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Bring Me The Horizon

09.11.2007 | KYS-Cam | 11 Comments

Bring Me The Horizon are a band who polarize opinion from music fans. People either love them or hate them… I mean really hate them!

Vocalist and public enemy number one Ollie spoke with us about Slipknot covers, how important good hair is to a metal band and Aussie metal abroad…

Interview w/ Ollie (vocals) of Bring Me The Horizon.

For the record, your name and what you do in “Bring Me The Horizon”… 

My names Oliver Sykes and I’m the vocalist for Bring Me The Horizon.

You guys haven’t really had much press here in Australia – tell us a bit about how “Bring Me The Horizon” came together… 

In that case thank you for being one of the first websites to interview us! This band came together the way most bands probably do - one kid knows another kid at school who knows another kid and they all get together to make some music, which of course was terrible at first, but at some point got better, (although that’s a matter of opinion). We started playing shows, and kids started noticing us. We started to form a little underground fan base, which labels started noticing, we got a deal and the rest is history!

2007 has been a pretty heavy year for you guys on the tour front – what were some of the highlights? 

It’s all highlights! Any time we are on the road is great. To see so much of America was amazing (we was there 3 months!) we have been places like Italy, which was amazing- but I’m sure one of the highlights is going to be playing Australia, with bloody Megadeth!

You also ventured outside of Europe for the first time this year. Was it humbling to have to start from scratch again and try and work your way up the bill? 

No it was great. We love the feeling of winning new fans... its like a challenge. It gets boring if you play to your fans over and over again, your not really going to get anywhere like that. And man did we have a tough time winning fans. It was with Killswitch Engage, a lot of the time we got stuff thrown at us, booed, they hated us! Saying that - it was mostly the U.K Killswitch crowds that hated us. We did really well in Europe, winning a lot of people over.

How did the overseas crowds react to you guys and what's the biggest difference between shows in the US and the UK? 

The USA was crazy. We got there with not a clue what to expect - we started playing, within seconds kids were on stage, the pits were huge, everyone was singing along - it was insane, I remember being really taken aback, I had the hugest smile on my face!

“Count Your Blessings” was released in October 2006 but it’s only recently that the record has become widely available down here – how far along are you with writing for the next record and when can we expect to hear it? 

We are working on it right now. We are hoping to get it out for summer 2008, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! We are going to be taking a big break from touring in early 2008 to get this album wrote. And its going to be quite different too! I wont spoil anything though!

You actually toured with the now defunct “I Killed The Prom Queen” earlier this year – was that your first exposure to Australian heavy music? 

I think it may of been yes. PQ were the best guys ever, we fucking loved them. They were also, a great, great band. Their live performance was intense, I watched them nearly every night.

How did Prom Queen go down with the UK crowds? 

Amazing! They did so well, which is a shame because they split up. They would of been huge over here. It was so cool though, that was the best tour of my life.

The songs on “Count Your Blessings” had a noticeable European influence compared to the more discordant nature of your debut EP – what should fans expect on your new record? 

Something different for sure! I’m not sure if we ourselves know what its going to sound like - but its going to be different. Everyone’s saying metalcore is dead and there probably right, and I feel its our job to try and breathe life into it.

I think it’s safe to say that you’ve conquered the UK – have Earache signed on to release your next record so you can focus on the US market a little more? 

Thank you very much! Our cds have been released through Earache, and we may be releasing our next cd with them too, but that is all in talks right now. But yes, we will be trying to what every UK band does at some point, break America! Haha.

Will your cover of Slipknot’s “Eyeless” see an official release at any point, or was that purely for the Kerrang! CD? 

Haha, no it was purely just for the Kerrang! cd. I don’t think Slipknot fans would let us live if we were to take it any further. 

Do know if any of the members of Slipknot have heard your cover and if so, what was their reaction like? 

I have no idea, I never heard any feedback! I would like to know what the clown thought haha!

The artwork on “Count Your Blessings” is really impressive man, do you get much down time to take on any other design projects? 

Thanks again, to be honest I love to design, but I don’t have much time, the only stuff I still design is stuff for my clothing company Drop Dead. Maybe in the future ill have more time to do more stuff like that.

Your label “Drop Dead Clothing” seems to be gathering a lot of momentum – was that something that was in the works prior to “Bring Me The Horizon” or was it a bi-product of the band’s success? 

It came about the same time as Bring Me The Horizon. I quit college to focus on Bring Me The Horizon right when we started, I had a lot faith in it. I started the clothing company in hopes it would pay the bills while I focused on Bring Me The Horizon. Just so happened that it worked! I won’t deny that the bands success must of helped with sales of my clothing, but I didn't know this at first and hoped to make a fast buck - I really love what I do with Drop Dead, just as much as I love the band.

That wraps it up man, any final words? 

Uhm, g'day mate ! xx

You can catch Bring Me The Horizon on the behemoth that is Gigantour, or see them at their two sideshows in Melbourne & Sydney. Check out http://myspace.com/bmth for more details.