Interview for ACRN

With an uprising of fans from all around the world, their “Perfect Weapon” video conquering the Web, their debut album We Stitch These Wounds, set for a July 20 release and a tour kicking off next week, self-proclaimed “whatever-you-want-them-to-be” band Black Veil Brides is quite obviously busy, and something in the air tells me they’re about to receive an onslaught of fan love.

Vocalist Andy Six spoke to ACRN about what inspires him to make music and how he hopes it can inspire listeners in return.

ACRN: First of all, I wanted to ask you about what I think is the most important thing about your band: the message you have for your fans. It's a sort of for the fans, to the fans, with the fans type of unity. Could you explain what you’re trying to convey through your music and what your inspiration is to have that sort of message?

Andy Six: Honestly, the main reason that that’s most important to me is because that is something that I lacked so much growing up. I grew up interested in music and bands and everything else, and there were very few bands that seemingly reached out to exactly what I wanted.

So, my intention with this band when I started it when I was young was: I wanted to make something that would be like a kind of call-to-arms or something that people could rally behind and know that when I write my lyrics or when we play, that it’s coming from a [genuine] place. The important thing is for people to know that we’re not trying to show off a product or something. We’re not trying to be like, “Oh, you’re lonely; so, you should come listen to us.”

ACRN: The feeling of being there with your fans is really apparent on the single “Perfect Weapon.” How does that surface on the rest of your album?

A6: The record itself is sort of written in three parts:

The first couple songs are more about the anger that you experience through various things in life, be it relationships or problems you have with other people.

The midsection of the record is sort of like this reckoning that you understand that you have the strength to come out of what you’re dealing with.

The last half of the record is about not being alone and knowing that there’s somebody there, whether it’s us, or a friend that you have or whether it’s just your art in general.

It wasn’t like we set out to write a record that was just going to be songs about how hard it is to be different, but – ultimately – I write about what I know about, and for me that was a huge part of my life and a huge reason why I even started writing lyrics; because, I felt so alone so often.

ACRN: As far as sound goes, what would you say your upcoming debut album, We Stitch These Wounds, sounds like?

A6: Musically, the way that I explain our genre is: We’re literally anything that you want us to be. So, if you’re a kid who listens to what you classify as “emo” music, then – by all means – that’s what we are. If you’re a kid who listens to metal, that’s what we are to you.

My influences were, obviously, I idolize KISS, and Mötley Crüe and bands like The Misfits. I grew up, also, with a lot of Punk Rock bands like The Damned and Street Dogs and a bunch of other bands. Honestly, though – for me – when people ask me what we sound like, it’s like, “We’re Black Veil Brides” and whatever that means to you is what we sound like.

A lot of bands are content in wanting play, say, Warped Tour, for example. Then, that’s the height of their career and that’s where they want to top off. We want to be the biggest band in the world, and I feel like you only pigeonhole yourself when you put yourself into a genre. We don’t want genres. We’re a rock ‘n roll band; anything else is bullshit.

ACRN: Back to We Stitch These Wounds: You are actually the subject of the cover art, a painting by Richard Villa III. Is there any story behind the image or behind your band’s distinct aesthetic?

A6: First of all, I’ll go with the painting itself. Richard is one of my best friends in the world. He’s a very well-known painter and has done a lot of stuff: high fashion kind of stuff or Victorian-style painting, or he does a lot of work in the skateboarding community—he does all kinds of stuff with Tony Alva. He’s very well-respected and had become, over the past year, one of my closest friends.

We were talking about the album cover, and I was saying that I wanted to get him involved. He had told me about this idea that he had had, and it was an idea that I actually shared, because we have the song, “We Stitch These Wounds,” and this thing that I do with my make-up, and he asked me, “Well, what does it mean? What does the make-up mean to you?”

For me, the make-up itself and why I do that with the stitch on my face is that it represents – to me – the fact that we are, as humans, innately imperfect. Everybody is fucked up; everybody has wounds, but it’s up to everybody every day to “stitch up” those “wounds” and heal themselves and move on and go into battle the next day.

I was a kid who grew up in Ohio and got my ass kicked every day and had people tell me I’d never succeed, and I took all of those things and I never let them see the “wound.”

ACRN: I actually asked fans if they wanted to ask you anything, and that kind of came up: Someone wanted to know what it was like for you in school and what would you say to someone who’s feeling different or going through things you did?

A6: Everybody’s different, but the one thing I’ve always found to be universally true is that if you are someone who is being abused or who feels neglected or like an outcast, the biggest and best middle finger you can shove in their faces is to be yourself and to not let people’s petty nonsense and insecurities get you.

I know that’s easier said than done because it’s hard to be 14 years old and have seemingly everything against you and try to find strength, but that’s what’s so important is that the people who are most successful in life are the people who can find their inner-strength and realize that those people who say things to you are nothing. They’re only doing that because they have nothing else in their life, and as someone who is creative or different or an outcast for this or that reason, there’s a reason why you don’t fit into society. It’s because something inside you is different and you have something more.

