Asking Alexandria: We’re ‘Honored and Privileged’ To Be a Part of Mayhem Festival

Frontman Danny Worsnop and lead guitarist Ben Bruce of Asking Alexandria were the guests on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Worsnop and Bruce chatted about the honor of being part of this year’s Mayhem lineup, the “awkward” experience of opening up for Guns N’ Roses, writing for their next record and more. If you missed Full Metal Jackie’s show, read her interview with Danny Worsnop and Ben Bruce below:

What did you guys think when you were told about the lineup when you were asked to be part of the festival? How did you feel about being part of it this year?

Ben Bruce: It was awesome, I mean it’s a giant congregation of amazing bands - we’re very honored and privileged to get a chance to play with.

Danny Worsnop: We’re out of our depth in many ways, we’re very excited and ready to go up and play to play who may very well not want to listen to us.

BB: But they’re gonna have to.

How do you handle situations like that? Do you ever feel like you’ve ever had that situation before?

BB: Well in our heads people are always applauding and cheering us on so it doesn’t really affect us. It’s the other three I’m worried about.

DW: Yeah we did Guns N’ Roses which it was an awkward one, it would have been less awkward if we had no fans there at all. We had seven fans there and I know there were seven there because I could hear individual voices.

Are there any other bands on Mayhem that you’re going to be watching side stage every night?

DW: Motorhead without a doubt.

BB: Slipknot obviously and I need to go see Slayer because I walked past the stage yesterday and they have 20 foot high upside down crosses hangin’ from the ceiling that shoot flames. So I need to watch that.

DW: I met the drummer of Slayer a while back so I’m definitely gonna go say “Hey” to him. He’s a really cool guy.

Tell us what’s happening with Asking Alexandria, are you guys working on a new record?

DW: We’ve been working on the new record, we’re kind of halfway through right now. We’re gonna go back in September and finish it off. It’s a new approach to anything we’ve done before. We’ve spent a lot more time on the music and making it into just a really phenomenal album. The content’s very different, the style of how we’ve approached it and executed stuff is very different while all the while still being Asking Alexandria.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen you guys, tell us what Asking Alexandria has been up to for the past year or so.

DW: We’ve been missin’ you.

BB: That is all we’ve done. We’ve just sat and missed you.

DW: We’ve played some shows, written a new album. We released our movie ‘Through Sin and Self Destruction’ which is available on iTunes.

I know that you guys are always up to a lot of touring.

DW: Yeah there was a hell of a lot of touring besides that a whole lot of nothin’.

Do you guys write at all on the road or is it like when you’re on the road, you’re just playing?

DW: Yeah we have another bus which has a studio built in it so we did some of the writing on there. When it comes to vocals I just sit in the studio and it comes to me just before I go in the booth. I don’t really write much before hand and that‘s just the way I work but in terms of music we worked a lot on the road.

Do you think there’s going to be any bands that you’re looking to hang with or that you haven’t met that you want to be friends with by the time this tour is done?

BB: Slipknot, I mean we’ve met them at the Golden Gods and stuff and they’re really, really cool guys.

DW: I think we’ve met an amount of the bands already. It’s just a good chance to hang out and get to know them better and spend some long periods of time together.

This coming weekend, Full Metal Jackie will welcome Killswitch Engage singer Jesse Leach as well as Five Finger Death Punch drummer Jeremy Spencer on her show in order celebrate the start of the Trespass America Tour. Full Metal Jackie can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com