It's a bright hot sunny Nottingham afternoon, and Bullet for my valentine have just spent the last couple of hours doing an instore signing at HMV.
The band have spent most of the summer on the road with Axl Rose and his squad of Guns n Roses stand ins, guitarist Padge checks in to tell us how things are right now for Bullet For My Valentine..
(R) Hey! Thanks for taking the time to answer some random questions.
(P) That's ok
(R) So how are you and the rest of the band?
(P) We're really cool, back on home territory and everything, a couple of the guys have been at home for a few days, but we are great at the moment.
(R) What are you upto right now?
(P) I've just been having breakfast,
(R) Haha
(P) We've just done an instore signing at HMV with over 500 kids, its been pretty awesome.
(R) Ok, the new single came out this week, "the Poison" was re-released this week to , and you've have just confirmed a load of November dates with As I lay dying & Bleeding through.
(P) Yea that tour should be great fun
(R) I guess life must be pretty hectic right now, how do you cope?
(P) I dont know, I mean we get up each day, eat have our vitamins and shit..
(R) Then your ready to rock?
(P) Yea, then we get royally pissed!
(R) hahaha, good show!
(R) You've recently been on tour with Guns n Roses, how has that been?
(P) yea we've been on the road with them for almost 2 months now, and its been pretty good. We had a bit of a mixed reception at some of the European dates, but on the whole it's been great.
(R) Do you get to hang out with Axl at all?
(P) Not really, I mean we did all the aftershow party thing when we were in New York, but the only time we see him now is when he's onstage you know, then he just jumps in his helicopter back to London.
(R) As you do.
(P) Yea He's a proper rock star.
(R) Sebastian bach has been on tour with GNR as a guest, and I'm a massive fan of his, any chance of a Bullet and Bach guest collaboration?
(P) Hahaha, you know he's such a nice man, If we asked him to he'd probably do it, but I can't see it happening.
(R) You've spent quite a bit of time in Europe and the US this year, how have they taken to Bullet for my valentine?
(P) Things have been going really well in places like Germany, we are getting more airplay on TV, and things have been going really good in the US to. Obviously the album came out later over there than what it did in the UK, but its selling well and the shows have been great.
(R) So, 2006 seems to have been a rather good year for the band, what has been the highlight so far for you?
(P) Doing some shows with Metallica was amazing, just getting to meet them all was fantastic, coz we've all liked them since we were kids you know, so that was really good, afterwards we all just couldn't stop smiling.
(R) You guys seem to have almost come from nowhere after supporting 36 Crazyfists, straight to the top of the UK metal scene, do you have any advice or words for any young/struggling bands out there?
(P) I don't know really, I mean we all had proper jobs and had to do as many shows as we could at the same time, it nearly killed us, but thankfully it's worked out ok.
(R) So just keep working hard?
(P) Yea, just keep working at it and if your passionate about it and believe in what your doing then you can't do much more.
(R) Finally, are there any bands out there that you have seen that we should be watching out for..
(P) The Autonomy Within are an awesome band from Wales, they are unsigned at the moment, and have a bit of a killswitch kinda vibe and they are really heavy, which is great.
(R) Many thanks, have a cool day and say hi to axl for me..
(P) Hahaha, cheers man..
*R - Rich P - Padge
