From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bring Me the Horizon are a British
metalcore band from
Sheffield,
Yorkshire. Formed in 2004, the group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, lead guitarist Lee Malia, rhythm guitarist Jona Weinhofen, bassist Matt Kean and drummer Matt Nicholls. They are currently signed to
Visible Noise Records in the UK,
Epitaph Records in the US and to
Shock Records in Australia. Their music has been said to be influenced diversely by
grindcore,
death metal and
emo, and their earlier work is noted for its strong influence from American metalcore bands.
[1] They have released three
studio albums and one
extended play.
The band released their debut album
Count Your Blessings on 30 October 2006 in the UK. Their second album,
Suicide Season was released 29 September 2008, while a remix of the album titled
Suicide Season: Cut Up! was released a year later in November. Prior to the release of the special edition of
Suicide Season: Cut Up!, founding rhythm guitarist Curtis Ward left the band due to commitment issues.
[2] He was later replaced with
Jona Weinhofen, formerly of
I Killed the Prom Queen. Bring Me the Horizon's third studio album
There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. was released 4 October 2010.
History
Formation, debut EP and debut album (2004–2007)
Bring Me the Horizon was formed in March 2004 after all the founding members, who had all been a part of several local and separately defunct bands were noticed by
Thirty Days of Night Records and formed the band while signing them, being the first band ever signed to the label.
[1] In the months following their formation Bring Me the Horizon created a demo album, titled
Bedroom Sessions, featuring two songs that would be re-recorded for their debut release. The band's name is derived from the final line of the film
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, in which
Captain Jack Sparrow says "Now, bring me that horizon."
[3][4]
The group released their first EP,
This Is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For on 2 October 2004. The EP was recorded in Nottingham over the course of two weekends, recording the drums and bass guitar in the first weekend and then guitars and vocals in the second weekend in the studio.
[5] It was re-released on 20 January 2005 through Visible Noise.
[1] The re-release of the EP gained the band a significant amount of attention, peaking at 41 on the UK album charts.
[6]
They released their debut, full-length album
Count Your Blessings in October 2006 in the United Kingdom and in August 2007 in the United States. Across late November and December 2006 Bring Me the Horizon accompanied
Lostprophets and
The Blackout in a UK tour.
[7] In January 2007 Bring Me the Horizon replaced
Bury Your Dead on
Killswitch Engage's European headline tour. The slot as a support was offered as Bury Your Dead withdrew from the tour because of their vocalist, Mat Bruso, leaving the band.
[8]
Suicide Season and Ward's departure (2008–2009)
Lead singer, Oliver Sykes performing in Toronto, Ontario.
Bring Me the Horizon recorded their second studio album
Suicide Season in Sweden with
Fredrik Nordström. It was promoted viraly in the weeks following up to its release with the tagline "September is Suicide Season".
[9] In promotion of the new material from
Suicide Season, the band embarked on their first headline tour of the United States, as well as appearing in the 2008
Warped Tour. In May 2008 Bring Me the Horizon was the main supporting band on
I Killed the Prom Queen's farewell tour in Australia with
The Ghost Inside and
The Red Shore as supports.
[10] Although the tour was short (nine days long), it sold out rapidly.
[11] On 18 September 2008
Suicide Season was released in the United States on
Epitaph and 29 September in Europe through
Visible Noise.
In 2009 Bring Me the Horizon attended the
2009 Kerrang! Tour alongside
Black Tide,
Dir En Grey,
In Case of Fire and
Mindless Self Indulgence.
[12] They also joined
Thursday,
Cancer Bats,
Four Year Strong and
Pierce the Veil on the North American leg of
Taste of Chaos 2009 across February to April. In March 2009 during the Taste of Chaos tour, guitarist Curtis Ward left the band.
[2] The band's guitar technician, Dean Rowbotham substituted for Ward on the remaining dates of Taste of Chaos, followed by Australian guitarist
Jona Weinhofen, formerly of
Bleeding Through and I Killed the Prom Queen, before being asked to join the group on a permanent basis.
