Bullet For My Valentine

Matt Tuck is Bullet For My Valentine’s consummate team captain. He is also your archtypal frontman. He writes the songs. He sings the songs. He provides the face that launches a thousand pumping fists. From BFMV HQ – aka, Mum and Dad’s house – in the valleys, Tuck delivers a well-honed tale of hard work and gritty determination, one that is bolstered by a distinguished Welsh gutteral cadence. “It’s modern metal, it’s got everything – aggression, passionate lyrics, heartfelt melodies – I think people should give it a chance”. This, his poignant message to those who might have missed BFMV or not fully explored the area marked ‘Heavy Metal: enter at your peril’.

The pitch of his voice is almost defensive, as though he constantly has to justify his band’s status. “People should not judge a book by its cover. Don’t think it’s cliché and cheesey. Because it’s heavy metal people assume that is going to be like Iron Maiden”. But, as evidence clearly suggests, Bullet For My Valentine really have nothing to prove.

Formed in 2003, the band’s nimble rise to the heady heights of hairy rock godliness has been triggered by a series of crucial factors: the release of the hugely successful debut album, The Posion; followed swiftly by a tour that didn’t stop until the wheels fell off; and, possibly most importantly, the erudite input of legendary producer, Colin Richardson.

Richardson has worked with many of the industry’s stalwarts – Cradle Of Filth, Machine Head, Sepultura, Slipnot – but is usually accustomed to a sedentary studio role. “He’s definitely been part of how we make the sound, how we do sonically on a CD”, says Tuck, not forgetting to mention how Richardson is also “a very cool guy”.

It was Richardson who supervised the creation of the hook-heavy, riff-drenched Poison in 2005. That album went on to clock more than a million global sales as well a Kerrang! Award for Best British Newcomer. Metal Hammer went one better the following year and crowned them Britain’s Best Band. These are probably the highest accolades ever bestowed upon any erstwhile Bridgend College music students.

Metal fans notoriously desire the live performance. It is the playground they use to expel massive quantities of aggressive energy. And so, with The Poision completely injected into their collective psyche, fans of BFMV were treated to a relentless juggernaut tour. The band spent close to two solid years on the road, providing support for some of metal’s legendary bastions, as well as billing on the Warped tour, the Kerrang! Tour and the Download Festival.

Speaking with genuine awe about BFMV’s involvement with Iron Maiden and Metallica, Tuck lavishes gratitude. “They’re two of the biggest influences on our band. We were very honoured to be part of their tours. For them to know who we were was an amazing thing but for us to go on tour with them and to become friends with them, to this day, I’ve got to pinch myself. It’s a bit weird”.

The band’s sophomore release, Scream Aim Fire, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim from both the media and the fans. It has been followed by yet another goliath road trip that is currently trundling across the US plains. The lessons learnt between the previous round and the completion of this latest project were essential. “We learnt how to cope with being on the road as well and to look after ourselves. When the EP came out four years ago we partied hard and we were just enjoying the lifestyle. It was all fresh and new. As soon as the headline shows start to come you cant do that any more. You have to be professional about it”.

So pressed for time and so desperate was their thirst to achieve greatness, that BFMV wrote the majority of Scream Aim Fire whilst still on tour with the last album. And as inspiration goes, natural clichés will occur when you’re stuck at the back of a bus all day. Some of the newer material is understandably about “being on the road” and about “the last 3 years, the highs and the lows of an up-and-coming rock band”. But equally, some of it is lyrically eclectic, touching on matters such as warfare, bullying and revenge. These subjects are inclined to produce fairly apocalyptic song titles - ‘Eye of the Storm’, ‘Heart Bursts Into Fire’, ‘Waking The Demon’, ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ - yet, with a soft chuckle of what could be pride, Tuck confesses, “They’re not as sinister as they sound”.

The idea of ever suffering from the dreaded ‘difficult second album’ sydrome is an aspect Tuck dismisses instantly. “We didn’t really have time to think about it. As soon as you start worrying about that you can stray down the wrong path”. Scream Aim Fire - which was recorded in America to save on costs - is similar to, but not the same as, The Poison. The pounding tempos and killer choruses still exist. “We haven’t strayed too far out from what we do”, Tuck is adamant, continuing, “Our sound, our identity is still definitely there. We’ve just improved as musician, as a band. We took the bits from The Poison that really worked and just tried to make the dynamics on this one a lot more intense”. This surge involved doubling the lead guitar and vocals to deliver something that was, according to Tuck, “overall, sonically, twice as big. The heavier stuff is a lot thrashier and when we go into the power ballad world we’re really going into it. We made it as big as possible. It sounds just like huge arena-style melodic thrash metal”.

Keeping the tempo of the final tour show as fresh as the first is never an easy task but Tuck approximates it to simplistic fervour. “Just the pure love and passion for what we do. We worked so hard to get where we are that every night we just want to go out there and play the best we can. People pay money and travel far distances to come and see a band they love so the least we can do is try and rock them as hard as possible”.

In only a few short years, Bullet For My Valentine have catapulted out into the rock stratosphere. Once upon a time they were unsigned and yet still had the gumption to turn down a record deal proffered by Roadrunner Records, instead holding out for a better deal with Sony BMG. With that contract now well into its second cycle, the band have gone on to achieve the ultimate token of accomplishment - a feature on my blog. Congratulations lads, but where to from here?