WHAT’S THE MOST ILLEGAL THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?”
On tour with Chelsea Grin in South America, we had a whole hotel floor to ourselves so we totally trashed it. We tried to pay for the damage but they wanted punishment instead. The police held our plane home on the runway to arrest me – they thought I was a fugitive but I’d only trashed a hotel so they let me off. The next time we went to the country, my name had obviously travelled round because my hotel room had no pictures, no fridge, just a bed!”
WHAT’S THE MOST METAL ALBUM YOU OWN?”
Slipknot’s Iowa – I still think that’s the most metal album in the world, it’s so filthy and raw. It was innovative and fresh at the time but it still hasn’t been replicated – nobody’s ever been able to deliver a record as aggressive as that.”
WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD?”
I came off a motocross bike on a sand dune with no protective gear. I fell on it and the gear shaft got stuck in my shin. When they took it out, my bone came out of my shin. Months later, I told the doctor it wasn’t ready to have the stitches taken out of it but she cut them off and it all burst open again.”
WHAT’S THE MOST YOU’VE EVER BEEN SICK?”
Me and James [Cassells, drums] had a drunken fistfight in England once, but I threw up for two and a half days afterwards because I gave myself alcohol poisoning. My closest friend for two days was the toilet seat. Toilets don’t make an arse shape, they make the perfect shape to wrap your arms around. Whoever invented the toilet must’ve been a drinker!”
WHAT’S THE GROSSEST THING YOU’VE HAD IN YOUR MOUTH?”
It was last year at Gathering Of The Juggalos. There’s no rules and the police stay away so all sorts of crazy shit happens.
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WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU BLED?”
The last day of the last tour! Years ago, I used to go on stage hammered and punch my guitars and there’d be blood everywhere. When Danny [Worsnop, vocals] rejoined, I got pumped again and I spent the entire tour punching the shit out of my guitar and bleeding everywhere.”
WHAT’S THE RAREST PIECE OF MERCHANDISE YOU OWN?”
I have one of the first editions of Metallica’s The Good, The Bad & The Live and it’s still in great condition.”
WHAT’S YOUR MOST PAINFUL TATTOO OR PIERCING?”
Sam [Bettley, bass] was getting tattooed on the tourbus and I went back there pissed as a fart, dropped my trousers and said, ‘Tattoo me!’ Sam grabbed the needle out of his own arm, jabbed it into my arse and scrawled ‘Noon Groovers’ across my butt cheek, because apparently I like to groove at noon. Our tattooist said he’d never seen a needle go so deep into someone’s flesh!”
WHAT’S THE MOST METAL PICTURE YOU’VE GOT ON YOUR PHONE?”
I’ve got a picture of my guitar covered in the blood I mentioned earlier!”
Final Score: 9⁄10
It’s a new record! Ben literally bleeds for his art and is a true heavy metal hellraiser. Who’d have thought it?
ASKING ALEXANDRIA HIT THE UK WITH PARKWAY DRIVE IN APRIL