[13]
In November 2009 Bring Me the Horizon released a remixed version of
Suicide Season, titled
Suicide Season: Cut Up! Musicians and producers featured on the album include
Ben Weinman,
Sonny Moore,
L’Amour La Morgue,
Utah Saints and
Shawn Crahan.
[14] Musically, the album crosses in with many different genres; including
electronica,
drum and bass,
hip-hop and
dubstep. The dubstep style of the record has been acknowledged in tracks from Tek-one
[15] and Skrillex while the hip-hop elements are found in Travis McCoy's remix of Chelsea Smile.
The Dillinger Escape Plan member, Benjamin Weinman's version of "No Need for Introductions I've Read About Girls Like You on the Backs of Toilet Doors" is considerably the most unique with its incorporation of
industrial music.
[16] Later on, Sykes guested on the
Admiral's Arms song "Dawn of the New Age", which appeared on the EP
Stories Are Told, released on the same month as
Suicide Season: Cut Up!.
There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. (2010–2011)
Jona Weinhofen performing live with Bring Me the Horizon in 2009; he joined the band in 2009 after leaving
Bleeding Through.
The band's third album and first with their new rhythm guitarist
Jona Weinhofen, titled
There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret., was released 4 October 2010 and debuted at number 17 on the
Billboard 200 in the US,
[17] number 13 on the
UK Album Chart,
[18] and number 1 on the
Australian Albums Chart,
[19] the
UK Rock Chart[20] and the
UK Indie Chart.
[21] Despite reaching number 1 in Australia, the album's sales of 3,600 they gained to get there are the lowest in the history of the ARIA charts.
[22] Matt Nicholls describes the lyrical themes of
There Is a Hell being "repercussions of everything we were singing about on our last CD [Suicide Season]", describing the music and lyrics as being a lot more moodier and darker.
[5] In 2010 members of Bring Me the Horizon (Jona Weinhofen, Lee Malia and Oli Sykes) guested on
This One's For You by Australian
rapcore band
Deez Nuts (Sykes providing vocals on "If You Don't Know Now You Know"). Five singles total were released from the album including: "
It Never Ends", "Anthem", "Blessed with a Curse", "Visions", and "Alligator Blood", with music videos included for each of the songs. In the immediate promotion of the album the band embarked on a headline tour in intimate venues across the United Kingdom with support from
Cancer Bats and Tek-one.
[23]
In December 2010 Bring Me the Horizon joined
Bullet for My Valentine as the main support band, along side
Atreyu, in a short five date arena tour around the United Kingdom.
[24] To cope with high demand
Live Nation released extra standing tickets to all dates.
[25] Rumours circled as to why Bring Me the Horizon sets were cut short at arenas, cited mainly to do with the shows becoming more violent and less controlable. When asked about the shows, Matt Nicholls said that the band was told that they couldn't climb on any of the stage equipment or set or interact with the crowd. The band opposed these rules by initiating
walls of death.
[5]
In April 2011 Bring Me the Horizon started a European tour, starting in the
United Kingdom they toured with
Parkway Drive and
Architects as main support bands, with
The Devil Wears Prada as the opening support for the UK and
dubstep group
Tek-one opening for the remainder of continental Europe. The tour gained much publicity, it's classed as their biggest headline tour ever
[26] and even is stated as the "tour of the year" by
Rock Sound.
[27] The tour, however, was not without its hindrances. On 28 April Matt Nicholls broke his arm whilst playing football with members of Bring Me the Horizon, Parkway Drive and Architecs, and instead of canceling the tour Architects' drummer Dan Searle filled in as the drummer, this meant that Bring Me the Horizon's setlist was halved in length.
[26] An also on 28 April at the
Bristol O2 Academy, there was a power cut before Parkway Drive's set.
[28] Bring Me the Horizon as a reaction to the power cut decided to do a short 4 track acoustic set featuring: "The Sadness Will Never End", "It Never Ends", "Suicide Season" and "Chelsea Smile".
