Bolt Thrower bassist Jo Bench shot the shit with Metal Chaos about the bands new album "Those Once Loyal", their impending European tour and the return of original vocalist Karl Willetts.
Hey guys, thanks for taking
the time to do the interview. How are things with you all?
No problem at all. Things are going great right now, it's a pretty good
time for us all.
The band has just finished
the recording of your new album, "Those Once Loyal". Where was the album
recorded and how was your time in the studio?
The album was recorded at the same place we did Honour, Valour, Pride -
Sable Rose Studios in Coventry, with Andy Faulkner at the helm. Our time
in the studio was good, but long - over 3 months, at some point we thought
it was never gonna end! It was quite an intense time and we had our fair
share of laughs and fights but we all came out the other end still mates
and with a great album.
Is the studio an environment the band enjoy?
I think some enjoy it more than others! Personally I love being part of
building an album, from the drums to the mixing. I learn more and more
each time I go into the studio, I find the whole process very interesting
"Those Once Loyal" is the first album since 1998's "Mercenary" to feature
Karl Willetts. How is it to have Karl back in the Bolt Thrower ranks and
how did the reunion with Karl come about?
It's fantastic to have Karl back in the ranks. It feels like he never left
and that's just what we wanted. The story of getting him back is pretty
dull, basically when Dave left, Baz just phoned Karl and asked if he
wanted to do the album. Luckily he said yes to the album and re-joining
the band. He said it couldn't have come at a better time in his life, and
we couldn't have wished for a better outcome.
How did the band approach
the writing of the album with Karl back onboard; did this differ from the
approach taken with Dave (Ingram)?
Actually it was pretty similar. The riffs are written by Baz and the
arrangements are mainly done by Baz, me and Gav. The lyrics were always
co-written by Gav, so not too different there either, but obviously with
Karl the process was a lot more natural.
I presume the album is to be
released through Metal Blade Records? How are these guys treating you?
They're ok. I don't think any band is 100% happy with their record label
and we're no exception.
The digi-pack version of the
album features a bonus track "A Symbol Of Eight". Why was this track kept
as a bonus track?
When we were doing the tracklisting for the album we had a few songs that
worked better in the main list than others. Basically A Symbol of Eight
got the short straw. It's still a good song though.
Imagery has always played a big part of the bands albums and "Those
Once Loyal" appears to be no different. The cover of the album is a photo
of the plaque on the Guards Memorial. How did you come up with this
concept?
We had a kind of idea what we wanted, we knew we didn't want another
fantasy battle style artwork and wanted something more epic looking along
the lines of the ...For Victory cover. One day I came across this picture,
it looked like a drawing but I did some research and found out it was
actually a
photograph of this plaque on
a war memorial. We commissioned a photographer and he went down and took a
few photos, then Jan Meininghaus (who did the HVP cover) did us a new logo
and made it into a cover.
Any plans to get a video off this record?
Well we'll be recording a
few shows off the forthcoming European tour, so we'll see if some of it's
usable. We're not fans of doing videos, so if we'll do one it'll probably
be mainly live footage.
January 2006 will see the band on the road in Europe. Will Karl be touring
with the rest of the band in support of "Those Once Loyal"?
Yes definitely. He's looking
forward to that as much as the rest of us. He rejoined as a full member,
so hopefully he'll stay till the end of Bolt Thrower.
The dates as yet don't
include any UK shows, are there any plans to tour the UK?
We'll be booking some UK dates when we get back from Europe. Yeah I know,
it's been a while..
Old school Death Metal
appears to be in somewhat of a revival. Obituary has reformed, Dave
Vincent has returned to Morbid Angel; Karl is of course back on board with
BT. What are your thoughts on all the old school acts coming back?
I guess it's the old 'mid-life crisis' thing, haha.. I don't know, i've
never left a band, so I don't know what the feeling is like to be on the
outside. I can only speak about Karl coming back, and that has only been a
positive thing for him and the band.
As one of the now elder
statesmen of the UK Death Metal scene, do you eve feel that with age comes
an unreasonable weight of expectation from fans?
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out!! I think there is more expectation
within the band than from the fans. We don't wanna release a shit album,
that's why we spend so much time making sure it's right. All we can do is
do our best, if people like it then that's a bonus.
As one of the bands to appear on the now legendary Peel Sessions, what words do
you have to say about the late great John Peel?
I miss John Peel a lot. He was a total legend and I feel so fortunate to
have been part of the Peel Sessions history. There are not many people who
you can say changed your life, but for me John Peel is definitely one of
them. A few days before he died I had a dream about him, I thought 'damn,
I should send him some stuff and say thanks for everything'. Unfortunately
I never got to do that and I still haven't forgiven myself. Never has
anyone before or since him done so much for new music. RIP John.
Any last words to all the BT fans out there?
Just
the usual really - thanks a lot for supporting the band over the years. We
really appreciate it a lot. Hopefully see you on tour somewhere soon!