Cheap Holidays to Tenerife
This Holiday beater finds Millions of people each year heading for the hills in Tenerife a cheap holiday.

In Conversation

04 December 2008 00:06 BST

Bullet: We like to have a tipple

We talk to Bullet for my Valentine ahead of the eagerly-awaited release of their second album Scream, Aim, Fire.

After early nu-metal project Jeff Killed John died an unceremonious death, the Welsh quartet lost a bassist but thankfully roped in another four-stringer, with Jason James helping the Bridgend boys to rediscover the epic, arcane metal they'd loved as teenagers and to become the much-scarier-sounding Bullet for my Valentine.

Debut album The Poison was released to a rapturous response from a market hungry for the complexities of Maiden-esque metal and though support slots with Guns 'n' Roses, Iron Maiden and Rob Zombie didn't go completely to plan, Bullet remain one of the most exciting - and divisive - acts in British rock.

inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talked to the band's excellently-named drummer Mike 'Moose' Thomas about the heavier sound of their second album, Rob Zombie's rules and the importance of drinking.

How did you guys get together and what went wrong with your former band Jeff Killed John?

We started that in 1997 when we were in music college together and we were basically following a music trend that we would thought would be our key to success. And then our bass player left, and we just started music like what we grew up listening to, basically.

You probably get asked this all the time but - who came up with the name and what does it mean?

We were all drunk one night, all sat around and we just put two words together. I really liked Bullet and I really liked Valentine so we thought that worked. And we just decided to keep it.

So do you think the music industry's more open to Maiden-esque metal now?

Well, it's nice to be putting this kind of metal back in the mainstream. Kids that buy our stuff will go back and listen to early Metallica or early Maiden and that's pretty cool.

Iron Maiden are a clearly a huge influence - was it an honour to tour with them?

Yeah, it was great. When we got the opportunity to open up for them, it was unbelievable, really.

How did you go down with their crowds?

Unfortunately not very well. It's the same for any band that plays before Iron Maiden. You get booed, you get stuff thrown at it. It's pretty hard, but we were just glad to be supporting Iron Maiden.

And how was touring with Guns 'n' Roses?

That was more like a circus (laughs).

What's Axl Rose like?

We never met him in person. He's stuck in 1992 or something.

I don't know how much you can talk about this, but are you allowed to discuss what happened with getting kicked off the Rob Zombie tour?

We got offered the tour and said: 'Yeah, we'll do it' and straight away, we got emailed this list of 'rules' which we had to follow. I mean, coming from Wales, touring, we like to have a drink, but that wasn't allowed. We weren't allowed to talk to Rob Zombie or his girlfriend, told not to look at them. It was just a list of stupid rules and one day Matt just cracked and put something on our website. We got asked to leave and we were happy to!

You've covered Metallica's Creeping Death and Sanitarium for compilation records - are those your favourite Metallica songs?

No, we got asked to pick one from Master of Puppets and just figured out which one would suit us the best. If we were to write a song like Metallica, it would probably be like Sanitarium. And we used to play Creeping Death when we were in Jeff Killed John, we love Ride the Lightning, so we decided to chuck it in live.

To go back a long way - why did you guys decide to sign for Sony rather than Roadrunner records?

We just thought… Roadrunner is a great label, they have great artists, but we feel that after album number two, nothing much happens. The bands kind of fall off the face off the Earth. And because we wanted to be the biggest band we could and Sony were offering so much more, we picked them.

When you guys were starting out, was the success of other young Welsh bands like Lostprophets and Funeral for a Friend an inspiration?

No, not really. We were watching those two bands get big and thinking, in our eyes, we play better music. It was kind of weird, but we couldn't rush it, we weren't ready at that time anyway.

How's the new record different?

It's a lot heavier, a lot faster, but at the same time, it's really melodic and kind of like mainstream metal.

The Poison did pretty well across the Atlantic - are you hoping to replicate that sort of success with Scream, Aim, Fire?

Yeah, we just want to tour it and get it out there, we're pretty sick of the last one. Obviously we want to beat the last one because we're a band that likes to progress and we don't want to make the same record twice.

So you've got the New Year's Eve gig at Rock City coming up and that's the start of a big tour, right?

Yeah, we've done the same thing two years in a row at Rock City and we've had so much fun that we wanted to do it again this year. And then the tour actually kicks off in Brighton after New Year's Eve and then we're just gone, basically forever!

Will you be playing in Bridgend or is it too small?

No, we'd do a small show, but we just really haven't got the time, it's a shame.

And you'll be heading to the US on this tour, presumably?

Yep, straight after the European tour it's over to the US for two months.

So who do you listen to when you're on tour and in the studio?

Well, when we're in the studio, we don't really listen to anyone else because we're so focused on what we're doing. But on tour, we just listen to Iron Maiden, a lot of Lamb of God, really. And if we're drinking and having a good time, we just put stupid stuff on, cheesy dance.

Would it be fair to say that drinking's a big part of your touring?

Well, we like to have a tipple or two (laughs).

The band were named best British newcomer at 2005 Kerrang! Awards - who do you think deserves the award this year?

I really don't know. I don't really listen to new music, I just listen to Judas Priest and Metallica really!

Should you be in with a shout for best British band at next year's awards?

Hopefully, it'd be nice, but we're not too bothered about awards or anything.

Matt's said before you as a band are more interested in what your music sounds like than what your hair looks like - is that the ethos of the band? It’s not about image at all?

Nah, I'm the worst person for image, I just love playing music and I really don't care what I look like! For me, it's all about the music.

Bullet for my Valentine's new album Scream, Aim, Fire is released in January.

Lewis Bazley