Interview: Bones (Tailgunner)

Photo credit: Matthew Higgs

Interview: 5th February 2026

Just before the release of their new album Midnight Blitz (review here), Hotel Hobbies spoke with bass player and founding member, Bones.

Hotel Hobbies: Before we speak about the new album, could you takes us back to the point where having a band like Tailgunner was just your dream and the journey since then?

Bones: It’s been great, obviously. I think so much work went into the band before we went public, that it really, really served us. We put all this gas in the tank before we hit the road. I think that's really been evident in how fast we've risen and allowed us to get to the point where we are now. Tailgunner has been the band, like you said, that has been my dream since I was a kid. I just don’t think I realised it at the time. When I put the band together, I had played in a few bands and usually taken orders from other people, which I never really had any problem doing. I think as I got older, I realised maybe I had more of a problem than I first thought because it was always a case of, well, if I was in charge, I would do that so much better. I got to that point where it was like, fuck it, I'll just put together the band that I've always wanted to be in and whether I think that's going to be successful or popular or not. Tailgunner was born out of that and I am so pleased with what has happened.

Hotel Hobbies: You obviously had a very clear sense of the sound you wanted and the influences you had. How did that affect putting together a band who had the same vision as you?

Bones: It made it very difficult because I had such a specific thing in mind. The thing is that its not a conscious choice to play old school heavy metal, to us, that’s just the way we think heavy metal is supposed to sound. We grew up with Maiden, Priest, Dio, Helloween, Mercyful Fate since we were little kids so that's just what comes naturally. But certainly having them as my inspirations made it difficult to find a band. It took two years to form Tailgunner and to find the original lineup. I moved to London for a few years and I couldn't even find the people there because everyone was doing the classic rock / blues rock thing. That’s cool but I wanted a heavy metal band and so I had to look all over Europe. That’s why the original lineup had a Dutch guy. We're still based all around England to this day so we don't really have a hometown.

Hotel Hobbies: I grew up in the 1980s so all those bands like you mentioned were part of my early musical life. How did you become a fan?

Bones: I was never really into music growing up until I heard AC/DC. The moment I sat down with the Back In Black record and heard Brian Johnson sing for the first time, it changed everything for me. The whole world was turned on its head and I've really been the same person since that moment. The same day I listened to Guns n’ Roses and Maiden. I've never looked back and just delved further and further and further into heavy metal. I still love finding new bands even if it's not necessarily new as long as its new to me. We're all the same, right? We're all just like fans of this music. It's so exciting and so interesting.

Hotel Hobbies: My introduction to Tailgunner was at Stonedead Festival a couple of years ago. I loved your set and at the end headed straight to the merch tent to buy your album. You went down amazingly well. What are your memories of that day?

Bones: I remember we played Newcastle the night before and we had about two hours sleep. I think everyone was dying! When we arrived at the festival, the thing that surprised us was that Chris the promotor sold it to us as a huge stage. I think when he booked us for it, it would have been by far the biggest thing we had done but by the time it happened we had been out in Europe and played some bigger things. So when we got there, we could relax because, although we don’t really get nervous, I mean that in the best way, it felt like just another show. It was a great show. I remember the stage being soaking wet, which is never ideal. Then we spent the rest of the day hanging out, watching KK, watching Saxon and Doro and the great lineup. I really like what Stonedead is all about. I think it was a great thing for us to be involved in, in such an early part of our career. Hopefully, we can go back one day and be further up the bill if not headlining it one day.

Hotel Hobbies: Tailgunner were certainly the perfect fit for that festival. Thinking about you as a bass player for a moment, what led you towards that instrument?

Bones: I have always been a bass player but I wanted to play an instrument because I saw Billy Duffy on the cover of Sonic Temple in that iconic pose.

Hotel Hobbies: What an album that is!

Bones: Definitely, and The Cult are one of my favourite bands. I just thought he looked so cool and that I needed to learn guitar. I had a friend in school that said to me, I'm putting together a band and we need a bass player. And I said that I couldn’t help because I was going to be a guitar player. I thought about it for maybe half a day and in the end just thought, yeah, fuck it, I'll play bass because I wanted to be in the band more than I cared what instrument I played. I'm very, very glad that it ended up being bass. I think there's so much depth to it and so much melodic freedom underneath everything else that's going on in a song. I don’t think guitar players necessarily have that same level of freedom.

Hotel Hobbies: You mentioned KK Downing and he produced the new album, what do you think you have learned from him as a musician and songwriter?

