Interview with Ben Bruce of Asking Alexandria

For the second interview in our Vans Warped Tour series, we spoke with Ben Bruce of the insanely popular English metalcore band, “Asking Alexandria“. The Warped Tour is rolling into the Philly area (Camden) on July 21st. Independent Philly will be there to catch all of the action and we hope that this latest interview helps all you Warped Tour fans get pumped up for the show next week!

Independent Philly: Where does the name “ASKING ALEXANDRIA” come from?
Ben Bruce: It’s not much of a story. I was thinking of a name forever. Most bands have a pretty shit band name, so I just came up with something. I came up with Alexandria as a human name, because people relate to humans.

IP: Do you notice any big changes since going from a six man outfit to a five piece band?
BB: We’re more comfortable now; we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We’re like a family more so than a band.

IP: Did you enjoy recording “Right Now” by Akon for Pop Goes Punk? What other song, outside of your typical genre, would you most like to cover?
BB: We did it for fun, and I enjoyed changing it around. Haven’t thought about many other covers aside from the skid row covers we did for Rock Band. We’ve tossed the idea around of doing an 80’s cover album for fun, you know, bands like Poison, and then people can buy it or whatnot.

IP: What was it like performing on Jimmy Kimmel in your first U.S. TV appearance?
BB: It was awesome. One of my favorite experiences in the band or just ever. I had terrible stage fright at first but once I got over that it was just like playing any other show.

IP: What’s been your favorite moment on Warped Tour so far? What has been your least favorite?
BB: Every day has been amazing. Lots of friends, great crowds, it’s all you can ask for. We drink a lot and people like to use us for scape goats, so when something goes wrong on tour, we get the blame, which is a bit shit, because we’re known as the biggest drinkers.

IP: What can fans expect to see from you guys on the Warped Tour? What other band were you most excited to see perform on the tour?
The intensity that we put into our live set, you can’t hear it on the albums. We do our best to entertain the crowd at every show, whether it be 2,000 or 15,000 people. Honestly I’m not into the music that many of the other bands on the tour play… so I’m excited to see friends play but not really excited to see anyone else.

IP: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Philadelphia”?
BB: Cheesesteaks.

IP: What is your least favorite part about being a musician?
BB: You never get any sleep, ever. I go to bed really late… we’re usually headlining, we’re not off stage til 11pm, then you get everything packed onto the bus, hang out til 3am, and get up early to play the next show in the next city.

IP: What are three things you couldn’t go on tour without?
BB: Toothbrush, alcohol, and a prostitute.

IP: Tell us something that would surprise or even shock our readers…
BB: We all actually have vaginas.

That is shocking! We know, we know…pics or it didn’t happen. We’ll see what we can round up. We’re thrilled to see Asking Alexandria at Warped Tour! You’ll be thrilled to know that our next two interviews will be with Go Radio & 3OH3!