AXEWOUND, the project featuring Matt Tuck (BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) on guitar and vocals, Liam Cormier (CANCER BATS) on lead vocals, Mike Kingswood (GLAMOUR OF THE KILL) on guitar, Joe Copcutt (RISE TO REMAIN) on bass, and Jason Bowld (PITCHSHIFTER, KILLING JOKE) on drums, has released the following statement:
“Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, AXEWOUND are unable to obtain the proper visas in time for the upcoming North American run and will therefore need to postpone their U.S./Canada tour at the time. The band are extremely disappointed by this turn of events but are determined to make it up to the fans next year. Thanks for the continued support and understanding, and the band look forward to dominating North America in 2013.”
AXEWOUND‘s debut album, “Vultures”, was released in the U.S. on October 2 via The End.
AXEWOUND is an outlet for the musicians to make music that is more extreme than they can and do in their regular bands. Their inspirations for doing so hark back to a golden generation of metal acts — to such heavyweight names as PANTERA and SLIPKNOT.
The roots of AXEWOUND go back to 2010, when Jason Bowld filled in for BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas on a brace of shows. He and Tuck kept in touch and last year began discussing working together on a project separate from the hugely successful Welsh metallers. They eventually got together in December 2011 to write the songs that make up AXEWOUND‘s debut album, “Vultures”.
Cormier was the obvious choice to front and pen lyrics for these songs. He and Tuck had been friends for years, CANCER BATS having supported BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE on numerous tours.
Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE have tapped noted engineer Chris Lord-Alge (DEFTONES, NICKELBACK, AVENGED SEVENFOLD) to mix their fourth album, due in early 2013. The band’s frontman, Matt Tuck, tweeted earlier today, “Just got the first mixes through off album 4 from Sir Chris Lord Alge, FUCK ME!!!!”
Tuck recently told South Africa’s Voice Of Rock Radio that the recording sessions for the band’s new CD went more smoothly than those for the group’s previous effort, due in part to the experience of collaborating with acclaimed rock producer Don Gilmore (LINKIN PARK, GOOD CHARLOTTE) on the group’s last LP, 2010’s “Fever”. “We worked with Don Gilmore again on this new record we just finished,” Matt said. “For me, it’s a huge compliment that he really didn’t have much input, ’cause on the last record he did, and it kind of opened my eyes to write differently and to think about, not slowing things down, but kind of… there’s no restraint on screaming and restraint on a million miles an hour. It’s not necessary, really. We’ve kind of done that [already]. So on this record, [he kind of] sat back and let me do it without having much input, which to me, knowing Don, is a huge compliment, ’cause it means I’ve kind of done it right by my own. So, yeah, we’ve definitely fucking nailed it on this record. I know it’s a long way before coming out and anyone’s gonna hear anything, but I’ve lived with [it] and I know what it is, and trust me, it’s good.”
Asked about BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE‘s longevity and musical progression over the years, Tuck said, “I definitely think we’ve got longevity, ’cause we are longevity. We’ve been doing this eight years now and we’re still at the top of the game of… we’re still at the top of our tree of our style of music. I mean, no one’s really kind of tried to take us over. So we have kind of taken the foot off the gas already a little bit with ‘Fever’, and the album we just recorded, we’ve actually backed off a little bit again — not because we don’t think people don’t wanna hear heavy music, we’ve actually made it heavier by slowing down and less is more. Like METALLICA‘s ‘black album,’ you wouldn’t necessarily call it a heavy album, but the sound of it is fucking heavy and it’s big and it sounds timeless because of that. It’s not a million miles an hour — it’s big and heavy and loud. We’re not trying to make a ‘black’ album, we’re just trying to kind of take that theory of slowing down, putting less technical bits in and concentrating on the vocals and the meat and bones of the song.”
AXEWOUND — the new project featuring Matt Tuck (BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) on guitar and vocals, Liam Cormier (CANCER BATS) on lead vocals, Mike Kingswood (GLAMOUR OF THE KILL) on guitar, Joe Copcutt (RISE TO REMAIN) on bass, and Jason Bowld (PITCHSHIFTER, KILLING JOKE) on drums — made its live debut last night (Thursday, May 31) at Tivoli in Utrecht, Holland as the support act for KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be seen below.