[29] The tour was extended with a North American leg from 31 August to 4 October maintaing Parkway Drive and Architects and including Deez Nuts onto the line up.
[30] On 23 August they released the fourth music video and single, "Visions".
[31] On 31 October,
Halloween, the next music video for the song "Alligator Blood" was released.
On 13 October 2011 it was announced that Bring Me the Horizon was nominated for three
Independent Music Awards. In the three categories
Best Live Act,
Independent Breakthrough of Year and
Hardest Working Band or Artist.
[32] In December 2011
Machine Head completed an arena tour across Europe with Bring Me the Horizon as the main support band as well as
DevilDriver and
Darkest Hour as supports. Oliver Sykes has stated that these will be the last European dates they'll do before they start the writing and the recording of their fourth album.
[33] Bring Me the Horizon's presence on the tour was met with mixed reception from fans, Dave Bowes of
The Fly with a live review of their performance at
SECC in
Glasgow as "simply in the wrong place at the wrong time but they choose to be the better men..."
[34]
2011 concluded with an announcement by the band on December 29 of a new extended play titled
The Chill Out Sessions, a collaborative effort with British DJ "Draper".
[35] Draper first released a "officially sanctioned" remix of the song "Blessed with a Curse" in May 2011.
[36] The EP was originally supposed to be released in time for New Year's Day and to be made available for download and purchase though Bring Me the Horizon's website. However, the EP's release was canceled because of the band's "current management and label situation".
[37][38]
Controversy
Nottingham incident
While on tour in the UK allegations were made against vocalist Oliver Sykes that he urinated upon a female fan after a gig at
Nottingham Rock City. Sykes was subsequently charged with urinating on the fan.
[39] Online music zine
Drowned in Sound claimed that Bring Me the Horizon were banned from Nottingham
Rock City,
[40] a claim that turned out to be false when the band subsequently played Nottingham Rock City on 1 December 2007.
[41] All charges against Sykes were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
[42]
YouTube video with Architects
During a tour, Bring Me the Horizon and
Architects filmed a video showing a staged fight between Oliver Sykes and Architects' lead singer Sam Carter. The video was uploaded to
YouTube and resulted in outraging many Bring Me the Horizon fans, believing it was real. This caused many to send
hate mail towards Carter, whom later made it clear in an interview with
Kerrang! that the whole thing was a joke, as did Sykes.
[43]
Musical style
Bring Me the Horizon is universally recognized as a
metalcore band.
[44][45][46] Aside from this, the band's debut full-length album
Count Your Blessings, on the other hand, was regarded as a
deathcore release.
[3] Their music has been said to be influenced diversely by
grindcore,
mathcore,
death metal and
emo.
[3]
Bring Me the Horizon pooled more diverse influences in preparation for the writing of their fourth studio album. Jona Weinhofen spoke out about how both he and Lee Malia developed affection for
post-rock bands such as
Explosions in the Sky and
This Will Destroy You. Weinhofen also once commented on how he would like to combine the heaviness of Bring Me the Horizon's typical work with the laid-back atmospherics of post-rock.
[47][48]
Band members
- Current members
- Touring members
- Dean Rowbotham - rhythm guitar (2009)
- Dan Searle − drums, percussion (2011)
- Former members
- Curtis Ward − rhythm guitar (2004–2009)
Discography
- Studio albums
- EPs
Accolades and readers poll results
- Kerrang! Awards
- AIM Independent Music Awards
Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
2011 | Bring Me the Horizon | Best Live Act | Nominated[51] |
2011 | Bring Me the Horizon | Hardest Working Band or Artist | Nominated[51] |
2011 | Bring Me the Horizon | Independent Breakthrough of Year | Nominated[51] |
- Miscellaneous
- In a 2009 Rock Sounds readers' poll, Bring Me the Horizon achieved both "Best British Band" and "Worst British Band".[52]
- In reader polls conducted by Kerrang!, Bring Me the Horizon was voted Worst Band of 2008 and 2010.