Hollywood rockers Black Veil Brides brought fans along for the journey that was the making of their new, self-titled album via a series of four in-studio YouTube videos, sponsored by Monster Energy Drink. The focus of these behind the scenes clips is split pretty evenly between Canadian producer Bob Rock – who’s helmed fantastic albums by The Cult, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, and most famously Metallica – and the five guys in BVB.

“As far as wanting to work with Bob, I think it’s a no-brainer for anybody who’s into hard rock or heavy metal,” says vocalist Andy Biersack. “The list of accomplishments and the bands he’s worked with is legendary; it speaks for itself. As far as meeting him, that came from him being interested in our music. Admittedly, he says he doesn’t really keep up with the current rock scene. It’s been probably 15 years since he’s made a hard rock or heavy metal record (Bob Rock’s recent production credits include Nelly Furtado and Michael Buble) by virtue of the fact that he doesn’t see a lot out there that he likes. Having worked with the greatest bands in the world, he doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. He heard our song ‘In The End’ on the radio, and that sparked something in him. From what he told us, he really enjoyed the tone and the style, he thought I had an interesting voice and we had a unique perspective. It was something that interested him in getting involved in rock music again. We didn’t know each other; we didn’t have any friends in common. So he put some lines out to see how he could get hold of us. I remember I was in the studio working on some solo material – just kind of a hobby project I have – and I got a call saying, ‘Do you want to go to Swingers in Hollywood tomorrow and have breakfast with Bob Rock at 8am?’ Of course you say yes. He’s one of those iconic figures where he’s his own rock star. It was a great, surreal experience; something I’m very happy I got to have in my life.”

Four albums, four different producers; Andy chalks Bob Rock up to those who came before him in the Black Veil Brides discography.  “The first record, being produced by Blasko, we had to have somebody to wrangle and facilitate us in the managerly duty that he had. The second record, Josh Abraham wasn’t there much. He’s one of those producers who come in once or twice a week, and make the claim they want to hear it with fresh ears. I get that, but it didn’t really mesh well with us. Wretched And Divine with John Feldman, my working relationship and friendship with John is so great; I had a blast. But in some ways, everybody in the band’s personalities didn’t necessarily match with the very vocal-oriented style of producing that John has. Everybody had a great time; it wasn’t like any of it was miserable. But at the end of the day, something was not clicking in the way that we were all getting nurtured and feeling good about the way we were making the record. Bob was able to handle all that and bring us together as a band, and make us feel unified. In that regard, he’s the first producer that the whole band has said, this is something special; this is a great environment.”

The new album is a really quick follow-up to Wretched And Divine, only 18 months have passed between the two. Considering how extensively Black Veil Brides tours, this platter of new music is a welcome and pleasant surprise. “We just enjoy making music,” admits Andy. “We also get bored of complacency. I don’t think any of us like to stay in one place or become stagnant. We like to create new stuff. Like anybody, if you enjoy what you’re doing, you want to keep doing it. We have so much fun with the whole process of making records and writing songs together.”

Veering from the songs on the album to the creature on the cover, “He is called Legion. He’s meant to be kind of an amalgam of all of the story elements of the movie Legion Of The Black, a lot of the elements of Wretched And The Divine. There’s also elements of the cover of Set The World On Fire – an amalgam of the greatest visual lure or aesthetic things that have been prevalent over our career. In terms of scalable structure and anatomy, he’s meant to be a combination - at least in the bone structure of his face, and many other areas, there’s little hidden Easter Eggs in there - of the five of us. Without giving away too much, we want fans to be able to find them; they’re all things that are referenced in other photos.”

Legion is sitting atop a rock pile upon which the Roman numeral IV is very visible. Despite this being BVB’s fourth album, it’s self-titled. “We didn’t want to call the record IV, in homage to Zeppelin and Sabbath who have done that. Danzig is a huge influence on us and having the numbered records, they were all called something else. Danzig III is not Danzig III; it’s How The Gods Kill. With us, I really wanted the numerical title because I felt it was justified and fun. But by the same token, we had fucking seven titles for the last record. When you consider it was Black Veil Brides – Wretched And Divine: The Story Of The Wild Ones; then you add Legion Of The Black – it felt like name-overload in a way. I felt we weren’t going to beat something so theatrical. This record is very much a more stripped-down record; obviously not being a concept record. When you do a self-titled record it’s because you feel it’s definitive or representative of the music you’ve wanted to make.”

