{"id":18041,"date":"2013-09-05T22:34:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T12:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=18041"},"modified":"2013-09-05T22:54:09","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T12:54:09","slug":"ben-bruce-of-asking-alexandria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/09\/ben-bruce-of-asking-alexandria\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Bruce of Asking Alexandria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“It\u2019s nice to be able to land in a foreign country and know what\u2019s going on and have it all run smoothly, but yeah, we had a great time doing Soundwave last time, met a lot of bands and made friends and met up with a lot of our older friends, so yeah, looking forward to our second Soundwave trip.”<\/p>\n

From release: To say that 2012 was a breakout year for the UK’s ASKING ALEXANDRIA would be a massive understatement as the group headlined massive, sold-out European and North American tours, which was capped off with a slot on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival emerging as one of the fest’s most talked about artists.<\/p>\n

Amidst a slew of recent speculation regarding their stability, ASKING ALEXANDRIA, undoubtedly proved to all naysayers that they are one of the genre’s most exciting, ground-breaking and heralded artists as their critically acclaimed new album,\u00a0From Death To Destiny<\/em>, debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200. This monumental accomplishment also simultaneously marked the biggest first week sales for any artist in the history of Sumerian Records. This is controversial, unapologetic hard rock at its very finest and you ain’t seen nothing yet.<\/p>\n

We chatted to Ben from Asking Alexandria about the band\u2019s new album \u2018From Death To Destiny\u2019 as well as their impending return to Australia for the massive Soundwave Festival in 2014\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time today, Ben, how\u2019s everything going at the moment?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s good, we just got off a headlining South American tour and we\u2019ve got about a week and a half off before we get back into it again, actually good to have a little breather every now and again.<\/p>\n

Obviously after an album release you must\u2019ve been straight out on the ball?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t think we ever got off the ball that\u2019s the thing, we\u2019ve been pretty much on the road now for four straight years with a few off days here and there but I\u2019m twenty four years old coming on fifty.<\/p>\n

Now, of course you are heading back to Australia for Soundwave in February, what can fans expect from a typical Asking Alexandria set?<\/strong>
\nWell this time we\u2019ll probably be sober when we play, because that\u2019s a thing we like to do now which is nice for the fans, we actually play a proper show now, we\u2019re professional, it\u2019s strange. We\u2019ll be playing obviously some of the older songs that we still have to play then a lot more of the new album we\u2019ll be playing live as it\u2019s a lot of fun for us and I\u2019m hoping a lot of fun for the fans as well.<\/p>\n

Having played the festival before in 2011, what do you remember from that tour and what makes Soundwave such a great festival to be a part of?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s funny, it\u2019s actually one of my favourite festivals I\u2019ve ever had the pleasure of playing, and this is going to sound like a boring response but a lot of that\u2019s down to the fact that it\u2019s run by people that know what the fuck they\u2019re doing, and it\u2019s actually organised which mikes our lives a hell of a lot easier. It\u2019s nice to be able to land in a foreign country and know what\u2019s going on and have it all run smoothly, but yeah, we had a great time doing Soundwave last time, met a lot of bands and made friends and met up with a lot of our older friends, so yeah, looking forward to our second Soundwave trip.<\/p>\n

The line-up so far is huge, are there any bands you\u2019re pumped to be on the bill with?<\/strong>
\nI haven\u2019t seen the full line up yet as I just got off tour, but I was talking to Brian from Avenged Sevenfold the other day and they said that they are one of the headliners which is awesome. You\u2019ve got Korn with Head in the band which is great.<\/p>\n

So what are you looking forward most to coming back to in Australia?<\/strong>
\nI just love how laid back it is, everyone\u2019s chilled, everyone\u2019s happy, and being English, we love to drink and there\u2019s no other place in the world other than England that likes to drink as much as we do, so it\u2019s always a good time when we come to Australia and it\u2019s nice to be able to drink with people that can actually hold their liquor for once.<\/p>\n

