EXTREME's NUNO BETTENCOURT: 'There's A Reason Why We Don't Put Out A Lot Of Albums'

In an interview with Australia's Heavy, EXTREME guitarist Nuno Bettencourt was asked if the anticipation of a new album still gets him as excited as it used to. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "If there's an album coming out, or music that's coming out, then it's for a reason, and it's usually a good reason for me. So it actually means that we wrote something that I think is worth something to share… There's a reason why we don't put out a lot of albums, because the excitement has to be there. I told Gary [Cherone, EXTREME singer] at a very, very young age that I never wanna put any music out for the sake of putting music out. It's probably not the smartest thing financially for a band to do that, because every time you put an album out, you make money, you get advances, you tour the world. But it has to be something that you're really proud of. And what I mean by that is it has to be successful before it even comes out — meaning that you're just super proud of it. You're excited and you put your head on the pillow. Regardless of [whether] everybody hates it or loves it, it doesn't mean anything to you. It's always a bonus that they love it. But at the end of the day, there's nothing worse than people loving what you're doing if you didn't like what you did in the first place."

EXTREME's new album "Six", was released on June 9 via earMUSIC.

On "Six", EXTREME swing between unapologetic fits of fret-burning hard rock and intimately introspective balladry. For the recording of the Bettencourt-produced 12-track album, the members — Cherone (vocals),Bettencourt (guitar),Pat Badger (bass) and Kevin Figueiredo (drums) — buckled down at Bettencourt's home studio in Los Angeles to channel the electrifying eclecticism that defined their seminal output with a 21st century twist.

"Whatever you think an EXTREME album is after two or even three songs, it's not," Bettencourt previously said. "That goes for every record we've ever done. True EXTREME fans know to 'expect the unexpected.' I feel like we need a good old-school rock album. 'Six' is definitely modern, but you can put on headphones and go on a journey from top-to-bottom. It's like 'EXTREME 2.0'."

EXTREME is currently gearing up to perform for audiences across the globe on its headlining "Thicker Than Blood" world tour. It stretches from August 2 to December 16 and will see the band appear across the U.S., Australia, Japan and Europe, including special guests LIVING COLOUR (U.S., Australia and U.K. only) and THE LAST INTERNATIONALE (Europe only).

Photo credit: Jesse Lirola