Frequently lambasted for deviating from – and sometimes returning to – an original metalcore blueprint, Welsh four-piece Bullet For My Valentine have nevertheless become extremely popular, and since forming in 1998 the ’bangers from Bridgend' have notched more than a billion Spotify streams in the US.
Below, guitarist Michael ‘Padge’ Paget checks in on the eve of a co-headlining arena tour with Floridian metalheads Trivium.
Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium’s five-date UK arena tour concludes at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in London.
[Laughing] That’s not too shabby, is it? No pressure, though.
How does it make you feel?
It’ll be emotional for both bands because of the ‘twenty year’ thing [BFMV are celebrating two decades of debut The Poison, with Trivium revisiting their second record, Ascendancy]. It’s been a crazy journey with all sorts of memories – ups and downs. Overall though, it’s a very nice, warm feeling. I’m so proud that we’ve come this far.
The Poison and Ascendancy are each regarded as the crown jewels in their respective catalogues, so it should be quite a show.
Yeah. All we want now is for the production side of things to match that, and from what we’ve been told, it will. We’re throwing the kitchen sink at making the show look fantastic.
For a band that began covering Metallica and Nirvana songs 26 years ago, this is an incredible feat. Beyond the obvious cliché of ‘don’t give up’, how did you achieve it?
It’s all about passion. We love what we do. The band has been through so much, and I don’t want to get into that, but we’ve been to hell and back. Our band was so important to us that we endured all of that stuff [criticism] and we came out the other side.
Did the negativity ever come close to causing the band to break up?
Oh yeah. Loads of times. Especially the last few years. But we continued, we kept our hearts pure and we’re still here.
Your seventh album, titled simply Bullet For My Valentine, released in 2021, was something of a reset, reaffirming tha band’s heavy roots.
Yeah. There was a lot of anger on that album. It was very pure and very honest.
Out of all the many people who must have said the band would never be successful, who did you most delight in telling: “I told you so?”
Those comments don’t help, and I try not to think like that. If someone doesn’t believe in us, then that’s their choice. All it does is drive us harder. What are they doing [in life] that’s so important?
How well do you know Trivium?
A few years back we toured with them in America. They’re really nice guys, we get on with them really well. What a great album Ascendancy is. It’ll be great to hear that every night.
Will there be a sense of competition?
Not at all. We are flip-flopping [as headliners]. Some bands have inflated egos and whatnot, but this is going to be a walk in the park.
Will the follow-up to Bullet For My Valentine continue down that same path of returning to your roots?
The majority of our new songs are very different for us. However, some are like the last album and others lean towards The Poison. It’ll be out next year, and [stylistically] it could go anywhere.
With so many of our classic bands retiring, do you feel any pressure as potential flag-bearers of the future?
I suppose maybe just a little bit. I still get nervous before going on stage. I never thought we’d play the O2 Arena, so I’m super nervous but super excited as well.
The Poisoned Ascendancy tour begins in Cardiff on January 6 and reaches London on February 2, before heading to mainland Europe and then North America. For dates and tickets, visit the Bullet For My Valentine website.