Bones: The great thing about working with KK is that the lessons that we learned won't just be applied to this album. It's things that will carry with us throughout the entirety of our careers. We're so lucky to have worked with someone that had a large part really in inventing this style of music. The biggest thing I think that he taught us is to think twice or think two hundred times about every single detail, every single note, every second on the album. There's nothing on that album that people will hear that we didn't think about and acknowledge and discuss. I really mean every single moment. That was the biggest takeaway from working with KK. He really shows all the experience that he has. He can really, analyse the whole record in front of him and make sure that every single part is doing the best it can be.

Hotel Hobbies: He has said that he has been waiting a long time for a band like Tailgunner guys to come out of the UK again. How does it feel to have that kind of endorsement from him?

Bones: To be honest, I'm going to sound maybe a bit arrogant here, but the first time we met him, he said that about waiting for a band like us since the earlier days of Def Leppard. We were like, us too, man. That's not me being stuck up or whatever. We were always waiting for a band like this to come along from the UK because there are good bands from Sweden, Germany and other places. This country is responsible for inventing and perfecting heavy metal and then doing nothing with it really for forty odd years. As kids, we could never understand why. So we just formed the band that we were always waiting for. When KK said that, we felt very vindicated.

Photo credit: Tunde Valiszka

Hotel Hobbies: To talk about the new album Midnight Blitz, you set out to make a classic opening track, one of those that grabs you right from the beginning and I think you certainly achieved that.

Bones: Definitely. That's why it's the title track and the first single. I think it's a real calling card. I think it defines everything else that goes on within the album. I'm really pleased that we set out, like you said, to write a classic metal album opener. As a songwriter, that is so rewarding because anyone can think, I want to write a song like this, I want to write a song, but to actually do it (and I include myself in that -  there's plenty of types of songs that I want to write that I'm not yet capable of). So to be able to write our Aces High, Hells Bells or Painkiller was really rewarding.

Hotel Hobbies: There are other influences on the album such as Blade Runner, one of my favourite films, which lyrically inspires Tears In Rain.

Bones: I wrote a lot of the lyrics for that one including the pre-chorus and chorus but I really struggled with the verses for that. I gave it over to Craig – he is big fan of Blade Runner too – and I think he did a fantastic job with those lyrics. Inspiration can come from so many places and take you by surprise but something like Blade Runner is so aesthetically powerful that I think if you're into that film, it's hard not to have influence.

Hotel Hobbies: You have another song, Dead Until Dark, influenced by another eighties classic film – in this case The Lost Boys. Do you think that the themes of some of the songs will help draw listeners as well as the music?

Bones: I think so. I don't think it will harm us by any means. We shot a video for Dead Until Dark in December and it’ll be out at some point this year. It had a lot of the fans involved and that response was amazing . When we said that we were filming a video for a song based on The Lost Boys, so many people were interested in that whole idea.

Hotel Hobbies: I really enjoyed your debut album but I think with Midnight Blitz, there is a step up in confidence, dynamic structure and arrangement. As a band, do you feel like you have stepped up another level writing with the songwriting?

Bones: Yeah, certainly. Everyone in the band feels like this is a huge step up. We worked really hard for that step and we're very brutal with each other as well. If I write something and the others don't like it, they'll be the first to tell me. If Zach or Rhea track a guitar solo and I don't like it, I will tell them very quickly. So we work very, very hard and we don't really feel external pressure but we're brutal with one another in our standards. I think we've really worked so hard on this new album.

Hotel Hobbies: Thinking about the new album, which particular songs are you most enjoying or looking forward to playing live?

Bones: So far we've been playing all of the singles from this record. I really I love opening the show with Midnight Blitz for the same reasons I mentioned about it as a track. I think it just it makes for a great opener. One song that's not a single, that I love playing live is Barren Lands and Seas of Red. It's one of my favourites off of the record. It's awesome to play live. I love playing Eulogy. We debuted War in Heaven at the Planet Rock Winter's End Festival, and it's a tricky song to play live because it's a ballad. Playing a ballad live is interesting but I was really, really pleased with how that went so I'm sure that will stay in the set.

Hotel Hobbies: Regarding the flow of the album, you obviously had Midnight Blitz in your mind as the opener. How did you go about ordering the rest of the album because the ballad feels very well positioned and Eulogy definitely feels like an ending track?

Bones: I think about the order of a track list from the moment I start writing. It helps me to write. If I have an opener, then a closer, I need to write the second song on an album. It informs the style of song that I write so I write for a track list. It doesn't mean that it always ends up in that order. However, Midnight Blitz was written to be an opener and Eulogy was written to be a closer. In terms of the final track list, I wrote a  track list very, very early on and played around with it constantly. We had options A, B and C. One of the final sessions in the studio was me, frontman Craig and KK. It was purely to listen to different ideas for track lists and that's something I really haven't spoken about. That made a huge difference because I gave KK my track list and without seeing it, he gave me his and I went, fuck, that’s better! You can tell his level of experience. His version is pretty much what’s there. It was about different BPMs, different keys of songs, all of those little tips and tricks that he has really helped us with.

