Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison

Bullet For My Valentine, originating from Bridgend in South Wales, was formed by singer and guitarist, Matt Tuck; Lead guitarist, Michael Paget; Bassist, Nick Crandle and drummer, Michael Thomas back in 1998. They started off playing covers of Metallica and Nirvana songs under the name of Jeff Killed John before developing a style all of their own as Bullet For My Valentine.

Nick Crandle left the band shortly after they formed and Jason James replaced him to form the line up that remains today.

Though they had originally intended to be a nu-metal band (such as Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Korn) when nu-metal started to fade out of the scene they changed their name to Bullet For My Valentine and started to form the metal core band we know today.

After a few months playing live the band attracted a certain amount of attention from record companies and eventually decided to sign to Sony Music Entertainment, the band chose Sony because they thought “that a lot more doors would be open to [them].”

In November 2004 a self-titled EP was released and later a second EP entitled Hand Of Blood was released, though it was only available for purchase in the US 3 of the 6 tracks made it onto the album, 4 Words To Choke Upon, Cries In Vain and of course, Hand Of Blood.

On October 3rd 2005, The Poison was released in the UK. The first single from this album, Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do?) made it to number 37 in the UK Singles Chart, this was later beaten by their next single, All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me), which made it to 29th position.

Bullet have played Download Festival three times, alongside one of their biggest influence, Metallica, among other bands such as Guns ‘N’ Roses and Trivium. They also headlined the Kerrang! Tour in early 2006 and have opened for another one of their influences, heavy metal band, Iron Maiden.

A Blabbermouth.net reviewer described The Poison as “predictable” though he later praised Tears Don’t Fall for “thrashy romps, galloping tempos, and a hot solo.” At the Metal Hammer awards they won Best British Band and were booed as they accepted the award, much to their surprise.

Bullet For My Valentine have recently finished their follow up album, Scream, Aim, Fire and are hoping to release it in the UK by late January, 2008. Michael Paget said that the band are “not into that just being loud for the sake of it.” Matt Tuck added that they can promise the “stupidly insane, catchy choruses” of their debut album on their sophomore effort.

One track from the bands latest album is going to be featured in a compilation of songs that will come free with a Kerrang! Magazine some time in November.

Bullet For My Valentine are commencing their UK tour on January 31st, 2008 at the Newport Centre, Newport and will be playing the final show of the tour at Brixton Academy, London on Thursday 7th February, 2008, you can find out more about the tour at their website or got to their myspace.