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Live review: Black Veil Brides and Creeper, London OVO Arena Wembley
Here come the ghouls! Black Veil Brides and Creeper’s double-feature hits Wembley for a thrilling celebration of spooky season…
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Black Veil Brides: “We’re really enjoying the fact that we’ve shared our adult lives together. And we continue to do it”
On Devil’s Night, Black Veil Brides will play their biggest-ever UK show at Wembley. The culmination of nearly two decades of blood, sweat and tears, Andy Biersack and his army have been fighting for this since day one. As he prepares to headline the world’s most famous arena, the frontman looks back on what it took to get this far, his own journey of discovery, and what’s coming next…
- Words:
- Steve Beebee
- Photos:
- Travis Shinn
Andy Biersack is used to turning the impossible into the possible.
From taking a perhaps unfashionable route into the rock world, and drawing no small amount of criticism from self-appointed gatekeepers, Black Veil Brides now stand on the brink of headlining their biggest-ever UK show. On October 30, Devil’s Night, Andy will be stepping out onstage at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, a dream come true for an artist who has been in love with rock since the tender age of five.
Back then, dad Chris would patiently make his eager son up like KISS frontman Gene Simmons. Andy, who dropped out of high school to front Black Veil Brides, was clearly never going to be someone who blended quietly into a crowd. Rather than safely adopting the jeans-and-hoodie metalcore mannerisms of the times, BVB went the opposite way: hugely coiffured barnets, glam-goth make-up, and songs with names like Rebel Love Song and Fallen Angels.
It was the sort of thing that wasn’t supposed to be popular anymore, but by personifying a new generation’s angst into something that was simultaneously glamorous and meaningful, Andy and Black Veil Brides suddenly found themselves “on the cover of Kerrang! every damn week”, as he now happily reflects. They were there because the rock-loving world, and the UK in particular, had fallen head-over-high-heels in love with them.
“The UK was the first place in the world that really took us seriously, or gave us a chance,” Andy nods from his hotel room in Texas, midway through a particularly long tour. “We were facing a lot of difficulties getting traction in the U.S. – nobody would pay attention to us. When I was 19, we came to the UK to open for Murderdolls and within two weeks of that tour I was on the cover of Kerrang! and seeing headlines like, ‘Is Andy the new god of rock?’ It was an unbelievable experience to go from our home country, where people weren’t really sure about us, to the UK where so many of the artists I idolised came from, and to not only be accepted but be catapulted.”
Andy, now 33, is fond of looking back on those early days, almost with a sense of relief that BVB succeeded despite their lack of experience. It was a smash-and-grab, something the band – Andy, guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx, drummer Christian ‘CC’ Coma and former bassist Ashley Purdy – wanted but weren’t truly ready for. From playing to 50 people in small clubs, they were – quite suddenly – facing a storm of anticipation as they made an unforgettable and semi-chaotic appearance on Download’s second stage in 2011.
Some 15 years, six albums and multiple image shifts on (but only one actual line-up change), BVB are taking things to another level with their biggest British show ever. It’s the sweetest of victories for Andy to headline Wembley, an arena blessed by many of his heroes, made even more special given that he gets to do it in the company of longtime friends and kindred spirits Creeper.
“It’s something we’ve been talking to them about for a long time,” Andy enthuses. “Not necessarily at Wembley, but the two of our bands touring together and having that shared experience. I have a real closeness with Will Gould and Creeper that goes back before the days of the pandemic. We just did a tour together in the States and the timing looks right. The idea of bringing two of the most theatrical, ‘sing-songy’ rock bands together on a big scale is really exciting.
“It’s the biggest UK show we’ve ever done that’s not a festival. In the past [London’s O2 Academy Brixton] has been about the biggest, so this is an exciting step up. We’ve had multiple calls, both myself and Will, and the whole band and our management, talking about what we can do for the show. All of that is still being put together, but we have a lot of plans and we’re gonna throw everything we can into it.”
The road to Wembley has been unusually circuitous. Six years ago, a headline slot there seemed about as likely as a visit to the moon. Black Veil Brides were in disarray, uncertain about whether they had any kind of future, let alone one that included arenas. Their 2018 album Vale ended with a song that appeared to predict the band’s demise, and the departure of Ashley Purdy the following year did little to dispel this notion.
