On April 30, Colorado’s own Arcanium played the first of many dates on tour along side Bullet For My Valentine, Chiodos and Airbourne. Midway through the tour, we caught up with the amazing Fort Collins metal quintet on their bus after performing in front of their home-state crowd to discuss their experiences on their second tour opening for a major national band within a year’s time, the first of which was with Megadeth in late 2009.

"Everything went as we expected," Arcanium frontman Sinn says, referring to the beginning of the tour. "The crowds have all been very responsive and interactive."

"There hasn’t been a bad show," says drummer Thommy Razor. "There were a couple of minor technical difficulties, but we were really successful at working through it. All of the techs are amazing."

Arcanium (www.arcanium.info) say they are happy to have been paired up with three bands that were very hospitable to them on the tour, making it that much easier.

"(The bands) are all so nice and friendly," keyboardist The Mystress says, with bassist Messiah adding, "We didn’t meet a single dickhead. The coolest thing is everyone gives each other so much respect. I mean, here Bullet has the number three album on the Billboard charts, and they’re the most down to earth guys."

On May 19, the tour made its stop in Arcanium’s home state, playing to a sold-out capacity crowd at the Gothic Theatre. They were welcomed by friends, family and metal fans crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the venue, and the crowd showed how proud they were of one of their own.

"The crowd reaction was fucking insane," Thommy says. "People were piling in, hands clapping and fists pumping."

"It was great to play a show here on a tour with a big national band for a lot of people who don’t go normally go to local shows," guitarist Cate says. "It gives you the opportunity to gain new fans that otherwise might never have seen us."

There were other reasons that made the band’s return to Colorado a special stop. One such example was Messiah’s 30th birthday the day after the Denver show.

"For me (coming home) is awesome," Messiah says. "I get to see my family, I get to see my wife, and the Denver date timed out perfect for my birthday."

Much like the tour with Megadeth, the members of Arcanium experienced great receptions by the crowds from city to city on the Bullet tour. They noticed this both on the stage and after their sets while meeting with people in the crowd.

"Traditionally, there’s this stigma about the opening band that they’re going to suck," Messiah says. "We’ve had people coming up to us saying, ’Why the fuck are you opening?’"

"It’s really cool when people are constantly coming up to you and saying how much they liked your performance," Sinn says. "It’s ridiculous, fucking ridiculous."

Arcanium made plans to follow up the tour with a few stops on their own in other states, including two in Montana before they returned home. After that wrapped up, it was right back to business for one of the hardest working and most successful bands the state has to offer, and they closed with a bit of a teaser for their fans.

"We’re planning to record a new album in July," Sinn says. "Then expect to see us back out on tour in late-August or early September."