Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Oli Sykes, the singer of Bring Me The Horizon, is the featured guest on the most recent Nik Nocturnal Podcast episode, as per theprp. During this conversation, the British alternative metal artist discussed his band’s intention to rerecord their 2006 first album “Count Your Blessings.” The group became well-known as a result of that deathcore-focused event. But in the end, their steady transition into more melodic alternative metal area solidified their status as today’s arena headliners. Early fans were somewhat divided by the band’s creative development over time. In a way, that tension might soon be flipped, since the decision to return this dissimilar period of their history could provoke criticism from the group’s more recent followers.
Those fans, who are more used to the group’s contemporary, more commercially successful production, could feel alienated by this re-recording. Sykes elaborated on the reasons behind the band’s decision to rerecord the album in addition to talking about relearning how to scream for the record, acknowledging that there were discussions at one point about possibly changing some of the lyrics that didn’t age well, and generally talking about the band’s mindset at the time.
I think a lot of people think that we hate that record or are embarrassed about it, ’cause we don’t play it and stuff, but really we were just always disappointed with how it sounded. Like, I remember we weren’t stoked on it at all when we came out of the studio. We hadn’t… it was a small band. We didn’t have much budget. We wanted to go with, like, Adam D [Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage] or someone that could help us make this record cool. We ended up going with some guy [Dan Sprigg.] The only thing he’d done is — no disrespect to him; I’m sure he’s a good producer in his own field, but he’d done Simply Red. That was his previous credit.
So Simply Red to Bring Me deathcore album is just, like, ‘All right.’ And it was just, we had no idea what we were doing. We didn’t know anything about click tracks, about panning guitars left and right. We had no idea about anything. It was our first time. And he didn’t really either, in terms of a metal band. I think I got ill halfway through it, so around about track five, it just starts to sound like I’ve been singing through a sock. We were getting drunk all the time. No one even sat in with each other when we were recording. So everyone just went in and did their parts. No one was going, ‘Wait a minute, Matt, that’s a bit out of time.’ So it’s just… And you can hear that.”
I remember putting the CD on in the car, and I had this huge subwoofer in the back of the car. We used to listen to All Shall Perish ‘Wage Slaves‘. I remember it just sounded insane on that. So we’d always get in my car and listen to stuff, and it would just be, like, sick. I’d put ‘Count Your Blessings‘ on, and I was, like, ‘Oh, it just doesn’t sound good.’ I remember just driving home going, ‘This does not sound good.’ And I don’t think I ever listened to it ever again, ’cause I was just so unhappy with it. And I think over the years and stuff, I obviously just never really revisited it. We play the odd song sometimes, but…
To mix this fresh “reconstruction” of the record, the group hired the skills of Buster Odeholm, who is well-known for Vildhjarta, Thrown, and Humanity’s Last Breath.
We just wanted to go with who’s doing that today. But actually, we also realized no one’s doing that music today. So even Buster himself, I wouldn’t say he struggled, but the first mix was, like, his classic mix. And the snare: huge, the kick: huge. The riffs kind of like so much gain, you can hardly hear them. And it sounded sick. Don’t get me wrong, it sounded way better, it sounded cool. But we were, like, ‘We can’t have this record sounding like what bands sound like today. It needs to be the best version of what it sounded like in 2006.’
So the kick has to be clickier, more triggered. The snare needs to be nice and pingy. It can be fat on the breakdowns. The riffs have to actually be clear. ‘Cause the whole album’s just riffs. For a lot of it, there’s more riffs than vocals. So you need to hear them riffs, ’cause if you’re not hearing them, it’s pointless.
Regarding the band’s scheduled live 20th anniversary performances for the album. Filming is anticipated for at least one of their first headline performances on July 10–11 at Manchester, UK’s B.E.C. Arena. Static Dress, Dying Wish, Heriot, Rolo Tomassi, Car Underwater, and Still In Love will perform opening sets at that concert, which is being presented by “Outbreak Fest.” Despite the band’s current elevated status, Sykes confirmed that those shows will not have a barricade but rather an additional stage to allow for stage diving and the like. Sykes said this in response to Nocturnal’s question about if barriers were actually planned for the performances.
Not only no barricade, there’s actually an extra stage before the stage that you can get on and like just stage dive off [of], run on, mosh on. Basically these guys put on a festival called ‘Outbreak‘ in England. It’s like super iconic festival. It’s like mainly hardcore stuff, hardcore metal. It’s a really cool festival. So we’ve kind of like, they partnered up with us to do it, and that’s their thing. They have this no barricade. I’m hoping it’s as crazy as the shows I’ve seen.
We’re going to film it. I think we’re actually, like, we’ve talked about it. We need to put out some kind of like pre-safety video like, ‘this is the deal, look after each other, be safe, but also this can and will happen.’ So, yeah, pick where you want to stand basically ’cause it could get a bit lairy.
I’m like lowkey don’t even know how it’s legal. But like I’m like, ‘what are the rules and stipulations of like how this works?’ ‘Cause like they can basically… I mean and and they’ll get kicked off, but they can just walk on stage if they want. Do you know what I mean?
In the interview, Sykes added that since he became a father to twins last year, he has advocated for the band to tour for shorter periods of time so he can be there for his kids and spend more time with his family. The release date of “Count Your Blessings – Repented” is set for July 10th.
Upcoming shows:
