BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Frontman: 'We Never Envisaged That It Would Become As Big As It Has'

Hosking Industries recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Matt Tuck of Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Hosking Industries: You cited bands like METALLICA as major influences. What was it like playing with your heroes on tour?

Tuck: It was a very unforgettable, surreal experience. I don't know, man; it still blows our minds to this day that we got to meet those guys and play with them and hang out and get drunk and just be boys; you know what I mean? It's been one of the highlights of my entire life and I'm very, very honored to be part of the METALLICA family now. It's fucking amazing!

Hosking Industries: So they looked after you guys well, then?

Tuck: Yeah, it helped that they were fans of the band — which just sounds weird for me to even say. We were sitting in our dressing room on the first night and there's a knock on the door and in comes Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] saying, "Hey guys. What's up? I just wanted to introduce myself. Welcome to the tour." I'm like, "Holy shit!" The next thing you know we're talking about the making of "Master of Puppets" and all this fucking crazy shit that you just don't imagine would ever happen to you in your life; especially being the huge fans that we were. They treated us like complete human beings; which is all you could ask for, really. They just talked to us and hung out and were really polite and respectful. It was great — an amazing experience.

Hosking Industries: Did you ever think you'd come as far as you have when you were starting out?

Tuck: No. We always knew that we had the potential to do something if a label picked us up; but we never envisaged that it would become as big as it has. We've become a million-selling, global rock band, you know. That's not something that we anticipated when we first started. It was certainly something that we always dreamed of. Like most bands, that's the ultimate goal — to become a rock star, you know what I mean? To tour the world and have a laugh with your friends; which is what we do now. It's such an amazing experience and we never take it for granted.
We work super-hard to make sure we don't lose it. It can happen at the drop of a hat and it's something that we try really hard to keep.

Hosking Industries: What do your parents think? Were they always supportive along the way?

Tuck: They were always super-supportive. From an early age I'd been saying, "I want to be a rock star" and they're like, "OK, Matt. Save some money and go buy a guitar and show us what you can do." After a while they actually saw that I could, you know, shred a guitar within six months of picking one up and after that they're like, "OK." From then on they've been super supportive. They've drive me to practice and buy me new equipment whenever I needed it; like upgrades to bigger and better things. They even paid for studio time so we could do demos. They're just amazing parents and I couldn't have asked anything more of them. They did exactly what they needed to do because I had a dream, you know. I'll be forever thankful for it.

Hosking Industries: How do you handle the stresses of being on the road so much?

Tuck: We really don't have stresses, you know. The only stress that there is, is when we start to get a little bit burned out — fatigued — and then the shows start suffering. We really like to perform at the very best of our abilities and when you start to get burned out because the schedule is so hectic and the shows suffer – that's the only time I really start to stress. We never argue of have fights or anything. From that point of view, we're always super happy and we're always laughing and always mucking about with each other and it very rarely gets very weird on tour.

Hosking Industries: Do you find yourself coming up with song ideas that don't fit the BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE style?

Tuck: I have loads! I've kind of been thinking about doing something for a while that's not BULLET… related or suitable that I'd like to do something with one day. But right now it's just too busy. It's not the right time. Maybe in the future I'd like to do something unrelated — that'd be kind of cool.

Hosking Industries: What kind of stuff have you been coming up with?

Tuck: It's very mellow, acoustic… dark, mellow acoustic stuff. That's as far as it goes right now until I can get into a studio and develop the ideas. I don't really know what it would evolve into. I always write on a 12-string acoustic — it's one of the most beautiful sounding instruments on the planet – it's not BULLET… suitable; but I think the songs will be good enough to be heard one day.

Read the entire interview from Hosking Industries.