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| Bring Me the Horizon | |
|---|---|
 Bring Me the Horizon at Arena, Vienna in 2011 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Sheffield, England |
| Genres | Metalcore, deathcore |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Visible Noise, Epitaph, Thirty Days of Night, Earache, Shock |
| Associated acts | I Killed the Prom Queen |
| Website | www.bringmethehorizon.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Oliver Sykes Lee Malia Matt Kean Matt Nicholls Jona Weinhofen |
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| Past members | |
| Curtis Ward | |
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.
Contents[hide] |
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)
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)
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
- Matt Kean − bass guitar (since 2004)
- Lee Malia − lead guitar (since 2004)
- Matt Nicholls − drums, percussion (since 2004)
- Oliver Sykes – lead vocals (since 2004)
- Jona Weinhofen − rhythm guitar, backing vocals (since 2009)
- Touring members
- Dean Rowbotham - rhythm guitar (2009)
- Dan Searle − drums, percussion (2011)
- Former members
- Curtis Ward − rhythm guitar (2004–2009)
Discography
Main article: Bring Me the Horizon discography
- Studio albums
- Count Your Blessings (2006)
- Suicide Season (2008)
- There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. (2010)
- EPs
Accolades and readers poll results
- Kerrang! Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Bring Me the Horizon | Best British Newcomer | Won[49] |
| 2008 | Bring Me the Horizon | Best British Band | Nominated |
| 2009 | Bring Me the Horizon | Best British Band | Nominated |
| 2011 | Blessed with a Curse | Best Single | Nominated |
| 2011 | Bring Me the Horizon | Best British Band | Nominated |
| 2011 | There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. |
Best Album | Won[50] |
- 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
