff, so maybe. I’d love to do a more softer album, and maybe a live show.

MO: I saw an awesome video on youtube of All These Things I Hate live, wheres its just Matt acoustic at the start, and then the whole band kicks in and its frikken awesome, is that from this tour?

M: Nah, that was the Scream Aim Fire tour, we decided to try something different. We hadn’t done it since, but im glad you brought it up as we’d completely forgotten about that!

MO: On the 5th of september you guys are down in Australia for another headline tour, this time with Cancer Bats and Bring Me The Horizon, are you a fan of these bands?

M: We’re good friends with the guys from Cancer Bats, we toured quite a lot with those guys. We’ve never really met Bring Me The Horizon, apart from the Kerrang awards where we trashed up the whole place together, which was pretty funny, but we’re defiantely looking forward to hanging out with those guys.

MO: You’ve toured Australia a fair few times, do you like coming down?

M: As a band, its one of our favourite countries, its an easy going place, and the people, they get our sense of humour.

MO: Once you get over the long flight its ok…

M: Its not so bad as we’re stopping off in Japan first, for a couple of shows there.

MO: With 3 albums and an ep out now, are you finding it more difficult to write a setlist that pleases everyone?

M: With the setlists we play what we think we like to hear. It could get messy if you try and please everyone, as people like different things. We just try to write the best that we think people will enjoy.

MO: Ever thought about a tour playing an album in full?

M: I think we’re too young. I think we’ve still got the best in us to come. Maybe when we’ve run out of material and ideas we can start playing full length albums on tour [laughs].

MO: The majority of BFMV are fathers, how does this affect the band while touring, do you try and cut down the length of time you’re away from home at all?

M: We try, but it never happens unfortunately. Its pretty hard going and stuff, but you know, thats what we chose to do with our lives. We’ve all got pretty understanding partners. Its nice to go away and do a tour, but its also nice to come home and see your children

MO: After this its straight into another full blown US tour, then back into Europe. Whats the plan after that, a nice break over christmas and resume touring, or is time to think about album number 4?

M: We’re going to break for christmas, then I do believe the plan is to come back down to Australia in January or February for one of the big travelling festivals.

MO: Does that mean the Big Day Out?

M: Or the other one.

MO: Soundwave?

M: I dunno. One of the two. I dont know if its been confirmed yet, its been pencilled in to be coming down then.

MO: Thanks for the chat Moose, and I look forward to seeing you guys in Melbourne in a week!

M: Cool. Thank you.

You can catch BFMV live at the following shows:

SUNDAY 5 SEPTEMBER PERTH, CHALLENGE STADIUM – Lic A/A

www.ticketmaster.com.au 136 100
TUESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER ADELAIDE, THEBARTON THEATRE – Lic A/A

www.venuetix.com.au & Venuetix outlets
THURSDAY 9 SEPTEMBER MELBOURNE, FESTIVAL HALL – Lic. and Unlic areas available
www.ticketmaster.com.au 136 100

FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER SYDNEY, HORDERN PAVILION – Lic A/A
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849

SATURDAY 11 SEPTEMBER BRISBANE, THE RIVERSTAGE – Lic A/A
www.ticketmaster.com.au 136 100, Rockinghorse and Kill The Music