Rob Ortenzi on 9/23/09 @ 7:00 AM

British metalcore masters BRING ME THE HORIZON have had a busy year, to say the least-and one filled with label spirit. With a spot beside fellow Epitaph band Thursday on last winter’s Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour and international dates over the summer, they’re currently performing on the Epitaph Tour with co-headliners Every Time I Die and supporting acts Oh, Sleeper and Architects. On top of that, they’re releasing a remixed version of their sophomore album, Suicide Season, this winter with plans for a new full-length in 2010. However, frontman OLI SYKES managed to clear enough space to fill us in on how the Epitaph Tour is going and when exactly we can expect new music.
INTERVIEW: Lucy Albers

How has the Epitaph Tour been going so far?
It’s been amazing. We’ve only been out for a couple weeks, but it’s probably one of the best tours we’ve ever done. We’ve toured with Architects before and we’re really good friends with them because they’re from back home. We’ve been friends with that band for years, basically since we first started up. And we did Warped Tour last year with Every Time We Die, so we know those guys. All the bands are really cool.

What’s the chemistry like between all the bands?
Everybody seems to get along really well. I think it’s a really good lineup, really, because all the bands are very similar in a way. But, at the same time, we’ve all got our unique differences. I think everyone here is having a good time and we’re sort of like family.

How have the crowds been compared to other tours you’ve done?
Every tour is different, but the fans are definitely going absolutely crazy. They’re very energetic, as they usually are when we play here. It’s really nice to have people enthusiastic about us playing. It’s very cool. One day we could be playing to thousands of kids and the next day we’re playing for a couple hundred. Booking a tour back home is a little smaller than the shows here, but obviously America is a bigger place.

Are there any differences between performing in the U.S. as opposed to back in the U.K.?
I guess there’s a different feel to it. When we’re back home, we obviously feel more at home. It’s familiar. We’ve lived there, so we’re used to it and know the venues and places. When it comes down to it, a show is a show. We don’t really know how big we are there. I mean, we play shows there, but it’s hard for us to really tell when we’re not always there.

What kind of mentality do you guys have when you get on stage?
Just get the crowd in to it. If the kids come out to see a show, you have to give them a show and give them a good time and get them involved. In the end, it’s all about playing music. We’re obviously not perfect, but we just like to have some fun.

What do you do when you have time off?
We don’t get a lot of time off. We always have stuff to do. I guess sometimes we just try to relax on days off. We actually just had a day off and went to Lake Shasta in California. We were able to just hang out and grill and whatnot. That’s obviously not what we do on every day off, but sometimes we get a chance to go out. Most of the time we just sleep.

You guys are set to release a new record next year. What do you have done for it so far?
We actually haven’t really written for it yet. We’ve just been touring so much, we haven’t had much time to sit down and write. But we will soon. We’re booked to go in with [producer Fredrik Nordström], who did our last CD. We really enjoyed working with him and were happy with how he did our album. I think we’re going into the studio sometime in March or the spring. We have ideas and we’ve talked about where we want to take it and stuff. Our last album didn’t really have a direction; we just wanted to do something different and we didn’t really know how. We just gave it all we had and it turned out that way. I don’t think we want to completely change; we want to keep our sound. We just want to push it more and make it better.

Do you feel pressure to make a great follow-up to Suicide Season?
There’s always pressure when comparing to your last album. There’s not much you can do about that. You just have to do your best and as long as we’re happy with it, that’s really all we can do. alt