Hotel Hobbies: Beside the band’s musical talents, what do you think the different members if the band bring to Tailgunner?

Bones: The different types of personalities. I think you have to have that mix. If everyone was like me, it wouldn't be very conducive. I have a way I like to work and a way I like to do things. Life in general is very visceral and straight ahead. Zach is a lot more careful and considered and sometimes I need him to go hang on dude, let's weigh up everything up. Rhea is the most similar to me in terms of personalities and we have some mad arguments on tour in the band because we are so similar. I will say to her that I love her and she is my best friend in the world but don’t do that again (laughing)! Craig is the guy that speaks last and he is a man of few words but when he does, we also think why did no one else think of that? Since Eddie's come into the band, he has really made such a huge difference because he's come into this gang of people and worked out all the different personality types pretty quickly. He's very good at being the mediator in the middle of all of it. It's a great mix of people in the band. I'm very pleased with the lineup that we have.

Hotel Hobbies: It feels as if your are a very strong overall unit?

Bones: Definitely. That’s true because everyone wants to bring something to the table. We all suffered together as well. Rhea joined the band early on. She's been there since just before the debut and I've known Eddie for a long time. Eddie's done all of those years playing in smaller bands - small clubs or pubs. That's what makes you such a unit. You go through all of these experiences together. We look back now when we're doing pretty great tours and some of the bands that we get to share stages with is incredible. We are only four years old as a band. It wasn't so long ago that we were playing pubs and there was no money. Sometimes, we didn’t even get a case of water. It really bonds you. We have each other’s back.

Hotel Hobbies: You have lots of dates coming up this year and you are playing with some amazing bands. Is there any particular tour or venue you are particularly looking forward to playing?

Bones: Accept! Of all the band’s we have played with or will play with, they are my favourites. I think they're one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time. To be on a bill with them is incredible. We have a huge tour to announce for Autumn and Winter. I think it'll make a lot of people very happy. So that one I'm really looking forward to. I am also looking forward to going to Iceland, one of those amazing places that you get to travel to because you're in a band. I never thought we'd go there so early in our career. Sweden Rock is a huge bucket list one for me. I grew up loving a lot of Swedish bands. I am really looking forward to Download too. Not so much for the other bands that are playing but because I'm looking forward to kicking down the doors for heavy metal and reminding them that it's Donington and it's Monsters of Rock!

Hotel Hobbies: Having been to several Doningtons in the early 1990s, I can understand that. Looking further forward for the band, what is the goal beyond just being as big as possible?

Bones: Of course that's a part of it but I think success in terms of sales, in terms of size, is a byproduct of artistic quality. That's what I concern myself with. Obviously, we want to make a living purely from music but if you get into playing heavy metal for those reasons, then you have a hard lesson to learn. The best thing for me is the artistic quality. I'm always trying to push forward. I think there's been a huge step up from Guns for Hire to Midnight Blitz and I want to do that again next time. I want this band to be able to write albums as good as Powerslave, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Defenders of the Faith and Painkiller and so on. I'm interested and excited to see how far we can push this artistically because we're so new and so young. I think we've got a great record in Midnight Blitz but I am very excited to see what we can do in the next decade.

Hotel Hobbies: At the time of this interview, the album is due to be released tomorrow. How are you feeling about it and what do you want fans to take away from listening to it?

Bones: It feels like Christmas Eve! I would like them to feel empowered and feel like they've got a world to escape into. I think that's what all great heavy metal does. It allows the listener to put their own dreams and interpretations into the songs. If it's things that can help them through their life, it doesn't need to be super deep. I hope it makes them feel fantastic. Maybe some might wake up and put on the album when they hit the gym. All great heavy metal should empower you. I want them to hear this record and feel like they can take on the world because that's what all my favourite bands do for me.

Hotel Hobbies: To round this off, with all the amazing shows you have played and have lined up this year, are there any bands that you would love to share a stage with that has not happened yet?

Bones: I would say the more unrealistic ones like Guns and Roses, AC/DC and Iron Maiden - they're my three favourite bands. We're sharing a bill with Guns and Roses at Download, I suppose but in terms of more realistic ones, I would say Helloween or Judas Priest.

Hotel Hobbies: Thank you so much for your time. I have loved listening to the album and writing about it. Good luck with it and I hope to see you on tour this year.

Bones: Thank you very much, dude. Speak to you soon.