Bullet For My Valentine are being tipped for big things in 2008 and with the release of their new album, Scream Aim Fire, just a week or so away, Planet Loud got on the phone to Padge from the band for a quick chat.

Planet Loud – Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. You’re getting ready to go on tour now aren’t you?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, we’re going out in about two weeks.. I can’t wait to get back on the road.”

Planet Loud – You’ve got the album coming out in a week or so, how’s things with Bullet at the moment?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Good thanks. We’re all ready to go. The album has been ready for a few weeks and we’re ready to get it out there and get out and tour the arse of it.”

Planet Loud – We’ve heard the first single off the album, is that track a good indication of what we can expect?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, I would say so. The label are getting behind us on this one so hopefully it will be even more successful than The Poison.”

Planet Loud – The reaction so far to the single has been pretty good hasn’t it?
Bullet For My Valentine – “So far, yeah. I hope we can take that as a good sign for the album.”

Planet Loud – What did you want to achieve with the album?
Bullet For My Valentine – “We didn’t want to change direction too much from the last record. I think the label maybe wanted us to just mellow it out a bit more in parts so we could get more radio play but we put our foot as we always wanted to make a metal record anyway. May be we’ve been kind of limited in the past and we’re now better with our instruments so I think we just wanted to put out what came naturally.”

Planet Loud – You mentioned improving as players. Does that help touring with the likes of Metallica, Iron Maiden and Guns ‘n’ Roses?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, touring especially but that’s not just with the big bands because getting out and playing to anybody is a totally different to playing your bedroom when you’re out on stage and the amps are cranking. Every note matters or you start sounding like a dick.”

Planet Loud – What have you learned from touring with the bigger bands?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Obviously how to cope with the bigger stages and crowds but, as a band, we kind of go out and treat every gig the same, you know? To be honest, the bigger the gig, the easier they get because you can’t see all the people because they go so far back. In smaller gigs the kids are all crushed in and they’re right up against you.”

Planet Loud – Do you get nervous more in front of the bigger crowds?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, I still get nervous for all of them though but in different ways.”

Planet Loud – Considering who you’ve toured with, what’s been your highlight gig?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Probably playing with Metallica in Estonia to 100,000 people – that was incredible. We flew in, did that and that was amazing. Download was amazing as well.”

Planet Loud – What does Donnington mean to a big metal fan like yourself?
Bullet For My Valentine – “I love it and to get the opportunity to play it is just amazing.”

Planet Loud – Going back to the last record, did the success it had worldwide affect the way you went about writing Scream Aim Fire?
Bullet For My Valentine – “I suppose in the sense that we didn’t want to change much of the formula – we wanted to stick as true to The Poison as we could on this record and not stray too much away from it. I think when bands make a drastic change away from a sound fans know these days, people are really quick to shoot it down. We definitely didn’t want to stray too far away from what people knew as Bullet.”

Planet Loud – How long did it take to write the record?
Bullet For My Valentine – “All in all it took about eight months in total but there were really long gaps between writing as we were out on tour a lot as well. To write the record, it only took about two months I’d say.”

Planet Loud – Did you write on the road much?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, there were riffs which we put on the computer and there was stuff on there from two Septembers back which would be 2006 so, really, we started coming up with ideas for the new record in 2006.”

Planet Loud – Did much of the old material stay or is it all new material?
Bullet For My Valentine – “We were still on tour for the last run of The Poison and we wrote a bunch of songs but, when we wrote Scream Aim Fire in September, we scrapped those earlier songs and just went with the vibe of Scream. We kinda found our feet and the road we wanted to go do with the album. Once we’d nailed that, we were away then and we wrote six songs in a week and they all made the album which is a big chunk of it done.”

Planet Loud – You recorded the album in Texas didn’t you?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, all the music was record in El Paso.”

Planet Loud – What was that experience like?
Bullet For My Valentine – “It was a mint studio. They had all their own equipment and anything and everything we needed for the album and more. They had an amazing selection of guitars and the live room was really good. Apart from that, it was in the middle of nowhere and there wasn’t much about. No distractions or anything.”

Planet Loud – You worked with Colin Richardson on this album. Considering his history with the band, was it important to work with him again?
Bullet For My Valentine – “I think so. I think we were all clear on who we wanted to work with and Colin has been with us since the EP. He’s done everything with us and understands what we’re going for. The choice was already made before we even thought about the second album.”

Planet Loud – Lyrically, what inspired Matt on this album?
Bullet For My Valentine – “I think Matt stepped away from the love songs and into more real life stuff. Not his real life situations but more real life stories.”

Planet Loud – You’ve toured around the world on the last record so you must have had some pretty inspiring experiences from that?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, definitely. There is one song on the album that is written about the time on the road and the stuff you put on the line to do that. There is definitely stuff on there about experiences but there is also made up stories that just came from his head.”

Planet Loud – You mentioned writing a song about the amount of touring you do as a band. Now your profile has grown that is only going to grow isn’t it?
Bullet For My Valentine – “You know what? This time around I’m finding it really hard because I’m going away in two weeks and I think we’re going to be out for like five months straight without coming home. I think we’ll only have a couple of days here before we go out for months on end so, yeah, it is tough because you know that, in a year, you’re only going to get home for like a week. It’s like this is the coolest job in the world but you have to sacrifice everything and that is the hardest mental thing to do.”

Planet Loud – It’s worth it though for gigs like Download?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Oh definitely. Things like that make all the time away from home worthwhile.”

Planet Loud – Is it strange being a household name on the rock & metal world now?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Yeah, it’s still kinda wierd when I see our video on TV and stuff. I turned on the TV the other day and it was just like a headshot of my own face and it really freaked me out.”

Planet Loud – You’ve got a massive profile in the UK by now, what about in the States?
Bullet For My Valentine – “The American side of things are really hyping up the new record over there. We haven’t been over there since like Spring last year but we’re going over at the end of February so we’ll have to see what happens when we get out there.”

Planet Loud – Is it important for you to crack America?
Bullet For My Valentine – “As equally as important as anywhere else I think but, as America is so big, it is tough because we have to spend a lot of time there because, unlike the UK, you can’t travel around America in a week.”

Planet Loud – Your profile was raised over the course of the last album. Was there a point where you noticed it had changed?
Bullet For My Valentine – “Definitely when we got the Metallica slot, that was surreal. We started off at the Barfly and then sold out the Mean Fiddler and it just kept growing from there. It was quite easy to monitor it but we got swept along with it really quick. We noticed it was happening really fast but, because it was happening so fast, there was no stopping to think about it.”

Planet Loud – Is it hard to keep your feet on the ground because, lets face it, not a lot of bands get to tour with Metallica?
Bullet For My Valentine – “I think the longer you are away from the harder it is to come back to ground. Now though, we’ve had a year off, we own our own homes and stuff and that’s the best thing about it. Nobody can be a rock star for twenty four hours a day. You’ve still gotta pay the bills and wash your clothes and stuff. We are human after all.”

Planet Loud – Just to finish then, what are your touring plans for 2008?
Bullet For My Valentine – “We’re just out. There is no coming back – it’s just relentless. The year is set in stone.”

Planet Loud – Thanks for your time Padge and good luck with the album and touring.
Bullet For My Valentine – “No problem mate. Take care.”

Interview by Graham Finney