It’s clearly not so much a question for Andy of taking creative risks on a big stage, but of continuing the path he set out on as a teenager, more accomplished in his abilities and ambitious in his vision than ever before, but still governed by that same unadulterated impulse. “I have the ability to do this incredibly fun and exciting thing for a living for as long as I would like to do it,” he smiles, before remembering that’s only half of the equation. “And to have an audience continue to want me to do that until it’s time to wrap it up. A lot of my contemporaries and people I grew up with in the scene have not been able to continue that way. Success, then, is people feeling excited by what we do and wanting more. If people respond, we’ll have the ability to make shit on a larger scale.”
If Andy is talking like a guy with a DIY attitude, that’s not entirely inaccurate. Making the promotional video for Scarlet Cross, which introduces the aesthetic of The Phantom Tomorrow and The Blackbird to viewers, he wore several hats. As well as occupying his role as frontman, Andy hand-stitched the band’s costumes and art directed a shoot that took cues from the aforementioned Batman Returns, plus The Shadow (1994), Darkman (1990), and V For Vendetta (2006) – the latter a film Andy, controversially, considers superior to Alan Moore’s graphic novel.
“The Phantom Tomorrow is the thing I’ve been most invested in,” says Andy proudly. He has every reason to be so. He almost lost his band in the past, and like most musicians is unsure of the future, but for now he’s channelling his efforts into this most comprehensive labour of love. With their sleeves rolled up, and their hearts and minds fully engaged, Andy Biersack and Black Veil Brides are ready for whatever comes tomorrow.
Black Veil Brides' Scarlet Cross is out this Friday; The Phantom Tomorrow will be released in 2021 via Sumerian Records.
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