Asking Alexandria’s Ben Bruce recalls that he “had a great time” smashing a hotel in Argentina.
The guitarist narrowly avoided arrest when their flight home from tour was grounded – after days of drinking, smoking and partying resulted in them “destroying” the floor they were staying on.
Bruce tells Rocksound: “My most destructive one was when we were in Argentina and we took out Chelsea Grin and Blessthefall. We had the whole floor of the hotel and we just decided, ‘Fuck it, it’s our floor’, and we were smoking, drinking, partying. We were there for days.
“By the end of it everything was smashed up. I went into Chelsea Grin’s room and decided to throw their flat screen TV across the room and smashed it. I had a great time.
“Woke up the next day and went downstairs to the reception and they went, ‘You’ve destroyed our hotel.’ Our tour manager went, ‘Don’t worry, here’s the credit card,’ standard. They said, ‘No, we don’t want your money. We want punishment.’”
Bruce says the manager denied the staff’s request and the group quickly left to catch their flight home – but they realised something was amiss when the plane wasn’t taking off.
He adds: “The flight was grounded and it turns out the police were on their way to the airport to arrest us, well, specifically me, to throw me in jail in South America. Thankfully we took off anyway – they couldn’t get the paperwork sorted.”
Bruce says they returned to Argentina two years later and booked a different hotel – to find an “empty shell” of a room when they arrived.
Bruce adds: “We noticed there was nothing on the walls. They’d taken out the lamps, bed, pictures and the TV. They gave us an empty shell of a room to stay in. My name had spread throughout all the hotels in Argentina.”
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He and drummer James Cassells also recall other incidents, including the time they trashed a hotel room in Australia and “destroyed a venue” in Birmingham, Alabama – which Bruce calls “the birthplace of cow dung.”
Cassells says: “We literally fucking destroyed these hotel rooms in Australia. We piled everything in the room – furniture, all the mattresses, into a corner so we could sit on it and take a picture.
“Just don’t leave us in a hotel room for days on end – we will fuck it up.”
Remembering their destructive Birmingham show, he says: “We incited the destruction of the venue because it was a bit shit. We were very upset about having to play this venue and it had a very low ceiling, like those ceilings you get in offices where you can punch your way up.
“So, we decided to get the crowd to jump up and tear the ceiling down. We still to this day get pieces of the ceiling brought to signings.”
Bruce adds: “The whole venue collapsed. Air conditioning, everything fell through. We’re fucking awesome.”
Watch the interview in full below.
Meanwhile, Bruce is sitting out Asking Alexandria’s European tour in support of their fourth album The Black this month as he awaits the arrival of his baby daughter.
Asking Alexandria tour dates 2016
Aug 19: Open Air Gampel, Switzerland
Aug 20: Elbriot Festival, Germany
Aug 21: Cologne Gloria Theater, Germany
Aug 23: Prague Lucerna Music Bar, Czech Republic
Aug 24: Strand Festival, Hungary
Aug 26: Reading Festival, UK
Aug 27: Leeds Festival, UK
Oct 25: Seattle Showbox Sodo, WA
Oct 27: Spokane Knitting Factory, WA
Oct 28: Boise Knitting Factory, Idaho
Oct 29: Salt Lake City Complex, Utah
Oct 31: Omaha Slowdown, NE
Nov 01: Chicago House Of Blues, IL
Nov 04: Cleveland Agora, OH
Nov 06: Montreal Metropolis, QB
Nov 07: Toronto Phoenix, Ontario
Nov 09: Buffalo Town Ballroom, NY
Nov 10: Philadelphia Electric Factory, PA
Nov 11: Portland State Theatre, ME
Nov 12: Worcester Palladium, ME
Nov 14: New York Webster Hall, NY
Nov 15: Clifton Park Upstate Concert Hall, NY
Nov 16: Baltimore Ram’s Head Live, MD
Nov 18: Norfolk NorVa Theatre, VA
Nov 19: Charlotte Amos Southend, NC
Nov 20: Orlando Plaza Live, FL
Nov 21: Ft Lauderdale Revolution Live, FL
Nov 23: Tampa Ritz, FL
Nov 25: Houston Warehouse Live, TX
Nov 26: Corpus Christi Concrete Street Amphitheater, TX
Nov 27: Dallas Bomb Factory, TX
Nov 28: Lubbock Lone Star Pavilion, TX
Nov 29: Albuquerque El Rey Theater, NM
Dec 01: Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl, NV
Dec 02: San Diego SOMA, CA
Dec 03: Los Angeles Wiltern, CA
Dec 04: San Francisco Regency Ballroom, CA
Dec 06: Scottsdale Livewire, AZ