With Andy putting most of his energy into his Andy Black solo project, his main band was in “a weird hiatus”, but ironically it was the side-project’s bass player Lonny Eagleton and his enthusiasm for the ’Brides that led not only to their rejuvenation, but to Lonny entering the line-up himself. As all other members had adopted character names for themselves during the Wretched And Divine phase, they aptly christened the newcomer ‘Redeemer’.
“Lonny has proved pivotal,” gushes Andy. “He’s a kind person and so positive that you can’t help but enjoy being around him. It’s brought about the happiest time we’ve had as a band.”
That sense of rebirth, of not looking too hard at what others are doing and concentrating on your own issues, is something BVB had missed prior to Lonny’s helpful intervention. In their early days, it had very much been them vs. the world; they were in it together, quite deliberately standing out from the crowd.
“In the Warped Tour world we saw a lot of ‘sameness’,” Andy recalls. “We would play festivals where in so many bands the singer sounded the same or the music was structurally alike. Our skill-set was very different. Jinxx, for example, is a classically-trained violinist who can play lots of instruments, Jake is a virtuoso shredder and writer, and CC is one of the best drummers anybody has ever heard. With me being very much into world-building, theology and comic books, we figured we’d be best served by doing what we were good at and applying it to the music.”
That renewed sense of togetherness, of brotherhood, that determination to see things through, has not only solidified their status in the modern rock pantheon with a Wembley headliner, but it’s also seeing them produce some of their best material to date. Take their recent Sweeney Todd-inspired single Bleeders (with Andy enthusiastically adopting the demon barber role in the video), which sees Jinxx and Jake delving into clever new realms of sound, almost certainly an indicator of what’s to come on Black Veil Brides’ as-yet-untitled seventh album.
As soon as the huge Wembley show is done, attention will turn to the studio.
“Bleeders was written in the context of writing other new material, so it’s definitely where we’re heading – particularly Jake from a guitar perspective,” Andy confirms. “Also, there’s clear growth in production terms. Jake has become unbelievable in that department. He’s learned so much about building out songs and all the stuff that goes into the eventual ear candy. We’re in a position now where we can do so much more with the dual thread of Jake being able to add electronic stuff, and then Jinxx coming in with the more orchestral side.”
The band have material written and ready to demo, but inspired by the success of their two recent EPs, Bleeders and 2022’s The Mourning, they might release more music before then.
Typically, Andy is already fusing connected ideas together – his is a mind constantly working, not always to his own benefit, but certainly productive when it comes to the creative. He wants the seventh album to feature songs that are linked not as a story, but more as a collective of interlocking themes, again with echoes of a horror or comic book anthology.
He isn’t ready to confirm what he’s written, but says that he has to work in total solitude. He needs to be off tour and in his own space. His bandmates jokingly refer to Andy’s process as “talking to aliens”, based on something producer Marti Frederiksen suggested the young singer might be doing when he took ‘breaks’ from the studio and came back with a ton of ideas.
“Jake and Jinxx can write anywhere, but I need to be alone, really,” he sighs. “There’s always stuff going on. In fact, right before we left for this tour, Jake had been working on several musical pieces – some of which I’ve already written lyrics for – so the process is definitely happening, and it’ll be more full-blown after Wembley. Our main focus is on that for now.
“We just realised that it’s nearly three years since [last album] The Phantom Tomorrow came out. We were talking about it the other day and didn’t realise how long it had been, but then the world has been so odd this past couple of years, and we’ve done so much touring. But we’ve liked the idea of doing the two EPs, because it’s an opportunity to do different types of stuff. Also, with this next album, you’re going to see more of it – songs, videos – before the full record actually comes out…”
Things that look happy and shiny on the outside can sometimes be quite dark and unsettling on the inside. That’s just life and the countless experiences it throws your way as you get older. For the most part, you learn and move on, but when your face is on magazine covers and your every spoken thought is scrutinised, or when you’re mysteriously singled out as a subject for non-specific hatred, that challenge is obviously amplified.
