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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 RCA 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. While their earlier work is noted for its strong influence from American metalcore bands, they started to adopt a more eclectic style of metalcore in future releases. 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. 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.
Bring Me the Horizon at Arena, Vienna in 2011
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. 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 demo featured three tracks: Shed Light / Metal Song, Who Want's
Flowers When You're Dead? Nobody. and an instrumental version of
Rawwwrr! 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."
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. It was re-released on 20 January 2005 through Visible Noise. The re-release of the EP gained the band a significant amount of attention, peaking at 41 on the UK album charts.
In 2006 Bring me the horizon was awarded Best British Newcomer at the 2006 Kerrang! Awards ceremony. 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. 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.
Suicide Season and Ward's departure (2008–2009)
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". 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. Although the tour was short (nine days long), it sold out rapidly. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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 another illuminati band 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. 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!.
Lead singer, Oliver Sykes performing in Toronto, Ontario.
There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. (2010–2011)
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, number 13 on the UK Album Chart, and number 1 on the Australian Albums Chart, the UK Rock Chart and the UK Indie Chart.
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. 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. 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.
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. To cope with high demand Live Nation released extra standing tickets to all dates.
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.
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 and even is stated as the "tour of the year" by Rock Sound.
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. An also on 28 April at the Bristol O2 Academy, there was a power cut before Parkway Drive's set. 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".
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. On 23 August they released the fourth music video and single, "Visions". 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. 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. 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..."
2011 concluded with an announcement by the band on 29 December of a new extended play titled The Chill Out Sessions, a collaborative effort with British DJ "Draper". Draper first released a "officially sanctioned" remix of the song "Blessed with a Curse" in May 2011. 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".
Jona Weinhofen performing live with Bring Me the Horizon in 2009; he joined the band in 2009 after leaving Bleeding Through.
Fourth studio album (2012–present)
After the intense touring schedule Bring Me the Horizon had completed
for the support of their third album they returned back to the United
Kingdom to write for their fourth studio album.
Much like their previous two albums where, they wrote their fourth
album in seclusion and isolation in order to stay focused, they resided
to a house in the lake district for the writing. In July the band started to reveal images of them recording the album at a ‘Top Secret Studio Location’. On July, 30, the band announced they had left their label and signed with RCA, through which their fourth album will be released in 2013.
In April, after a few months of writing Kerrang! announced that Bring Me The Horizon are the first announced headline act for Warped Tour 2012 on 10 November at the Alexandra Palace in London. This is believed to be the only date in all of 2012 that they are performing. The band was confirmed to be a part of the 2013 Australian Soundwave festival in their second announcement. They will perform at all 5 dates in: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Band members
- Current members
- Oliver Sykes – lead vocals, keyboard (2004–present)
- Matt Kean − bass guitar (2004–present)
- Lee Malia − lead guitar (2004–present)
- Matt Nicholls − drums, percussion (2004–present)
- Jona Weinhofen − rhythm guitar, vocals (2009–present)
