Finding trouble with Bring Me the Horizon

(Credit: Tom Barnes)

“Trouble seems to find us,” admits Oliver Sykes, frontman for the much-hyped U.K. metal/punk band Bring Me the Horizon. And how. Thanks to its punchy, thrashy, surprisingly catchy second record, “Suicide Season” (which sports one of the year’s most grotesque covers: a photo of a young woman apparently holding her own bloody entrails in her arms), BMTH is already a magazine cover sensation in England and on a headline tour here in the States, which started even before the album’s official U.S. release.

Of course, some of the band’s notoriety may be due to Sykes’ behavior—as the man says, it’s rarely a day goes by without fists being thrown, sometimes by more famous bands.

How does your popularity here compare against what you’re experiencing overseas?
I think the biggest shows we’ve done here were on the Warped Tour this past summer. The record wasn’t even out yet, and the kids knew the words, there was moshing…it was pretty cool.

Your 22nd birthday happens during your current tour. Any plans?
We’ll be in Vegas that night. I’ve never been there. I plan to marry someone before the night is over. Maybe my drummer.

Every clip of you guys on YouTube seems to involve you swearing at the audience, getting into a fight or something similar. Are you always getting into trouble?
We’ve had mishaps; I don’t know why. Last year, we had so many fights and scraps with people—I guess we’re just one of those bands, where trouble finds us. I got beat up by the guitarist in Mastodon the other day for some reason, in a parking lot. One of my friends ended up in the hospital. But we didn’t go looking for trouble.

Speaking of trouble: on the Warped Tour date in New York, you guys played next to the stage where Katy Perry performed—and you went about 15 minutes over into her set. Was that intentional?
Oh, no! We’re all really good friends, and Travis [of Gym Class Heroes, Katy Perry’s boyfriend], hung out with us every day. He sang with us on stage, too. Did we go over? We didn’t mean to.

You have a song called “Football Season Is Over,” which I’m assuming refers to British football, i.e. soccer. Are you fans?
It’s actually what Hunter S. Thompson wrote on his suicide note. I think the song links up well with the album title. It’s a song about losing your life, going crazy, getting wasted…things Hunter stood for. 

There are some catchy songs on here, which wasn’t the case on your first record.
We’re progressing. We’re a young band. We want to go forward, and I think our next CD is going to sound completely different.

You could put out a rave disc.
Well, anything could happen. I was thinking acid jazz.

Are you guys James Bond fans? You’ve done songs called “For Steve Wonder’s Eyes Only” and “Diamonds Aren’t Forever.”
We’ve got a few joke titles. I don’t think we really care what the songs are called. It’s just a bit of fun.

How influenced were you by growing up in Sheffield? I notice that a lot of ‘80s bands (Human League, ABC, Thompson Twins) hail from there.
Sheffield has a reputation for good music. The Arctic Monkeys are from there…actually, I’m wearing a T-shirt of theirs right now. But I don’t think the town influenced us at all. I mean, when I lived there I hated school and the town, hated life. But, now I go back, and I fucking love it. Possibly because I’m rarely there anymore.

Your album cover for “Suicide Season” is really kind of disgusting, in a good way. How did you come up with it?
We had an artist do something based on a concept from my head. We actually spent a lot of time on it; it took something like five photo shoots to get it right. 

You’re one of those metal singers who can modulate your voice incredibly well. Do you do anything in particular to get it primed?
No. I’ve got no professionalism when it comes to my voice whatsoever. I just go up there and scream.