Welsh metal band Bullet for My Valentine were among the performers at last weekend's Graspop Metal Meeting festival in Dessel, Belgium. Frontman Matt Tuck and drummer Jason Bowld sat down for an interview with the festival organizers as part of that stop-off, detailing their forthcoming album Gravity, their evolution as artists, and more.
At one point during the conversation, Bowld was asked to elaborate on his recent revelation to Alternative Press that masked Swedish occult rockers Ghost asked him to join the band as a full-time member in 2016, an invitation he ultimately turned down because it "didn't feel right." Now we know the reason why, as Ultimate Guitar points out.
"At the time, I had a jam with guys in Ghost," Bowld said of the band, describing them as "super nice guys." Alas, it was not meant to be: The drummer was exhausted from a recent, yearlong tour with Bullet for My Valentine, which wrapped up just as Tobias Forge and Co. came a-knocking. "I was pretty burnt out," Bowld explained. "It was just the wrong time for me, really. I needed to rest up."
"And lo and behold, a month later, I got a call from Matt — and here I am," he concluded. "Things were just meant to be like that." (Bowld originally enlisted in Bullet for My Valentine as a temporary replacement for original percussionist Michael "Moose" Thomas, who took a hiatus from the band in 2015, before becoming an official member in late 2017.)
Bullet for My Valentine's new album Gravity arrives June 29th. Ahead of the album's release date, the band dropped a trippy visual for lead single "Over It," a track Tuck recently detailed for an episode of Revolver's "Lyric Dissector" series. Check that out below if you haven't already.
