ARCHITECTS Singer SAM CARTER On Touring With METALLICA: 'We Got A Cake Delivered By JAMES HETFIELD'

In a new interview with The Jesea Lee Show, singer Sam Carter of chart-topping British metalcore icons ARCHITECTS named METALLICA and LINKIN PARK as two of his favorite bands to tour with. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "METALLICA really know how to treat bands… METALLICA, it's, like, the first day we got flowers, we got a cake delivered by [METALLICA frontman James] Hetfield… [METALLICA drummer] Lars [Ulrich] was hanging out with us most days. Hetfield would come in and hang out with us. They really taught us to be on it with your supports. And we always are. We always try and make an effort and make sure everyone's okay. But actually really make people feel welcome because that made us feel like a million bucks."

He continued: "After the shows [METALLICA] invited us for dinner every night and we would go to a closed off restaurant with them and eat in insane places. And they don't need to do that. And they're doing this — there's no cameras. There's nothing there. There's no one following them around with a video camera. It's just their TM [tour manager] and them bringing that stuff and just being, like, 'Welcome to the tour. You need anything, we've got you,' which is so sick. And the same with LINKIN PARK. Yeah. The first day, LINKIN PARK invited us into their dressing room. Mike's [Shinoda] texting me, asking me to go and sing with them. And they're two of the biggest bands in the world."

Last September, Sam described METALLICA and LINKIN PARK to Secret Los Angeles as his ideal bands to tour with.

"It felt like a dream come true," Sam said. "It was a real line-in-the-sand moment of, like, 'Oh, you are doing well.' You've got that opportunity to support these two bands that when you were kids would be shocked if they knew we existed, you know?"

"LINKIN PARK was a dream, really," he continued. "You were playing to people you knew you could get on board and win over. Like, if we could only show them our band, then their fans would like it. It was a great opportunity for us and really fun."

Sam added: "We were apprehensive, especially going into METALLICA, because we thought that we might get sort of treated like second-class citizens, but it wasn't like that at all. They made time to hang with us and go for dinner."

"I know it's not every day you get to play to that kind of fanbase. With METALLICA, it's all so vast. You see people with their kids and their grandkids in the crowds."

ARCHITECTS released its triumphant eleventh album, "The Sky, The Earth & All Between", in February 2025, delivering some of the band's best music yet. The LP was touted as "serious, fun, deep, kneejerk, angry, and beautiful. It's like life, then, only louder," by Kerrang!, with BLABBERMOUTH.NET calling out the "band's pristine instrumentation." The album earned a #23 spot on the Billboard Rock Albums chart.

The masterful rock album shifts between aggressive, melodic, and experimental sounds while maintaining a cohesive vision, an elemental summation of everything ARCHITECTS have been and could become. From the ferocious single "Blackhole" to the pop-metal brilliance of "Everything Ends", which charted at No. 1 on the Mediabase Active Rock chart.

From their early days playing pub shows in Brighton to sharing stadium stages with METALLICA and LINKIN PARK, ARCHITECTS have consistently pushed the boundaries of heavy music. "The Sky, The Earth & All Between" represented a bold evolution, fusing ferocious energy, intricate melodies, and emotional depth.

Photo credit: Ed Mason