BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's MATT TUCK Says Touring Lifestyle Is 'Not For Everyone': 'It Does Take Its Toll Physically And Mentally'

Matt Tuck of Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE was a guest on a recent episode of Occupy The Void With Xtina and Tim, a new podcast about mental health, making music and staying alive hosted by Christina Rowatt and Tim Charles, violinist and clean vocalist of Australia's NE OBLIVISCARIS. You can now listen to the entire 44-minute episode on Spotify. Some of the highlights are available in the YouTube clip below.

Addressing the challenges of the touring lifestyle, Tuck said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's not for everyone, this way of life and what we do as a touring band. We're fortunate enough to be a global act, which is an amazing thing. Now we've worked really hard to accomplish that. But yeah, the traveling, the scheduling, all that kind of stuff, it does take its toll physically and mentally. It's a tough thing to deal with. We've adapted to it. We've had a career of nearly 20 years at this point, so we're kind of wise to how to handle it now. But back in the early days, the first couple of album cycles, it was really tough. The physical side was one thing, but I really struggled [mentally]. It was adapting to all that — just the lifestyle of being a successful touring rock band was just like a car crash and a beautiful thing at the same time. It all comes together. It's just hard."

Asked if adapting to the touring lifestyle became easier through experience or if he and his bandmates have had internal discussions about how to handle it, the BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman said: "Like I said, we've had a career of nearly 20 years at this point, so we've just learned, as we've gone along, how to handle certain things and how to adapt going forward so we don't have to have as many struggles as we used to have. And it's all just about pacing yourself, the lifestyle thing, not drinking too much. Back in the early days, we would take it on hard and party and we were just enjoying life and experience. I think everyone does it in the early stages of a career.

"If you want a career out of it, there comes a point where you have a conversation about, 'All right, we need to chill this out. We need to take this a bit more seriously,'" he explained. "If anything, just for your health rather than your career, 'cause it will get you and it will fuck you up if you're not careful."

Tuck also talked about the fact that BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has managed to beat the odds and become one of the most successful U.K. metal acts of the new millennium. He said: "I couldn't be more proud of myself, of my bandmates, the whole team has been around BULLET for a very long time. We threw everything at it with that gamble of no reward, super high risk, potential no reward. But that's what we were willing to do. We were so passionate about the band, about the potential that we had and we were aware that it was gonna be hard work and it was gonna be a long road, but it's fine. But yeah, we didn't care. We were having the experiences of being able to travel the world with your best mates and play music which you created in front of people that were singing it back. And that was the reward at that point. It was just getting to that point, which was the struggle. But thankfully we're still here and we're still going strong, better than ever. We're still writing the best music we've ever produced. And we control everything now, which is great, whereas in the early days, you're just told, 'This is what's going on,' and you just hope for the best."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and TRIVIUM recently announced the continental European dates for "The Poisoned Ascendancy" tour.

"The Poisoned Ascendancy" will launch in the U.K. in late January 2025 for six shows, before the two bands, along with support act ORBIT CULTURE, head over to mainland Europe for 18 more concerts.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and TRIVIUM will celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Poison" and "Ascendancy" albums, respectively, by playing them in full, with the newly announced shows kicking off on February 2 in Düsseldorf, Germany and wrapping up at the end of the month in Madrid, Spain.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE released the deluxe version of its latest, self-titled album in August 2022 via Spinefarm/Search & Destroy. This extended release featured four brand new tracks, plus "Stitches", a song previously only available as a Japanese exclusive. Following the CD and digital releases, a vinyl pressing launched in November 2022.