When we got the chance to see a Bullet For My Valentine show and an offer to have a short talk with them, we jumped at the opportunity (thanks to Petting Zoo Propaganda). The metalcore/melodic thrash metal outfit recently changed label (Spinefarm Records) and released a single called ‘I Don’t Need You’… Plenty to talk about with Michael “Padge” Paget, the lead guitarist of BFMV from the very beginning…
Hi, nice to meet you! How are you?
Great! Tired, but it was a great show last night. Great tour so far! We have two more left in the EU and then we head to the UK to finish up the year and it’ll be fun with the Poison shows!
So how did you get to tour with Killswitch and Cane Hill?
We’ve actually been on tour with Cane Hill for five or six months now, in and around America, Australia,… So we’ve actually known those guys for a while. And they’re a Raw Power band, which is the same as our management so that’s how they’ve been with us. And Killswitch, we asked them if they would come out to play with us and they said yeah… You know, we always wanted to play with them, so to have them along as support is mental! Killswitch Engage is a big band and I’m a big fan so it’s a bit weird to have them as support, but great!
I’m guessing you guys all get along pretty well then?
Yeah yeah, it’s been a quiet tour, no parties really or so, just now and then a few beers backstage and stuff. We all get a bit older and have families and such, so we’re keeping it nice and cool.
I’ve noticed that at some of the UK stops you guys are playing “The Poison” from start to finish. Are there any plans to do it for a whole tour some time?
Euhm… probably not… It’s been now twelve years or so since we released that album. It’s not ten years or so, so I guess we missed the boat. We just wanted to do something special for the end of the year and because we haven’t played in the UK since the end of last year. And we have to stop after this cause it’s been eighteen months on the road. We signed to a new label, so we need to work on a new record too and such.
Maybe in a few years then when it’s fifteen… I’d definitely appreciate it since I was a big fan of your debut album.
Maybe! We replayed all Poison songs by now probably, so there’s no stopping us putting some more songs in a setlist here and there. We just thought to play it from start to finish as a little special thing for our fans in the UK.
I checked out your new single “Don’t Need You” and I really liked it. How has the response been to it?
Really good response! I think the video has about two million views or something. It’s been received really well. Great video! And it’s nice to keep some momentum going…
I was wondering if there’s any story going behind the song or video?
Euhm… I don’t think so. It was just a sort of made up thing inspired by lies, deceit, cheating,… That’s how we got to the fight. Just something gone wrong… That was the idea behind it and obviously that’s where the lyrics came in, we got a video treatment and it got nice and snazzy. And we broke some shit! (laughing)
What can we expect from the upcoming album?
Definitely heavy I think, after Temper Temper we kind of double backed and went a bit heavier on Venom. We kinda want to build that back up a bit, especially with this new song. We have nothing written at all yet though.
Just that one single…
Yeah, and that might not even make it on the full album. So, no ideas yet, but we’ll see…
We’ll be looking forward to it… So, new label: how is it working with Spinefarm?
Great so far! Especially with the indication of how well the single is doing… It’s been only days. But you know, they really really wanted the band. It’ll be interesting working with a new label obviously cause we’ve been with Sony and RCA and whoever for so long. But these guys really chased after us and really wanted us and want to work with us really hard, so we’ll see…
Knowing that Spinefarm is a Finnish label, I can imagine that they’re really pushing and supporting their bands…
Yeah, exactly! That’s why we went with them, you know. They offered a great deal, but they really wanted to work with the band and push the band…
Now, a fun question I’ve been asking a few different artists already: what if you’d get the chance to put up a “Bullet For My Valentine festival”. What bands would you want on the bill?
I guess us since it would be a Bullet For My Valentine festival, Killswitch, that’d be cool. 36 Crazyfists,… I don’t know, man! (thinks some more) I guess it would depend on how many stages there are… Rammstein always puts on a great, amazing show. Metallica would be nice, then of course Pantera, but they’re not around anymore. Machine Head, Skindred,…
Sounds like a festival I’d be going to… So, Thanksgiving is soon here, what are you thankful for of the past year or so?
Thanksgiving? We don’t really celebrate it, but I’m quite thankful for a lot of things, you know. I wake up every day, can’t believe I’m still doing this, so thankful for that. Thankful for my family, girlfriend, my friends, my life!
One last question: since we’re close to the end of the year, is there one album of 2016 that you’d say that we definitely need to check out?
There’s two actually! Testament‘s new album, not sure anymore how it’s called (Brotherhood of the Snake, FYI) and then Metallica‘s album. I recently listened to it and thought it was really good. But Testament‘s album is really slammin’!
Anything you wanna say to our readers still to end this talk?
If you follow the band, thanks for following us and supporting us over the years. Hopefully we’ve seen as many of you as we could on this last run. But just thank you for all the support… Marvelous… See you next year! (laughing)
See you hopefully again indeed! Thanks for the chat!
