Bring Me the Horizon's Oli Sykes speaks ahead of Birmingham arena show
It seems like only yesterday that Bring Me The Horizon were playing tiny clubs.
Yet as 2016 nears an end, they've moved up a league. Tonight they'll headline Birmingham's Barclaycard Arena as part of a tour that includes other arena shows, including two nights at London's O2.
Singer Oli Sykes can't figure out how his band got so big. "None of it makes sense. But nothing in life makes sense to me."
The metallers formed in 2004 and after continually sweeping the board at Kerrang! Awards have shifted into the mainstream. While their first two albums – Count Your Blessings and Suicide Season – were just cult hits, they came to widespread attention with 2010's There Is A Hell.
The 2013 album Sempiternal marked a breakthrough, reaching No3 in the UK and No11 in the UK, while their new album, That's The Spirit, has soared to No2 on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as becoming a Top 10 hit in Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, German, Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden.
Sykes is bemused. "We're kind of just always playing catchup with what's being asked of us. It's not like we're trying to get big. Everything's just like mental. Nothing has become normal.
"We don't really feel like an arena band. We'll hopefully feel like one once we've played it."
"It's weird cause it's just - I never know how I'm gonna feel for it. I have to stand in the venue.
"As soon as it doesn't become exciting - it's like when people skydive and are asked 'Were you scared?' If I weren't scared what's the point in doing it? You do it for the thrill.
"As soon as you stop appreciating it, it's become just a job. The show is our skydive."
The band performed at Glastonbury earlier this year and Sykes is grateful that things are going well. He realises how precarious the life of a rock band is and that things can come tumbling down quickly.
"What happens is everyone becomes disconnected in the band, it's easy for that to happen. As the shows get bigger and people get more distanced from each other, doing side projects and becoming a bit disconnected as a band. That's what was happening with our band a couple of years ago."
For now, however, the band are continuing to fly and Sykes hopes to push the envelope even more when the band turn their attentions to new material.
"People thought 'That's The Spirit' was a very polished pop rock album. It's not. I think it's inventive and unique, but it's still safe in a way. We knew the songs were going to connect well with people. Next time I think we want to push it a bit weirder. Who knows?
"That's my favorite part — it's something we do that comes across really well live you know when the song to us has a breakdown or like a heavy dance kind of vibe to it. You know, there's not many acts like that. If there was some bridge between what we're doing, somewhere between artists like Prodigy or Massive Attack and stuff like that.
"I don't know especially if we're thinking like festivals and stuff, then I like that idea like a darker dance-y kind of sound, but I'm literally just… I'm thinking out loud here, 'cause we could go completely opposite to that, you know."
