Get the riot squad on standby, because Bullet for My Valentine are about to embark on another sold-out Australian tour, this time as part of the Soundwave Festival bill. The band are also gearing up to release their brand new album ‘Temper Temper’ on February 8, giving fans just enough time to get acquainted with the band's killer new tracks before Soundwave.
The first single, ‘Riot’, has been received very well by fans and critics, and having heard the full album already I can tell you that’s just a taste of what’s to come! I had the pleasure of catching up with Bullet vocalist Matt Tuck last week to talk about ‘Temper Temper’ and the band's return to Australia.
“Australia is always one of the highlights of our tour cycle,” Tuck reveals. “To be back once again as part of Soundwave is amazing, we’re super stoked. These are the first shows we’ll be playing off this album cycle, we can’t wait! Soundwave is one of those festivals where you actually do get to hang out, unlike the European festivals. It’s going to be amazing; we will be hanging out a lot!
“We’ve had some of our best ever shows and crowd responses from Australia. Some of my favourite video footage is from Brisbane actually, from the 2010 ‘Fever’ tour. It gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. That show was one of the highlights of our career so far! It was absolutely magical and doesn’t happen all that often. The crowds there in Australia are fantastic.”
Tuck doesn't say that lightly, considering the insane crowds Bullet For My Valentine have played to over the course of their career. “We’ve done a few shows where there’s been barrier collapses; you see a couple of thousand people starting to hit the deck after a barrier collapses and that’s never a nice thing to watch. That’s happen to us three times, unfortunately. I don’t know why. It seems to have happened to us more than any other band that I know.
“I’ve seen tons of fights and stupid shit. People get excited and adrenalised, aggressive, but if it gets too insane we stop the show and call them out! We’ve seen some super funny things like guys in wheelchairs crowd surfing, prosthetic legs getting thrown around; circle pits around sound booths... things you don’t get to see a lot, especially from our perspective.”
In that sort of environment, it'd be easy to lose touch with reality. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that's a theme that informs their new album, 'Temper Temper'.
“‘Temper Temper’ is about losing touch with each other and losing touch with reality in the band,” Tuck confirms, “taking things for granted. There was a part of the last touring cycle where, for the first time in the 20 years that we’ve known each other, we started to dislike each other a little bit and weren’t hanging out together. That’s why the album is called ‘Temper Temper’. That’s why a lot of the songs are called what they are, and the lyrical content reflects those times. This album is the most personal album I’ve ever written. It was a weird time for us.”
As personal as the album is, there are some songs Tuck connects with more than others. “‘Breaking Point’ is an important one; it’s the first one we wrote for the album. I think the first song you write is the most important 'cause it really sets the tone for where the album is going. Lyrically I think ‘Living Life On The Edge Of A Knife’ and ‘Truth Hurts’ are the most personal. They are delving into the darker side of being in Bullet, the rough times... drinking too much, experimenting with drugs, being a bit too rock 'n' roll. It’s letting people know that it is an amazing lifestyle but at times it can be a dark, lonely place, especially if you’re not enjoying yourself. It’s a shitty place to be when things get tough.”
Bullet For My Valentine play Soundwave at RNA Showgrounds on Saturday February 23.