During the time off between BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE albums, Tuck grew restless. Recruiting Bowld, routinely touted as the best session drummer in the U.K., and engineer Martyn “Ginge” Ford (BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, TRIVIUM), Matt set to creating monster riffs and intricate metal melodies at the Atrium recording studios in Cardiff, Wales. The project proved fertile ground for Matt to explore the darker, heavier side of his appetite for metal, and soon enough Matt was recruiting co-conspirators to the cause, including Synyster Gates of AVENGED SEVENFOLD delivering a finger-burning guitar solo on standout track “Vultures”.
Choosing a vocalist to match the intensity of the music was easy, says Matt. “The first phone call I made was to Liam [Cormier, of CANCER BATS]. We’ve toured the world together and I’ve always admired the furious energy he brings to a performance.” Liam flew over from his native Canada to join Matt and Jason at the studio and began recording his trademark searing vocals that took the then-unnamed project to the next level. “That was when it really hit me,” continues Matt, “we had something special here, way more than just a studio project. We’ve gotta take this show on the road!” Guitarist Mike Kingswood (GLAMOUR OF THE KILL) and Joe Copcutt (ex-RISE TO REMAIN) were handpicked to join the lineup and a metal supergroup AXEWOUND was born.
A strict Omerta-like code of silence prevailed around the camp as finishing touches were added to the record and in March the tracks were shipped off to be mixed by Machine (LAMB OF GOD, THE BRONX) at his studio in New Jersey.
AXEWOUND‘s lead track, “Post Apocalyptic Party”, was aired on the BBC Radio 1 “Rock Show” and is available for free download from the band’s web site at www.axewounduk.com.
Tuck admitted in an interview with the “Rock Show” that he is looking forward to not being the singer and leader. “It’s going to be different, not being the main vocalist, but it’s something I look forward to, [to] just enjoy being a guitar player and a songwriter,” Tuck said. “It’s not something I ever wanted to do, [to] be the frontman of the band. I was always the guitar player who could sing at the same time and that is how I ended up doing what I do.”
He added, “It’s going to be a different experience. I’ve never not been in a band without singing so it’ll be quite odd to be up there without a microphone in my face for the whole show. But Liam is a dream to work with and one of the most ferocious vocalists.”
AXEWOUND is:
Matt Tuck (BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) – Guitar, Vocals Liam Cormier (CANCER BATS) – Vocals Mike Kingswood (GLAMOUR OF THE KILL) – Guitar Joe Copcutt (RISE TO REMAIN) – Bass Jason Bowld (ex-PITCHSHIFTER) – Drums
AXEWOUND will make a number of festival appearances, including at Download (U.K.), Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park (Germany), Gods Of Metal (Italy) and Graspop Metal Meeting (Belgium).
According to a new tweet from BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck, the “official unveiling” of his new side project will take place this coming Monday, April 30. He wrote, “Can’t believe it’s been such a well-kept secret!! METAAAAAAAAAAALL!!!!!!” Tuck added that he is not leaving BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE for the new band and revealed that he is due to resume vocal-recording sessions for the new BULLET album on May 7. He said, “[We are] aiming for an October release for new BULLET record, so fingers crossed there are no delays. Got 15 tracks so far, what to pick!!”
Tuck first revealed that he was collaborating with as-yet-undisclosed musicians on a “metal-as-fuck” side project last October during an interview with “Metal Zone” host Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone. Tuck said at the time, “At the moment, there’s just three [guys in the new band], but there’ll be a minimum of four [in the final lineup].” Regarding the new group’s musical direction, Matt said, “It’s, like, far more like SLIPKNOT, PANTERA… It’s metal as fuck, you know what I mean?! Stepping away from the melodic, not giving a fuck… ‘Cause obviously BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE is a business and we have our formula, and what we do works — it’s great — so we won’t stray from that. So it’s nice to step out of that comfort zone and do something fucking ridiculous and not worry about what people are gonna think, because it doesn’t exist yet. . . We wanted to go in there with kind of like a SLIPKNOT attitude of just everything… Like the ‘Iowa’ album — just fucking violent. Let it all out. No holds barred.”
According to Tuck, he already has a name picked up for his side project, which has been secretly recording demos with a view towards securing a record deal. “BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE‘s] management already know what’s going on — they’re in the loop — so they’ve already got stuff lined up,” he said.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE‘s third album, “Fever”, sold 71,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 3 on The Billboard 200 chart. “Fever” also landed in the Top Five in Australia, the U.K., Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the U.K. it reached No. 5 on sales of 21,965.
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