And cold beer\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, cold beer\u2026 why does everyone think that English people drink warm beer?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you? *laughs*<\/strong>
\nNo! *laughs* it\u2019s disgusting; I\u2019ll drink a warm beer if there\u2019s nothing else around\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now, \u2018From Death to Destiny\u2019 has been out for a month or so now, fair to say that the reaction has been killer, are you blown away with the reception it\u2019s been receiving?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m completely blown away, we were a little bit nervous before because it is quite a change, but I\u2019d say 95% of our original and older fan base is in love with it, they love it, and we\u2019ve managed to win over a lot of people that didn\u2019t like us before which is always great, and we\u2019ve won over new audiences that have never even heard of us before which is one of your main goals when you\u2019re writing a record. So yeah, very overwhelming, we weren\u2019t expecting it to pick up this quickly but super wrapped that it has obviously.<\/p>\n

Did you set out to do anything differently in the making of this album that you hadn\u2019t done previously or did it just evolve that way?<\/strong>
\nI think it just evolved that way, we\u2019re all huge fans of the 80\u2019s like Guns N Roses, Warrant and Ratt and stuff and over the last few years we\u2019ve done many covers from Skid Row to Motley Crue to Whitesnake and I thought it was just a natural progression. I didn\u2019t sit down and think well let\u2019s write this style of music, it\u2019s just the way it\u2019s turned out which is awesome.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m a sucker for a big power ballad, and \u2018Moving On\u2019 is a song and a half! So I want to ask about that one in particular, is there a story behind that one you can share with us?<\/strong>
\nOh thank you, yeah, actually when we were in the studio recording, that song wasn\u2019t even written, I had written that song at all, I was talking to the guys and I said \u2018we need to do a ballad\u2019 the big snare, the big stadium rock ballad that no one sort of does anymore. Me and James just sat down there and then with Joey Sturgis and said \u2018let\u2019s make a power ballad\u2019 and hit record and see what we do. Then we kind of jammed it out, it was very natural, very organic, it was basically just me and James jamming and I guess that\u2019s one of the best ways to write a song.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re out with Korn this month, any chance we might see some Korn and Asking Alexandria side shows down here?<\/strong>
\nI have no idea with what we\u2019re doing with sideshows this time, I remember last time we were with Bring Me The Horizon and The Amity Affliction, this time there\u2019s been talks of us headlining our own sidewave shows, and I\u2019ve also heard Avenged Sevenfold want us on their sidewave shows. So it\u2019s all up in the air right now, but either way I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be a lot of fun, it\u2019s nice to get into a smaller club setting when you\u2019ve been playing massive festivals for most of the week.<\/p>\n

I did want to talk more to you about your love of 80\u2019s metal and one that I also share, not shy of a cover across a couple of EP\u2019s, what is it about those songs that made you want to release them?<\/strong>
\nI guess we wanted to pay homage and pay tribute to the bands that moved music to the point where it is now and it saddened us to see a lot of kids, whether they be at our age or younger than us weren\u2019t really familiar with a lot of the 80\u2019s bands that we grew up listening to and fell in love with and it kind of looked to us that rock and roll can\u2019t die, this can\u2019t be the end of it and we wanted to sort of introduce our younger audience to the bands we were in love with, it was important for us to share with, like I said, our younger audience that weren\u2019t too familiar with the Guns N Roses and the Whitesnake\u2019s and the Warrant\u2019s and stuff. So yeah, it started out as a bit of fun to try and show kids how badass the 80\u2019s was and the response for that was overwhelming and we just started doing covers and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll probably do more in the future.<\/p>\n

Funnily enough that was my next question, any particular songs on your radar?<\/strong>
\nI think we actually want to record Twisted Sister\u2019s \u2018I Wanna Rock\u2019 because we just spent last summer in Europe, and Twisted Sister headlined a massive festival called \u2018Graspop\u2019 I believe, and we played the same festival and they came up to us and said \u2018you guys are one of the only bands keeping rock and roll alive at the moment and it would be an honour if you came up on stage with us and played \u2018I Wanna Rock\u2019 with us\u2019 so we got to go up on stage with Dee and the rest of them, there were four guitarists, two vocalists, two bassists and two drummers on one stage playing \u2018I Wanna Rock\u2019 and it was just an incredible experience. So it would be awesome if we could record that and put our own spin on it as well.<\/p>\n

