Q&A: Sam Bettley (Asking Alexandria)

By BRENDAN CRABB

ALREADY among heavy music’s biggest names, English outfit Asking Alexandria return with Where Do We Go From Here? (Better Noise Music), their eighth full-length album. The follow-up to 2021’s See What’s On The Inside bridges the stadium rock-sized sound that has made them favourites on Active Rock radio in the US with elements of their metalcore beginnings. 

Hot Metal joined a Zoom call with bassist Sam Bettley to chat about the new record, and plenty more. “I was born and raised in York and I’ve been in America pretty much since 2009,” he says during our introductions. “I was born and raised in Yorkshire. But when the band started and (then) kicked off, we came over here and pretty much stayed over here really. I’ve been all over the US (but) Nashville’s home now.” 

Hot Metal: Do you visit York much these days, and what’s it like when you go home? Are you treated like all-conquering rock stars there? 

Sam Bettley: “Nah (laughs). Well, it’s quite the opposite. Honestly, I kind of like that though. When I go back to England, or go back to Yorkshire, I still have all my friends from school and my entire family is from there. I go back (but) not as often as I’d like to. I’ve got two kids now; I’ve got a three-year-old and a one-year-old. So getting back and forth isn’t as easy as it used to be. But when we first came over to America, we were pretty much like, we were going back every few months, maybe like every two or three months, we would try to get back home. But now it’s like maybe once a year, or maybe it could be two years, which is too long for me, to see family and stuff. It’s just about taking time and like one of my goals now… is to try and go back there way, way more than I used to in the past like 10 years. It’s a huge part of me, and my kids, I’d like them to know where I’m from.”

HM: Do you still consider yourselves an English band, or is that not something that really concerns you too much? 

SB: “Yeah, definitely. If anything, we’re all like original members now, so we’ve gone through this journey together. So I definitely think more than ever really, I think we miss home. And I think that we are very proud of where we’re from. And like I say, just because we’re not able to go back as often as we’d like to… All my family’s there and a lot of my friends are over there. If I had the opportunity to go back more often, I would. That being said, I came over here when I was 17. And I’m 32 now, so it’s like, I definitely think that when I go back and visit to me, it’s like, I feel like a foreigner (laughs). My entire adult life I’ve lived in America now. So you grow up with all these things, and you’re used to a certain culture and everything. And then immediately when you’re 17 you just go somewhere else. And it’s like, everything you knew is, it changes. So I come back, and I definitely feel a bit different. And I’m used to certain things in America. But I know that my friends are pretty good at reminding me.”

HM: You made that leap to relocate to the US. But are there some UK bands that don’t make that move and therefore perhaps don’t reach the heights they could? Were you just willing to do what was needed to progress the band’s career? 

SB: “Well, when we decided to do that there was no like grand plan really, other than the fact that we just wanted to go there to see if anybody would take notice of us. Like here we are, let’s do something completely different, off-the-wall. We had no intentions of being like based there or anything. We were living in a Walmart parking lot in New Jersey, just networking on MySpace, trying to get some demos (done). And then we’d go home, and then it just kind of skyrocketed after that. Labels started getting in touch. It took me by surprise and at that age, you just kind of, we just wanted it so bad that we were prepared to do anything. And it got away from us a little bit, we didn’t realise. And it’s not until you look back, and the years go by faster than you think that you’re like, ‘oh, damn, I am actually based here now’. It’s just everything is happening so fast when you’re younger. You look back and it’s surprising. There was no plan of being an American-based band at all, but here we are.”

HM: Listening to the new album, there are the heavier elements there but also the more accessible material too. Is that a dichotomy that you like to maintain – wanting to try and reach new audiences, but also staying in touch with the heavy roots? 

SB: “Yeah, I mean, this one, I think, particularly if you were to compare it to the last record (2021’s See What’s on the Inside) we released, is pretty different. I will say it encompasses pretty much our entire discography.  And I think that was our goal in making this. The last record, we went into a studio and it was pretty much making a record for us for the period of time, we just needed to get together as musicians and friends and write something that we felt really, really… Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, we weren’t thinking about anyone but just us and we just needed to connect. This one, I think that we definitely, we’ve taken certain elements that are Asking Alexandria ingredients that make us, us, and whether it be something that fans have been itching for for years, whether it’s breakdowns or heavy, or some of those ballads. Even our second record, we put a ballad out, ‘Someone, Somewhere’ and we’ve been doing that more accessible stuff for a long time. But this one for me is really exciting just because I personally love heavy music. I love playing it live and it’s just a really exciting record I think. I think that the fans are going to really, really love it.”

HM: Like any band with a new album in the can, you’ve been sitting on it for a while now and living with it. Are you still listening to the new songs? Is getting accustomed to them part of your daily routine? 

SB: “I go to the gym quite a bit now, and in my headphones for the past couple months I’ve been blasting our new album. I’m in the gym, and I know that a lot of people like to work out to our music, and gyms play it and stuff.  But it wasn’t until like last week, my wife comes over to me while I’m working out. She taps me on the shoulder and I pull my headphones out. And then they’re blasting ‘Psycho’, which is one of the singles that’s been released off the new album. And to me, it was just the craziest thing because I’ve just been blasting it in my headphones for two months. And now I get to look around and they’re blasting in the gym. It was just weird. We’ve been listening to it really closely, we’ve gone through all these different versions of the songs before people get to see and hear it. We’ve been living with it for a while, and it’s exciting. It’s like your baby, and when it comes to life, people get to see it… You’re very protective over it. But you’re also really anticipating what people think and how people are gonna react. I’m excited, but it’s nerve-wracking.”