ACRN: Kind of in that vein, your 2009 video for “Knives And Pens”followed a character who was going through something like that, and you’ve said that your new video for “Perfect Weapon” is kind of a sequel to that. Could you explain the concept and connection?

A6: The first video, or – honestly – both videos were, at the risk of sounding vain, loosely based on my life. The kid in the first video was definitely based on me and my experience and who I was. I always had a notebook that I carried around and I was very alone and I felt like an outsider most of my life, but I always had my writing or my songs.

By the time I was a little bit older – I was about 14 or 15 when I started this band – I started to feel like I had something behind me. It wasn’t even necessarily friends, it was like I had this community of people all over the world who felt the same way I did, and I felt like I had a home.

So, here I am, a couple years down the road and well into my career, and we’ve been allowed success that I dreamed of, and we’re getting bigger and bigger, and with that comes a larger fanbase and people who feel like they have a home.

The symbolism behind the first and second videos was: Here’s this loner kid and he’s trying to find his way, and a couple years later – just like the band developed, you know, the band has obviously grown – it was just a natural kind of sequel.

ACRN: Speaking of seeing all your fans when you perform, you are going to be on the Sacred Ceremony Tour starting July 2. What can people coming to shows expect of your live performances?

A6: A bigger stage show than we’ve ever been able to do before. We’re bringing out all kinds of stage props and walls of speakers and everything else, so that’s going to be fun. We’re going to be playing pretty much the entire record on the road, so that will also be cool.

And just more of the same: the best band that they can see out there right now, in my opinion.

ACRN: Our radio station is based in Ohio, and I know you’re from Ohio, so I figured I’d ask a question about it. What’s your favorite Ohio venue to see shows at and or perform at here?

A6: All the venues in Ohio that I ever played at [in the Cincinnati area] can shove it. No one ever supported me in that area. No one ever cared, people talked shit about me constantly and no one ever promoted any of my shows.

The only thing about Ohio that I miss are the people, and the fact that there are kids there who know suffering and pain and neglect, I think, more than anywhere else in the United States, because there’s such a huge economy shift.

Ohio is: You grow up, you maybe go to college for a year or two, you drink your way through college, and you work at your dad’s mechanic shop, and if anyone does anything other than that, then they are an “asshole” or a “faggot” because they tried to do something with their lives. Every time we play Ohio, I try to explain that it’s not about that.

I love my family, I had some friends in Ohio, but – for me – that place was a catalyst for my becoming what I am today. I’ll always appreciate that, but I’m never going to want to live there again, and I understand that they probably don’t want me there [laughs].

When I was a little kid, I went to places like Bogart’s and Madison Theaterand other places, and we played, and it was fun, but – as far as Cincinnati goes – the only thing I like about Cincinnati are the kids.

Cleveland fucking rocks. Cleveland is fucking awesome. Cleveland has always been good to us for whatever reason. I was mainly speaking about my hometown when I referred to “Ohio.” Ohio, as a whole, is cool. We’ve never played Dayton before, Cleveland is always cool.

ACRN: I have a couple questions from fans. A girl named Demi noticed that you wear a black rosary all the time. She wonders where that came from and do you ever take it off?

A6: I have million. I have a whole wall of my apartment where I just nail them to the wall, and I call it my rosary wall. It’s literally from the top of my wall to the bottom of the wall just covered in different rosaries I collect on tour and that people give me.

I grew up in a really devout Roman-Catholic family, especially my grandmother, and my grandma and grandpa are two of my biggest heroes in my life. Even though I’m personally an Athiest, to me – it doesn’t represent the religious side but a memory that I have of how much I love them and how much their sort of moral compass meant to me.

ACRN: Among the fan questions, I got, like, 3 people asking me if I could ask if you would marry them..? [laugh]. Do you get that a lot, and how do you react to it?

A6: Yeah! I mean, if it were possible, I would marry everybody.

ACRN: Nice… polygamy!

A6: There you go.

ACRN: Someone else wanted to know what inspires you the most in your life to be who you are?

A6: The wanting to make sure that 13-year-old Andy or 12-year-old Andy could look at what I’m doing now and be proud and be happy with whom I’ve become.

No matter what I do, I always think of that kid who just sat by himself on the playground, just fucking kicking rocks and writing lyrics, and drawing pictures of KISS and wanting to show him, if I could, everything that I’ve become and what I’ve done in my life.

If nothing else, that’s why it’s so important to me that I convey that message to the fans, because they are that 13-year-old kid, they are exactly who I was, and I see so much of myself in them, so honestly, the thing that inspires me the most in the world is wanting to make sure that I’m always going to be the person that I set out to be.

ACRN: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

A6: Uhhm. I don’t know, uh… [laughs] I don’t think so. Is there anything that you want to add?

ACRN: Let me see-…

A6: Where are all the juicy, personal questions?

ACRN: Okay, we’ll go there. No. I don’t know. I don’t like that-…

A6: Thank God you didn’t!

ACRN: Someone else wanted me to ask, how do you keep your hair so long and beautiful?

A6: It’s all a wig [laugh]. I don’t know, my genetics? My mom has nice hair. I started cutting my hair when I was pretty young, and I upkeep it, and I use good shampoos? I don’t know

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