EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE DRUMMER MICHAEL “MOOSE” THOMAS

MetalSucks recently had the opportunity to speak with Bullet For My Valentine drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas. The band’s new album Scream, Aim, Fire comes out in North America on January 29th; meanwhile the band is readying themselves for a European headline run, followed by the Taste of Chaos tour in North America with Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu. Moose told us all about the writing and recording of the new record, getting heckled while opening for childhood heroes Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses, what it’s like to read negative press about themselves, and the band’s plans for the year. Click through for the whole chat transcript.

[ed: in the introduction to the conversation Moose revealed he has a 4 year old son]

Is it hard splitting time between the family and the band?

No, I find it pretty easy. I go spend time with family, and if I’m off with the band or in rehearsals I split the time in half, you know?

So you guys have a new record come out, do you wanna talk about the new record a bit?

It’s just picking up where The Poison left off, we obviously didn’t want to write the same album again, so we just forced ourselves to make a harder, heavier, faster record. The songs we wrote in rehearsal, or during sound check on tour. We’d written a bunch of music, and was well happy with [the songs], so we’re glad we have the opportunituy to release this record.

You said it’s a little heavier, a little faster. Is that something you guys did intentionally, or did it just sort of happen naturally that way?

Nah, it sort of just came naturally. We never really sat down as a band and discussed which way we wanted to go musically. We just went in and had written a bunch of songs already, so we didn’t have to… we didn’t think about anything. We just wrote songs, ya know?

Do you guys write all together or does one guy come in with a finished song, or do you write in the studio?

This whole album was mostly written in the back of a tour bus when we were touring, so it mainly comes from a guitar riff, which comes from an idea from Matt [Tuck, vocals/guitar] or Padge [Michael Paget, guitar]. So it’s basically put it down, record it on someone’s cell phone or something to remember it. And in sound check we’d kind of put pieces together, add pieces and finish it off in rehearsal and jam on it.

Who produced and mixed this record?

We went in with Colin Richardson again. We were just so pleased and we love working with that guy. His attitude’s awesome, and plus he’s the best metal producer around.

He’s great. Is he more of a songs guy, as in does he get involved and change arrangements, or is he more of a hands-off type of producer?

He completely trusts us with song structure and everything. But before we started recording the album, he had the demos on disc and everything. We went into pre-production and he’d sit in a room with us jamming and throwing ideas around, you know? It’s 99% what it was in the beginning, we just really use him for his laid backness and his final mix.

So moving on a little, The Poison was a hugely successful record and did really well especially over-seas, but not so much in America as in Europe. What do you think the reason is that maybe American audiences haven’t quite caught on to you guys?

I feel like Poison was a great record, great songs on it. It was a great first record for us to put out, to kind of introduce ourselves really. I feel people connected with it because of the great melodies, the great songs, really. It was about time metal bands starting writing songs and not being afraid of what they write.

Do you think when you go around and tour, there’s a big different between American audiences and European audiences?

Not really, I think. If it’s our own headline show, regardless of if we play in L.A. or we’re playing in Japan, we have the same reaction, which is awesome. It’s a really different reaction from opening for a major league band, ya know, like Iron Maiden which was really tough for us.

What was that like opening for a band that you grew up listening to?

Definitely for the four of us it was just completely awesome. But then, I just wish… their fans would just give the support act a fighting chance, you know? As soon as we’d go up, they’d have chants, Maiden chants. It just sucks really, why they didn’t give us a chance. We were there to support, and we were big fans anyway, so when they were chanting ‘Maiden’, we wanted to see Maiden just as bad, you know?

In a lot of ways it probably doesn’t matter who is opening for Maiden.

It doesn’t matter at all.

Basically the same thing happened for you guys here in America when you did those dates with Axl Rose.

Which one?

In New York, with Guns N’ Roses.

Oh yeah, we’d done the European dates with him, and then the New York dates went on sale and sold out in like 5 minutes, 15 minutes, and we weren’t even announced on the bill. So it was kind of the same thing. But that wasn’t as bad as Iron Maiden.

It wasn’t as bad?

No, it wasn’t that bad!

I was at one of those shows, it was pretty bad!

I mean, in New York it wasn’t good, but if you’d seen us on the Maiden shows, it was BAD!

Do you take that personally or do you just do your best and move on?

Even if we played great, no one would give us five minutes. I’d just like them to give us a chance. But I guess that’s the way they are, that’s the way they’ll always be.

So the new record is coming out in a couple of weeks and you guys are going out on tour with Taste of Chaos — Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, and some other bands. Are those bands you guys know, and have toured with before?

Yeah, I mean when we released our first EP, back in 2005 or 2004, I can’t remember, we toured with Atreyu in Great Britain. And then we did the summer festivals, I think a year and a half ago, and Avenged were on some of them, and I think they were actually on some of the Guns N’ Roses shows in Eruope also. We got pretty friendly with those guys and had a couple of beers and had a chat, and we really can’t wait to get on Taste of Chaos now.

What are your expectation for the tour? Obviously it’s a big tour, as big or bigger than anything you’ve done in the States.

I guess we’re just gonna go out and slay as many people as possible, and get as many fans. Take no prisoners, get on, play, get off, drink like dogs!

How many dates is that? And after that are you going back to Europe to do the festivals?

About two months long. Yeah, we’re doing a European tour, and then we go and do Taste of Chaos, and then I think… I don’t know, it’ll all be going on for 18 months.

That should be a great opportunity. You guys are definitely building a huge following, but as far as the press goes, there are a lot of things said, some press don’t like you guys so much. Do you guys pay attention to that stuff? How do you react?

We don’t care really. If someone doesn’t like us, we can’t please everyone. It’s whatever. If you like us, great, if you don’t like us, don’t open your mouth really, just keep your mouth shut!

Any final words?

See you on Taste of Chaos! We hope you have a good time!

– MetalSucks

[Scream, Aim, Fire drops January 29th. You can currently stream the entire album on their MySpace page up until the release date.]