Bring Me The Horizon

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Hometown:: Sheffield, Yorkshire, , United Kingdom
Founded:: 2004
Genre:: Metalcore
Label(s):: Visible Noise Records
Thirty Days of Night Records
Epitaph Records

Website:

http://www.bringmethehorizon.co.uk

Members:

Oliver Sykes (Lead Vocals) [2004-present]
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Lee Malia (Lead Guitar) [2004-present]
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Matt Kean (Bass) [2004-present]
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Matt Nicholls (Drums) [2004-present]
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Jona Weinhofen (Rhythm guitar/keyboard) [2009-present]
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FORMER Members:

Curtis Ward (Guitar) [2004-2009]

Biography

In the history of rock ’n’ roll, Great Britain has never failed to bring the heavy. So it should come as no surprise that Sheffield-based Bring Me The Horizon are heir-apparents in the next generation of 21st century metal. Formed in 2004, frontman Oli Sykes, guitarists Lee Malia and Curtis Ward, bassist Matt Kean and drummer Matt Nicholls licensed their debut EP, This Is What The Edge Of Your Seat Was Made For and attendant full-length, Count Your Blessings to influential metal label Earache for domestic release in 2007. Those first recordings were thrash-happy exercises short on finesse, and the quintet had to deal with persnickety critics and detractors who claimed they were more obsessed with scene accoutrements (tat sleeves, haircuts and attracting girls) than making any kind of musical declarations. While BMTH never took these criticisms to heart, they did come back with 2008’s game-changing Suicide Season, an album as subtle as an unexploded warhead sticking out of an inflatable kiddie pool. The overwhelmingly positive response to the disc was massive enough that the reverberations were felt at the Los Angeles offices of Epitaph Records, who issued the disc stateside. The following year, the band co-headlined Taste Of Chaos with labelmates Thursday, hammering away at the psyches of audiences. (On a historical note, BMTH were the first British band to grace the cover of AP since Radiohead in 2001, appearing on our TOC issue, AP 248, in March 2009.) Near the end of that tour, guitarist Ward was asked to leave the band; his replacement, Jona Weinhofen—formerly of the Australian outfit I Killed The Prom Queen and fresh from a stint with L.A. metalcore vets Bleeding Through—was enlisted for his musical skills and boundless onstage energy. With an influx of new blood and a shared taste of new electronic music (which sparked the creation of Cut Up!, a full-length remix disc), BMTH set off to Sweden to again work with acclaimed producer Fredrik Nordström (At The Gates, In Flames) on the follow-up to Suicide Season. In October of 2010, There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret, was issued by Epitaph, featuring sparkling electronic flourishes (some created by former From First To Last singer Sonny Moore) and guest vocalists both likely (Josh Scogin of the Chariot, fellow Briton Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six) and left field (Canadian electro-pop maven Lights). Having conquered crowds from Warped to Taste Of Chaos, BMTH signed on to co-headline AP’s 2010 Tour Fall, alongside August Burns Red. In 2009, drummer Nicholls summed up the Bring Me The Horizon experience succinctly to AP. “We just like it when kids at shows know the words. It would be cool if the 5 million people that listened to us on MySpace buy the CD, but we won’t lose sleep as long as they are listening. As long as they come out and sing along, we are stoked on it.” That attitude totally beats fretting over your SoundScan numbers, doesn’t it?