Here’s Five: Highlights From 15 Years of Bulletbelt

We asked Bulletbelt founder Steve Francis to share five high points from their cacophonous career — encompassing five studio albums so far, including 2023's Burn It Up — in advance of next week's 15th anniversary show at Pōneke's Valhalla.

15 years, where did it go! It’s been a whirlwind and a blast. So many great adventures along the way, so many awesome people met and a ton of amazing shows played. It started it my lounge as a black metal two piece, annoying my neighbours and wife. Members have come and gone and we have evolved over the past decade and a half into a pretty shit hot (if I say so myself) live band. We have gotten to tour the world and play with so many of our musical heroes like Venom, Carcass, Napalm Death, Arch Enemy, Sepultura, Dragonforce, Ross the Boss, Rotten Sound, Tragedy, DRI, Toxic Holocaust, Sacred Reich, Vio-Lence, Midnight and a ton more.

Thanks and love to my boys Josh, Tim, Isaac and Diego plus a big cheers to all ex-members who contributed over the years!

Bulletbelt - 15th Anniversary Show
with 3000AD, Deadhouse Gates
Saturday 23rd November - Valhalla, Wellington
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Here’s 5 highlights from our career:

1. First international opening slot was 2012, supporting The Black Dahlia Murder at Bodega, Wellington. I’ll never forget getting the news. We were playing Timaru and I got a text from the promoter asking if we were keen. At that stage we were very new and green and never considered the possibility of playing with international bands so we were buzzing! The show went great and TBDM were very cool. I was wearing a Midnight tee and their vocalist Trevor (RIP) totally fanboyed me over it. We spent a good 30 minutes discussing our mutual love for them and related bands. He was a super cool cat and the gig was great. Our appetite was also whet to experience more!

2. The next big step up for us was in 2014, supporting Sepultura at The Studio, Auckland. I have always unapologetically hustled hard for my band. So to nab this slot was a big boost for us. We played to a packed house, this was the Rise of the Banshee Jolene era of the band and she really killed it that night. We sold a tonne of merch and felt on top of the world. Hilariously the next day we flew early to Wellington, caught the ferry to Picton, drove to Nelson and played to about 10 people and a dog! To top it off Ross our guitarist at the time left all our merch in Nelson as we drove to Christchurch for the next show. That was a great dose of reality!

3. Deathgasm! In 2014 Director Jason Howden had won a competition called ‘make my horror movie’ and was tasked with making a horror / metal / gore movie on the smell of an oily rag. He reached out to us via FB Messenger looking for help from bands with props for the movie like posters, records etc. We met for coffee and bonded over our love of '80s metal, classic metal movies like Trick or Treat and my favourite all time movie Evil Dead 2. He asked us to write the theme song and we are very grateful for the opportunity! It’s still a live favourite and we will be playing it at our 15th anniversary show. To top it off, NZ On Air gave us a grant to make the video clip (thanks guys!). It makes me smile knowing the government paid for a video called 'Deathgasm'.

4. Napalm Death and Carcass! In 2015 we supported these two absolute legendary bands at Valhalla, Wellington. Insane to think that here in NZ as punters we get to see bands like this up close and intimate in a hot sweaty dive bar like our beloved Valhalla! I remember we had to set up in front of their gear (including drums!) so we had fuck all room on stage, but it didn’t matter as the show went off. Crowd was bonkers and by the end of the night the newly erected crowd barrier stage front was absolutely destroyed and I can still smell the stench of sweat, spilt beer and dirty bogan wafting through the venue. It was also super cool full circle moment for me as my teenage band Karnage had supported Carcass in 1993 on their Heartwork tour!

5. International touring. We’ve always been ambitious and DIY. We had 2 NZ tours under our belt so decided it was time to hit Australia in 2014. It’s all about networking, finding good on the ground support and like minded people. First Australian Tour was a blast and we’ve returned 6 times since, including tours with Toxic Holocaust, Midnight and Sabbat. We toured Europe for the first time in 2023 (delayed by COVID) and it was amazing. Playing in Paris to a packed house on a boat the day the All Blacks beat Ireland in the quarter final, playing iconic venues line The Underworld in London. Such a buzz and so many connections made with bands and fans. We’ve just returned last week from our 2nd tour of Japan and it is our favourite place to tour. Beautiful people, amazing venues and the best food! We can’t wait to return!

Thanks to everyone for the support over the past 15 years. We hope to see you November 23rd at Valhalla to celebrate with us and our friends Deadhouse Gates and 3000AD!