Oliver Sykes

Oliver Sykes
Oliver Sykes in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Oliver Scott Sykes
Born	(1986-11-20) 20 November 1986 Ashford, Kent, England
Origin	Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Genres	Metalcore
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, fashion designer, graphic novelist
Instruments	Vocals, Keyboard
Years active	2003-present
Labels	RCA, Epitaph, Shock, Visible Noise, Earache, Thirty Days of Night
Associated acts	Bring Me the Horizon

Oliver Scott "Oli "Sykes (born November 20, 1986) is an English singer-songwriter best known for being the lead vocalist of the British metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon and the founder of Drop Dead Clothing.

Early life

Oliver Sykes was born November 20, 1986. He moved to Australia with his parents Ian and Carol Sykes when he was young, moving between Adelaide and Perth over the course of about six years. He then moved back to the UK at the age of about eight to Stocksbridge in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. As a teenager, he attended Stocksbridge High School, the same school where Arctic Monkeys band members Alex Turner, Andy Nicholson, Matt Helders and Nick O'Malley attended. He was a year below Turner and Helders.^[1][2]

Sykes has stated that he enjoyed the subjects English and Art while at high school, but was not interested in science or mathematics whatsoever.^[1] While at school in 2003 he began crafting together compilation CDs and short tracks under the name Quakebeat.^[3] He also played in other bands including mock hip-hop band "Womb 2 Da Tomb" with fellow Bring Me the Horizon member Matt Nicholls and brother Tom Sykes, and metal band "Purple Curto" as drummer/vocalist with schoolfriend Neil Whiteley, under the pseudonym "Olisaurus", which he would later use for releasing solo material.

Oliver refers (on the Bring Me The Horizon documentary, by BBC Radio 1), that his first onstage experience was when he was just a fan watching one of his favourite bands Funeral for a Friend (at the time), at a show in Leeds, in which he volunteered to sing a whole song on stage, stating that he cried at the end and confirming that was the best day of his life. Months later Bring Me The Horizon was starting.^{[4] [5]}

Clothing line

Drop Dead Clothing logo.

In addition to his vocal contributions and song writing in the band Bring Me the Horizon, Oliver Sykes is also the founder and owner of the alternative clothing line Drop Dead Clothing.^[6] In November 2013, it was announced that Drop Dead Clothing would be doing a collaboration with popular video game developer Sega to create "The Drop Dead Mega Drive Collection" which will be distributed by Drop Dead and will feature clothing designed with artwork from: Ecco the Dolphin, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. These limited edition clothes will be released on the 10th of December.^[7]

Writing

On February 1, 2013 Sykes launched a Kickstarter project to fund a graphic novel created by him and Drop Dead Clothing artist Ben Ashton-Bell, entitled Raised By Raptors. The concept arose from a shirt design made by Ashton-Bell of a Mesoamerican girl wearing a dinosaur skull on her head, which inspired Sykes to further develop the story. With a £15,000 goal, the project exceeded its target within weeks of launching- with a final sum of £39,223.^[8] The official website of the new comic series was launched on 26 August 2013, where it had become possible to order the first issue of the comic, along with other promotional material.^[9]

On the 5th of November 2013, on a RBR's official Facebook, that they have hired Gerardo Sandoval for drawing duties, leaving Ashton-Bell to concentrate on adding colour to them, whist Sykes remains as the writer. Along with this news it was confirmed that the 2nd issue will be released soon.^[10]

Personal life

Ever since the age of 12, Oliver recalls that he suffers from night terrors in which a old women would come to him in his sleep and attack him.^[11] Oliver's mother states on the Bring Me The Horizon BBC Radio 1 documentary that Oliver began learning his original "False Chord" screams by himself at home. These "False Chord" vocals are heard up until Bring Me The Horizon's album Sempiternal, where instead he is heard doing a mixture of "False Chord" vocals and singing. Prior to Sempiternal's release it is speculated that Sykes received vocal training from Melissa Cross,^[12] a well known vocal tutor who mainly focuses on teaching more harsh vocal techniques, like screaming.

Oliver became a vegetarian in 2003 after watching a documentary about animal cruelty online. Sykes said upon watching the documentary on the PETA website, "When I saw how animals are tortured on factory farms, I couldn't justify being a part of that cruelty." He later went on to become one of the faces for PETA and even designed charity t-shirts with the slogan "Meat Sucks" via his Drop Dead clothing line.^[13] He became a vegan in 2013.^[14]

Whilst performing at Reading Festival in 2013, Sykes revealed a history of drug addiction and abuse. Interacting with the crowd he said "We get a lot of letters off you guys, which is awesome. A lot of people saying that we saved their lives. I don't know much about that, but I want you to know you saved my life. A couple of years ago I was a worthless drug addict. I nearly died. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead."^[15]

Controversy

Nottingham incident

While on tour in the UK in 2007, allegations were made that Sykes urinated on a female fan after a gig at Nottingham Rock City. He was subsequently charged, but all charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.^[16] Online music zine Drowned in Sound claimed that Bring Me the Horizon were banned from Nottingham Rock City,^[17] a claim that turned out to be false when the band subsequently played Nottingham Rock City on 1 December 2007.^[18]

Videos with Architects

During a tour in 2008, Bring Me the Horizon and Architects filmed a video showing a fight between Sykes and Architects' lead singer Sam Carter ^[19] and another video of an ambulance with the apparent Oli Sykes inside, despite not actually being shown in the video.^[20] The videos were uploaded to YouTube and resulted in outrage from many Bring Me the Horizon fans. This caused many to send hate mail to Carter, however was later revealed that the video was staged by both bands and that they are in fact good friends and had made the videos as a stunt. Oliver quoted "All-day events can get boring very fast so we conjured up the first idiotic thing we could think of and made it as unbelievable as possible." in an interview with Kerrang!.^[21]

Impersonator incident

In 2011, a 20-year-old man posted on Facebook as Oli Sykes and attempted to murder BMTH fan Maricar Benedicto.^[22] David Russell lured Benedicto to the UK under the previso that he was Sykes before taking her to a forest near his Northampton home and persuading the 19-year-old to wear a blindfold, saying he had a gift for her.^[23] Benedicto attempted to escape, but Russell stabbed her several times, hit her in the face with a log and headbutted her. She survived.^[23] Russell received a life sentence for his crimes.^[24]

Moshing incident

In June 2013, Oliver Sykes and the band Bring Me the Horizon were being sued by parents of a 12 year old girl due to injuries inflicted on her as a result of mosh pits at one of his concerts, with Oli tweeting that by law he is no longer able to start any form of moshing activities at his concerts.^[25] However Oli Sykes later stated that he was no longer being sued and that moshing was not going to be banned.^[26]

Tyler, The Creator Shirt Design

In late 2013, Tyler, The Creator made an attack on Sykes due to one of Drop Deads shirt designs containing lyrics from one of his songs Radicals, using Twitter to post abuse about Oli Sykes.^[27] Ronnie Radke also called Sykes a "pussy" and told him that he shouldn't steal works of other people.^[28] Sykes later talked about the issue, also on Twitter "Who gives a shit. Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known & everything I have ever seen.".^[29]

Works

Music

Bring Me the Horizon

• Count Your Blessings (2006)
• Suicide Season (2008)
• There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. (2010)
• Sempiternal (2013)

Guest appearances

Graphic Novels

• Raised By Raptors (2013–present)

References

External links

• Official Bring Me the Horizon website
• Drop Dead Clothing website
• Raised By Raptors website