BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Is Going For U.S. Gold

Scott Iwasaki of the Deseret Morning News recently conducted an interview with BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matthew Tuck. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On their reason for getting the band together:

"We played together since we were boys and through our teens, and now we're adults. We had the passion and wanted to be like our idols — METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and such. It was a hard road because we had to work around our day jobs, and being from Wales, there weren't many chances for us to play in front of important music-business people.

"I remember having to pay to play some shows and paying for our transportations and things in addition to trying to hold down our day jobs. We all lost jobs at one time or another because of the band."

On the group's early days as JEFF KILLED JOHN and their only lineup change — when original bassist Nick Crandle quit on the eve of the band's first recording session:

"That was difficult for us because he quit on Friday and the next day I was in the studio laying guitar tracks. But it worked out because we wouldn't have found Jason ('Jay' James) to replace him. And we probably wouldn't have changed our name and changed our musical direction. Which ultimately means we may not be where we are today."

On the band's only major short-term goal — to sell a gold album in the United States (signifying 500,000 copies sold):

"We've already sold 200,000 copies of 'The Poison' in the U.S. It's already gone gold (selling more than 100,000 copies) in the U.K. So we're focusing our efforts for the United States. It's one last push before we release the new album in October. If all goes as planned."

On the recording process for the band's new album:

"All the instrumental work is done. I'm waiting to do the vocals until after we wrap up the U.S. tour, which will take us through the summer."