In the aforementioned YouTube videos, Andy said, “The lyrical content has to do with introspection, and dealing with your personal demons.” He elaborates further on that statement for BraveWords readers. “It’s different all the time. I have many things in my entire life that I’ve dealt with in some capacity – but I think most people do. I think everybody in some regard finds themselves depressed or obsessive or introverted. Everybody finds themself knocking on the door of upset at some point. I don’t have anything I think is so unique. The only thing I have that’s unique to me is the way I express it; the way I can channel that or convey that to an audience or someone listening to the song. The only way I can exorcise those demons so to speak, is by writing the songs and singing them, feeling emotions I want to get rid of. It’s a cathartic experience writing a record, regardless of what the content is. Even if I’m writing a concept record about a mythological war, it’s still the feeling of pen on paper and getting something out of yourself. With this record I took a lot of time thinking about things that I was in the moment of feeling. If I experienced something that was particularly upsetting or fucked up, I could sit down to write it out and see where I went with it. It was nice to write off the cuff like that.”

“Devil In the Mirror” is one of the strongest songs from the new album, featuring the lines: “Everyday feels like a war, my voice is a weapon, my fear is a lie.” According to Andy, “The elements of the demo of that song date back to just before Wretched And Divine; at least the guitar parts. The melodies just never came together and we wound up scrapping most of it. Later on, in the pre-production process for this record, we started to dip into things. We’d written quite a bit of new material, but we wanted to see if there was any stuff we’d overlooked. There’s always stuff you write and it’s like, fuck, there’s no place for it right now, but it’s a great riff. For whatever reason, the second time around it really came together and clicked. I wrote the entire lyric for that song in one passing. The content, in terms of what it’s about, more than anything it’s about the idea that it’s not uncommon for people to feel some level of self-loathing or self-hatred. In some ways, you can almost have an outside perspective on it by seeing it and saying, I’m being self-deprecating. In some ways that’s ok, but you don’t want to fall into a pit of despair. It’s the subconscious awareness of an issue.

 

Other song titles, specifically “Faithless”, “The Shattered God”, and “Crown Of Thorns” have a religious aspect to them. “I always use a lot of religious metaphors in my writing; particularly Catholicism cause that’s what I was raised in. I do not have a… I’m not myself religious, but I have a great deal of interest – and in some capacities respect for the positive elements of faith and the hope it can bring people. I take issue with people who are these blanketed, know it all atheists. While I consider myself an atheist, I do, not pretend that someone who calls themself a person of faith is ignorant or stupid; and many people do that. A lot of people I’m friends with, when the subject of religion – particularly Catholic religion – is brought up, they tend to poo-poo it and act like those people are dumb. I disagree. At the end of the day, we’re all looking for a way to get through to tomorrow. The minute you made this plan to interview me, and I made the plan to pick up the phone, we were both banking that I wasn’t going to get hit by a car. That’s an act of faith. In some ways, people need hope or faith to get to tomorrow. If people believe in something that was essentially, initially, meant to be about living a life of positivity, then I fully support that. Things start to get a bit scary with some of the hatred religion can bring; that upsets me. I use a lot of religious reference, both in a positive and negative way.”

One song that veers away from the rest of the album is “Walk Away”. It’s quite a bit longer than the rest of the tracks at six minutes; and it’s highlighted by piano balladry. “Honestly, that song was my baby throughout the course of the whole record. We did that song ‘Lost It All’ on the previous record, and after that song was done I was like, fuck, I want to do more of that! Let’s do something that is really over the top with three guitar solos, gospel singers, and so much going on. I really love it! It was so much fun and such a joy. I really enjoy the lyrics too. It’s a simple idea of moving on from something, and how difficult that can be. Even something like a breakup where we can justify it – there’s always the joke of all my stuff’s at that person’s house. That song’s about all the ways you can justify, or not justify leaving a situation.”

Black Veil Brides are undoubtedly road dogs with shows currently booked until mid-December. In 2015 fans can expect “A pretty large scale Canadian tour around the beginning of the year. That’s the first priority cause we haven’t spent a lot of time up there. We want to bring a decent package out, and to follow that up we’re going back to Europe, do a big tour over there, and probably do a bit more in The UK. Who knows what’s going to happen after that? It feels like it’s going to be a big year.”