Maybe get Dee in to do some guest vocals too?<\/strong>
\nDefinitely, definitely we\u2019ve been discussing it, so it\u2019s looking like it might hopefully happen.<\/p>\n

Any chance of throwing one into your set when down here?<\/strong>
\nIt really depends, sometimes if we\u2019re not on a strict curfew and we\u2019re about half way through sometimes we just start jamming, sometimes like the other day we played \u2018I Wanna Rock\u2019 and sometimes we play some Skid Row covers \u201918 and Life\u2019 and \u2018Youth Gone Wild\u2019 and like I said, it just depends if you\u2019re in the mood, sometimes you\u2019ve had a few beers and we just want to jam on stage a bit and we\u2019ll whack out a cover or two.<\/p>\n

In only five years as a band you\u2019ve made a name for yourself, what do you think it is about Asking Alexandria that stands out from all the other bands out there?<\/strong>
\nI think we\u2019re bringing a bit of excitement back to it, I think a lot of bands for a long time a lot started playing it really safe and I\u2019m not saying there\u2019s anything wrong with religion or being straight edge or anything, but that seems to be the thing that cropped up for a while, then we sort of came along, five young British dudes with our middle fingers in the air, we brought back that element of danger that sort of got lost after the 80\u2019s and I think it\u2019s like a train wreck or a car crash on the road, you drive past it and you don\u2019t want to look but you can\u2019t help but look and see what\u2019s going on. I think that\u2019s how this band sort of started and left people guessing \u2018oh my god what are they going to do next? Are they sober, are they not sober, turn up to the show on time?\u2019 it brings back that excitement that the 80\u2019s offered everyone.<\/p>\n

Maybe just don\u2019t start any riots like Guns N Roses did\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh we\u2019ve started a fair few riots, had police coming in with their batons and stuff, had fences ripped down from people that couldn\u2019t get into our show that wanted to, so it was a good time.<\/p>\n

So, today is twenty four years since Motley Crue released \u2018Dr Feelgood\u2019 so just for a bit of fun on this day, what\u2019s your favourite track from the album?<\/strong>
\nMy favourite song probably is \u2018Dr Feelgood\u2019 that\u2019s actually one of my favourite songs of theirs from their whole discography actually.<\/p>\n

Has there been one moment in your career so far that stands out as unbeatable?<\/strong>
\nSo far, yeah, the release of our new album, we were number four on the Billboard top 200 which is a huge thing, we were just one step below Jay Z, and it\u2019s just incredible to see a band like us just so high up on the charts proving to people that fuck you, heavy music, rock and metal is still alive and kicking and it was just a great feeling to be a band that is part of that you know? Our last album \u2018Reckless & Relentless\u2019 made top ten on Billboard but to make top five is a whole new level that we weren\u2019t expecting, it was something we\u2019d always hoped for but never really thought we would ever get that.<\/p>\n

Lastly, do you have a message for your Australian fans who are eagerly waiting to see you guys again?<\/strong>
\nJust thank you for their patience, it\u2019s been a long time since we\u2019ve been down there and it\u2019s not through lack of trying, but we\u2019ve managed to get back over there and we\u2019re really looking forward to coming down and playing Australia again.<\/p>\n

Well I\u2019m looking forward to checking you guys out\u2026<\/strong>
\nAlright, well hopefully we don\u2019t disappoint, we\u2019ll grab a few beers afterwards.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll warm them up for you\u2026<\/strong>
\nPerfect *laughs* just the way I like it.<\/p>\n

Essential information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>England, UK<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> \u00a0Danny Worsnop-Vocals, Ben Bruce \u2013 Guitar, Cameron Liddell \u2013 Guitar, Sam Bettley \u2013 Bass, James Cassells – Drums<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> From Death To Destiny (Sumerian Records \/ Roadrunner Records australia) Out Now!<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.askingalexandriaofficial.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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