Bring Me The Horizon

Fighting for animals

Matt Nicholls of Bring Me The Horizon talks to Viva!’s Fiona Galbraith about being veggie.

It’s safe to assume that if you haven’t heard of Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) you have recently come out of a coma. In which case, I hope that you are now fully recovered, and I shall give you a rundown of things you may have missed since your accident. Tony Blair is no longer Prime Minister – Gordon Brown is instead! The Spice Girls have reformed and have started a world tour and The OC got axed. However, most importantly you have completely missed out on the latest band
of veggie hot-pots!

Sheffield-based BMTH incorporated each member’s musical tastes to create a sound that pushed genre boundaries to their limits – and thus deathcore was born. The band won the Kerrang Award for Best British Newcomer 2006 before they had even released their first album!

Creating new genres isn’t enough for this band – they have also been pushing veggie issues since they got big! BMTH have done work for numerous vegetarian campaigns to promote vegetarianism amongst fans, and have even released a t-shirt featuring the words ‘Meat Sucks’! Oliver Sykes (front man), Matt Kean (bass player) and Matt Nicholls (drummer) are all vegetarian and all very active in the fight to end factory farming!

By the time I catch up with BMTH’s Matt Nicholls, love for deathcore has spread globally and they have become one of the biggest bands on the planet! I arrange to interview Matt before the December gig at the London Astoria. It becomes clear that BMTH are a cult obsession when I pass the venue at half past three (three hours before the doors open) and there are hundreds of fans queuing outside in the bitter December chill, some wearing only t-shirts to keep them warm! Even the icy weather cannot dampen their obvious excitement as they prepare to see their idols.

When I arrive in the interview room, Matt is sat speaking to a photographer, he is incredibly friendly and obviously cares greatly about animal rights. He starts by telling me about why he went vegetarian: “I was pretty young, 17, and I started going to hardcore shows; I didn’t really know anything about meat until then. They had loads of stalls with flyers and leaflets that really put your face in it. I went home and researched it and became vegetarian! My mum thought it was just a phase and I’d be over it in like two weeks but that was four years ago.”

I ask Matt whether he’s enjoying the fame. He answers with a smile, and says: “It’s weird people know who I am on the other side of the world. I’m enjoying it.”

Due to the media coverage BMTH bring to animal issues, it’s no surprise that they have turned a few fans veggie! “Some people have kicked off saying that we are making vegetarianism into a fashion and all this stuff. But I think that’s stupid. I just think it’s a good thing that there are more vegetarians now! The more people that become vegetarian, the less animals that are killed to become meat.

“Factory farming is about profit; they don’t care about the animals. What they are put through is disgusting. They don’t even stop to consider that they are slaughtering millions of animals. But I guess since we’ve started talking about it, some people have seen that we don’t eat meat and taken notice. If I have helped someone turn vegetarian then I’m happy about it.

“All over the world, people are catching on to vegetarianism. The internet makes it easier for people to access information and watch videos to educate themselves.” Matt gives some advice to aspiring veggies: “Just do it. It’s not as hard as you might think it is. At first I was just like, oh I won’t be able to do this, I won’t be able to do this, but after about a week I was used to it. Just go for it.”

The majority of vegetarians are female in the UK. There is a stereotypical idea that eating meat is manly and being vegetarian is over-emotional and girly. I ask Matt what he thinks about people who say being vegetarian is girly. “They’re wrong. It’s not girly. I’m not a girl – I play in a metal band!”

At the time of the interview, our new activism scheme, the Viva! Vine, is under construction. I tell Matt about it and ask him whether he thinks activism is important amongst young veggies. “Yeah, definitely! It creates more awareness. Go for it. If you’re already vegetarian, get involved – let people know the truth. The more people that know the facts, the more people that will stop eating meat.”

My final question for Matt is a personal one, but one that I’m sure a few of you are dying to know the answer to – would he go out with a meat eater? “I don’t know. It’d be cool if I had a vegetarian girlfriend.” So ladies, you’ve got the advantage!

Count Your Blessings, the first album from Bring Me The Horizon was released in October 2006 and is available to buy at all good music shops.

For further info about the band, gig listings and to listen to their music please visit http://www.myspace.com/bmth

All pictures credited to Tom Barnes