“It’s crazy to look back at Wretched And Divine and to recall how completely insane I felt as a person, and how chaotic my life was,” Andy says. “The fact that the record is so good is wild to me because I didn’t know which side was up or down in those days. It’s very hard to be the age that I was in this industry. I did have people who looked out for me and made sure I didn’t fuckin’ die, but I’ve been very lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to grow up and figure out who I am.
“I was lost in a world of people that were older than me,” he continues. “I felt like I was surrounded by people that wanted to take advantage of me in situations that I didn’t necessarily understand but was put in. I didn’t spend a lot of time being a good friend, and I certainly didn’t spend a lot of time being a good partner to Lilith.”
Andy has been in a relationship with fellow artist Lilith Czar for many years – the pair married in 2016 – and admits that in those early days, he was overwhelmed by the attention, good and bad, foisted upon him.
“I was only thinking about myself because I was so anxious and scared of the world. It wasn’t turning 30 so much, but when I reached my late 20s I started to understand what was important, and the measurable level of positivity that gave me as a creative has changed everything. From my first solo record [2016’s The Shadow Side] onwards, I began to feel a bit more like ‘me’ than ever before.”
Andy speaks with commendable, surprising clarity. He’s wide-eyed and confident as he does so. These are clearly matters he has thought about, analysed and discussed many times before. In a sense, he’s now his own therapist, intimately understanding the stimuli that once led him to mask his pain and dull his senses through drink.
“A lot of it’s due to sobriety, not just changing what was important to me, but acting on those feelings,” he explains. “I had been someone that would spend time running from my demons. I didn’t want to deal with it, and I drank through those difficult times.”
The frontman credits Lilith with having a positive impact on him but explains that with both pursuing careers in a similar field, any move towards health and happiness had to involve an equal commitment from both. Jokingly (we think) he even likens the couple’s earlier behaviour to that of notorious Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his no less infamous, ill-fated girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
“We decided together that we were gonna make a change,” he says, “because we’d become a bit like Sid and Nancy – both rock people, both crazy. Part of the ‘appeal’ we had in those days was that we were both these heart-on-our-sleeve songwriters, passionate and crazy people, drinking and everything else. That’s not sustainable, but what was is how much we love each other. We both grew together, and we changed the things about ourselves that we knew were destructive. Now we live the happiest life we’ve ever had.”
Today, the biggest challenge for Andy and Lilith is the inevitable reality that they are rarely in the same room, both being successful musicians with conflicting schedules. When Andy completes this current set of dates and flies home, the only person there to greet him will be their house-sitter, and their cats. The positive side is that what might seem like divisive dilemmas to most is just normality to them. Having navigated their way through considerably darker days, the couple have a hard-won, richly deserved understanding.
“We miss each other,” he sighs, “but the thing is, we are such big fans of each other, so when she gets to do cool things I think it’s awesome. We are always excited about the opportunities that each of us has, and we make it work in the time that we do spend together. A lot of times we get to tour in the same places, or we can visit each other on tour runs. It’d be difficult for some, but for us this is just the way our lives have always been.
“We have a unique thing where we both understand what it’s like to be exhausted on the road, what it’s like to lose your voice and still have to do the show, or what it’s like to have a songwriting idea that’s stuck and you can’t get past the bridge or whatever. Having someone that can really duplicate the reality of your life is really important.”
Both in and outside of Black Veil Brides, Andy Biersack is sailing in calmer waters than he has done for years. The uncertainty following Ashley’s departure, and the long series of setbacks and delays caused by the pandemic now seem like old news. The maturity that comes with years, the wisdom that comes with experience, and of course the support of loved ones and bandmates have all contributed to putting this ambitious, thoughtful frontman in a happier and more stable place.
“At this point we’re getting along as well as we ever have,” he happily concurs. “When you’re in a band together for this long, things are either gonna fracture or the time that you’ve been together becomes a valuable, shared life experience. You have endless inside jokes and things you can laugh about.
“We’re really enjoying the fact that we’ve shared our adult lives together. And we continue to do it.”
Black Veil Brides and Creeper play London’s OVO Arena Wembley on October 30 – get your tickets now. This article originally appeared in the autumn 2024 issue of the magazine.
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