Bring Me The Horizon and Dying Wish

The band formed in 2004 when lead singer and principal songwriter Oliver Sykes was only 16 some of the group’s members were even younger. The average age of the band during their formation was 15. Apart from Sykes the rest of the band included guitarists Lee Malia and Curtis Ward, bassist Matt Kean, and drummer Matt Nicholls. The line up has not changed much since. “I Killed the Prom Queen” guitarist Jona Weinhofen replaced Curtis Ward in 2009, but eventually left in 2013 and keyboardist Jordan Fish completed the current line up in 2012.

Despite the groups young age the members of the band were already musically experienced. Lee Malia who had a keen interest in melodic death metal was in a Metallica tribute band prior to joining Bring Me the Horizon and Matt Kean had been in several local bands before entering the group. All the members were rooted in metal and hard rock, but it was Matt Nicholls and Oliver Sykes who really pushed the band in the hardcore punk and death metal direction. Before they formed Bring Me the Horizon Nicholls and Sykes would frequent American hardcore shows featuring such bands as southern metalcore act Norma Jean and New York’s Skycamefalling.

Oliver Skyes also wrote and recorded material before forming Bring Me the Horizon. Skyes spent a good portion of his childhood between Adelaide and Perth, but moved back to the UK when he was eight. Skyes was enrolled at the same school as Arctic Monkeys band members Alex Turner, Andy Nicholson and Matt Helders, though he was a year below them. During his attendance their in 2003 Sykes put together a CD compilation under the name Quakebeat. He also found interest in rap and formed a hip-hop group called “Womb 2 Da Tomb” with his brother and now fellow bandmate Nicholls. Sykes went on to pursue his true passion, forming the metal group “Purple Curto” with his school mate. While attending a concert of one of his favorite bands Funeral for a Friend he was granted the incredible opportunity to sing one of their songs on stage. Sykes recalls this as the best day of his life and just a little after this experience he formed Bring Me the Horizon.

The group released its first EP “This Is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For” on 2 October 2004 and was signed to UK label Thirty Days of Night Records for a four album record deal. The album was reissued in 2005 and made all the way to #41 on the UK album charts. The band went on to release their 2006 debut album Count Your Blessings. Though the album received mixed reaction from the general public and critics, the band was able to gain some praiseworthy traction, being endowed at the 2006 Kerrang! Awards ceremony as being the Best British Newcomers and opening up for The Red Chord on their UK dates. Bring Me the Horizon saw themselves touring more and more, though they received many of their early gigs through scheming against unassuming concert promoters.

The early iteration of Bring Me the Horizon was rough and unruly. The band would constantly consume alcohol and lose focus in their recording sessions. Their reputation seemed to exceed them on several accounts. When opening for Kill Switch Engaged on a European tour they were met by disgruntled fans who threw bottles at them before they even started playing and during the recording of their second album “Suicide Season” producer Fredrik Nordstrom was often absent from the sessions because of his negative premonitions of the band. However the group showed incredible potential with their sophomore release and delved into a much more focused sound.This release is attributed with introducing several varying stylistic changes opting for a more straightforward metalcore sound and incorporating elements of drum and bass, dubstep and industrial music.

The band continued to experiment with a more pop oriented sound for their preceding records and made a major breakthrough with their third LP “There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret”. This album appeared number 1 on the Australian Albums Chart, Number 13 on the UK Rock Chart and number 17 on the Billboard 200 in the US. The band left Epitaph records and put out their fourth album “Sempiternal” on RCA in 2013. This album also did exceptionally well on the UK, US and Australia album charts and saw the band playing alongside notable acts such as Rise Against and Bullet for My Valentine.