NOTE: This interview was conducted for the now defunct DELIRIUM magazine (thx Sophia) shortly after Honour, Valour, Pride was released. Of the many interviews I've done with the band (save for one with Gavin which was unfortunately lost with other Bolts stuff when I moved :( ), this is one of the best. I decided to post this here because it's interesting to see where the band where circa 2001-2002.
Jo Bench has always impressed me, not just for her musical talent, but her attitude. She gets on stage, plays the bass and has fun. In the decade plus since we first talked, she hasn’t changed a bit -if anything- the passion is even more in evidence. Bolt Thrower are the last great purveyors of England’s late 80s extreme metal scene and they're better than ever. The band have matured musically, only the bludgeon is far more precise and heavier than anything they’ve done in almost a decade. Jo and I talked about the turbulent times, vocalist Dave Ingram, and the band’s latest Honour Valour Pride.
With all of the line up changes over the last seven years how did you, Baz & Gavin deal with this?
Jo Bench: We were probably naive to think that the five of us (with Karl & Whale) would always continue with exactly the same goals and priorities. People move on and we accept that, but that wasn't how we were feeling. When they left we maintained a strong belief in the band and I think that is what gave us the drive we needed to continue. When we were looking for new members it was important they could be totally committed to the band and fit in personally as well as musically.
I know Dave has been a long time friend of the band (I remember talking to him years ago and he mentioned that), so it must have been pretty easy to ask Dave to join?
Jo: It was kind of easy and difficult. We were due to play a festival in Germany and Martin (Van Drunen) who was singing for us at the time decided he wanted to quit, so we asked Dave if he could help us out. At the time, he was still in Benediction but they were ok about it, and the show was great. Dave fit like a glove. When he told us he'd left Benediction we knew we wanted to ask him to join, but Benediction are friends of ours and we really didn't want to cause any problems between us. But eventually we did ask him, he said yes, and we have just toured Europe with Benediction, so obviously everything is cool between us.
Honour, Valour, Pride is the best album you've done since The IVth Crusade.
Jo: Thanks! Yeah, I think the new blood really inspired us. We played a few shows in Europe a couple of months before we went into the studio to get that whole live feeling and I think that really motivated us. It was our first album without Karl, Dave's first album for Bolt Thrower, and Martin's first album ever so it was weird for all of us, but once we started recording, it all felt like pretty natural.
As one of the core members of the band, you've made a pledge of sorts never to compromise your sound. After being together for 15 years, how difficult is this when you go to write new material?
Jo: We grew up listening to great music by great bands, which rapidly turned into sad music by a not-so-great band - they changed. We don't want to change. People know what they're gonna get when they buy a Bolt Thrower album - the music will be heavy, the vocals will be aggresive, the lyrics will be about war and it will sound like Bolt Thrower. When we write we do scrap a lot of stuff if it sounds too different or even too similar, so it does get harder but there are still plenty of ideas flying around.
Any chance of seeing Bolt Thrower return to the States?
Jo: I hope so. It's been 8 years since we've been over and we are better live than ever, so it would be great to do a US tour now. A nice support slot would be good, we'll see...maybe with the co-operation of Metal Blade and a decent agency....
I have a lyric question but it's about the military terminology scattered throughout HVP. In "Suspect Hostile" 12mRad of Arc, and N.C.T.R. corruption...
Jo: Well, the official meaning of 12mRad of arc is; 12 miles radius to the arc of incoming/outgoing missile trajectory. And, N.C.T.R. stands for Non co-operative target recognition - it's the device used to let radar know you are not a hostile target.
I was very glad to see that you're doing a couple of bass runs in 7th Offensive and on K-Machine. I know you don't do them often Jo, but I'm glad you did. Was this your decision or just the way the songs worked themselves out.
Jo: I'm usually too much of a wimp to do bass solos, I've heard a lot of bad ones! With K-Machine it was originally played on guitar, but it was screaming out for bass, so I played it. We were really happy with the bass sound we got for HVP so we raised it in places like in 7th Offensive, it's nothing radical, but it is heavy!
In the past you've created songs on the spot in the studio, were any done during the HVP sessions?
Jo: Not whole songs, but a lot of riffs. We went in with 11 rough songs, we had over 4 months in the studio so we had time to work and re-work the songs until we felt they were good enough to record. I'd say, probably a quarter of the album was written in the studio, it seems a very natural environment to write in. I'm thrilled that the band are still so enthusiastic about making music, as I think the best is yet to come.
What keeps you so chuffed about being in Bolt Thrower?
Jo: I don't know, I seem to enjoy the band more now than ever. Recording HVP was the best time I've had in the studio, and the tour we've just done around Europe was my most enjoyable tour too. We're still big fans of the band and we genuinely love what we do. We've watched a lot of bands come and go, so I think we appreciate things more and we realize how lucky we are to have survived for so long.
Who designed the eye of chaos in HVP, it's probably my favorite variant.
Jo: The same guy who did the cover. He's Jan Meininghaus, from Germany, he also did the chaos eye on 'Mercenary'. I called him to ask him to do the HVP eye and he said he'd also like to have a go at the cover. He sent a rough of the cover, which was killer, and then the rough for the eye which wasn't so great. We threw a few more ideas at him and he came back with the eye we ended up using. He's a great artist and we're really happy with the way the booklet turned out.
With the line up stable, will we see a new release sooner than the past couple of albums?
Jo: Hopefully. Baz came up with a few ideas on tour, so we hope to start writing this summer and release early next year. We never really have a serious schedule, we just record when we think we're ready. It's not worth rushing out a sub-standard album just to meet some deadline. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long though.
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