HM: What’s the best workout song on the new album in your opinion? 

SB: “I’ll probably say one that’s not been released. ‘Things Could Be Different’ is a really good one. I think that one’s my favourite, definitely. It’s a heavier one, and James (Cassells, drums) really goes all out on this album. On the previous ones recently, he’s been kind of sitting back a little bit, but in the earlier records James would go off on his kit, and he really did a number on this record. So that song’s been no exception. I love the drums in it, I love the vibe. It gets me going in the gym.”

HM: The band has spoken in the past about enjoying the excesses of the road. However, the majority of Asking Alexandria’s members are parents now. How do you make touring work in those circumstances? 

SB: “Now? I mean, honestly, it’s still quite new to me because we’ve only done like a handful of tours since… We’re all new dads. Ben’s (Bruce, guitars) got four, and they’re all a bit older. Danny (Worsnop, vocals) is the only one in the band who doesn’t have any kids; he’s the crazy uncle. Me, James and Cam (Liddell, guitars), we’ve all got really young kids so like, they haven’t really realised that I was going away up until really recently. It’s really hard to leave, especially when we’ve been lucky enough to spend so much time with your kids. We don’t work like nine-to-fives; when we’re at home, we’re like fully at home. It’s dad life.  So it’s hard to leave your kids and your family and stuff. But you’ve just got to take advantage of technology and speak to them as much as you can and stay present as dad as much as you can while you’re on the road. And honestly, we’ve been doing this so long now, like the novelties that I think you were touching on about the road life, that stuff’s cool, and we were young when we started and it was great. It was all fun partying all the time and that but you grow and other things fulfil you. And I think that we’ve been really lucky to go through our entire twenties and teens and have such a crazy life that we did. And now we get to enjoy that second chapter, that other chapter of our life where, not only do we pour all our love and passion into our band, but we’re all family men now (laughs).  We’re doing it together at the same time, which is cool. We’ve all got young kids together; it’s not like there’s just one of us with kids. They’re all around the same age and so we’re all going through the same struggles at pretty much the same time. So again, it just brings us even closer on the road too, because we can kind of relate.”

HM: Indeed. Your kids aren’t quite old enough yet to fully realise what dad does, though.

SB: “I’ve got a three-year-old and he’s just starting to figure it out. He’s only been to one show.  And my wife got it on film, he got to sit front of house and he had no idea like before that show what I did. We were out in the UK actually, (so) I flew them out and they came to the Nottingham Arena, as we were out there with Shinedown. And he sat front of house and his little face just lit up, he couldn’t believe it. He was so excited. He’d never even been in a room with that many people before. There was pyro going off, and we’re up there, and he’s screaming and shouting and having a great time. It was one of the coolest moments for me. And it’s strange, because we’ve been doing it for so long, we’ve got so many great memories. But that for me, was just like, my dad was there, my brother was there, he was there. It was a really cool moment. So they don’t quite yet grasp it. But that was a cool moment, I think and, you know, we’ll see. We’ll see how much he grasps it in the coming years, and if he likes it or not.”

HM: As extensively as the band has toured to build a following, having a presence on Active Rock and rock-radio culture overall is so crucial in the US market. It seems like Asking Alexandria have fit well into that world. But is there ever any pressure on the band to write that one song per record that’s going to get airplay in the States? 

SB: “Yeah, I’d be lying to you if I said that that wasn’t, some thought within the writing process for certain records of ours. But yeah definitely, you’ve got a lot of other people (who) like to get involved as well outside the creative five or six of us. So there’s definitely input, (and) you’ve got to kind of like walk that line really carefully. Because we’ve been doing it long enough now to know that like, too much of that can sometimes change the whole thing. And we’re quite protective over it. I think the more we’ve done it, the less we like to let that happen.  We’ve always been really honest with our music, and we’ve made music that hasn’t made sense for what we’ve been doing at the time, just because we wanted to do it. There’s definitely conversations like that. But at the same time, like I’d personally rather release a record now, and I think this next one is really going to prove, that’s just going to stay true to before all the radio stuff.  And I think it can encompass everything. And at the end of the day, music should be new and exciting. You should be pushing boundaries all the time; the moment you start following a formula, it gets stale and people have heard the same song a million times. And sometimes it can fall into that with radio because there’s an equation and this and that. I’m a bit indifferent to all that really. I think if it’s a good song, it’s a fucking good song, right? Simple.”

HM: Well said. To wrap it up, are we likely to see Asking Alexandria in Australia anytime soon? 

SB: “I actually had a really long conversation today, and that got brought up. Nothing confirmed, but we really hope so. And this conversation is happening and it’s been a long time, well overdue going back over there. All of us really want to, and we’ve been talking about it and stuff. All I can really say at the moment is just watch this space, because I’d love to come back and I think that we’re going to try and make something work definitely on this cycle.”
Image: Danny Worsnop