BLACK VEIL BRIDES: Andy Biersack On Ushering In A New Era With 'The Mourning' EP

You can’t keep a good band down if the fans lift them up. That’s exactly how Black Veil Brides continue to elevate its game as a creative unit. In October of 2021, they ignited what would be the most exhilarating chapter in their ever-evolving story with the release of ‘The Phantom Tomorrow.’ The album was the 3^rd concept album from the band and served as their most ambitious release to date. Comprised of a dozen hard-hitting tracks, the album instantly resonated with audiences and spawned the band’s first-ever US Top 10 Active Rock single, “Scarlet Cross.” The band \also released videos for “Fields Of Bone” and “Torch,” which were masterful directed by frontman Andy Biersack. In the months following the album’s release, the band hit the road for the massively popular, triple co-headline “Trinity Of Terror” tour with Ice Nine Kills and Motionless In White. The third leg of this ambitious tour kicks off on All Hallow’s Eve, regarded as one of the hottest tickets around, and is guaranteed to rock fans to their core.

Black Veil Brides recently surprised fans with the announcement of the upcoming The Mourning. The new 4-song EP is scheduled for global release digitally on October 21^st via Sumerian Records (Click here to Pre-Save). For ‘The Mourning,’ the band has once again teamed with industry legend Erik Ron (Godsmack, Bush, and The Faim), who produced and mixed the EP. From the opening guitar riff of “Devil” to the driving outro of “Better Angels,” Black Veil Brides showcase the sound that has garnered them an army of loyal supporters around the globe. The debut single “Saviour II” has crashed into the Top 50 at Active Rock radio in just two weeks since its release. The song has amassed over 3 million collective streams in less than a month of its release. This exciting new release serves not only as a heartfelt thank-you to their legions of dedicated fans but ushers in the next exciting chapter for Black Veil Brides.

Icon Vs. Icon recently caught up with Andy Biersack to discuss the creation of “The Mourning” EP. In the interview, Andy reflects on the one-year anniversary of ‘The Phantom Tomorrow’ and offers unique insight into each of the four new tracks for their can’t-miss EP. Most importantly, he offers a few glimpses of where Black Veil Brides may be headed sonically.

Black Veil Brides is about to release a new E.P. titled ‘The Mourning.’ It serves as another milestone in your journey. Through the years, you’ve achieved great things over numerous platforms. So how do you define success at this point in your career?

When I was a kid, success was getting to be on the other side of the fence at Warped Tour, getting to be on stage, or seeing bands like Social Distortion or Alkaline Trio at a club. My dreams and aspirations as a kid were extensively based on “Wouldn’t it be awesome to get to achieve the things that the bands I love get to do?” As a young kid, and I mean this genuinely, I never had aspirations of mega-rockstardom. As much as I loved the classic rock bands, the idea of being mega-wealthy, living in a palace, or any of that stuff was ever the goal. That would all be wonderful, but the goal was to get to do this.

So, every year since I was 19 years old, I have had more opportunities to do this. I’ve also been given more and more chances to get to do other stuff outside of music. To me, the benchmark of success has been the opportunity and platform the fans gave me. In the early days, our band was, by in large, not seen as a golden goose. We were not loved within the industry. A lot of people didn’t get it. But, we had an audience that said, “No. We are gonna lift this band up and keep giving them chances.” So, to me, success boils down to a tremendous amount of opportunity and a lot of hard work.

Many people get hung up on the terminology of what we do as musicians, artists, and so on. All these terms are applicable. Ever since I was a little kid, all I have wanted to do was entertain people. If there is a word for it, what I do, it would be “entertainer.” All of these off-shoots, whether it’s a book, T.V. show, comic book, record, or tour, are all opportunities where someone is asking me to entertain people. It’s my job to take that, give it my all and do the best I can to continue entertaining people. It was the same when I dressed like Gene Simmons in my parent’s living room and tried to put on shows as a kid! Now, I have more chances to do this thing that I think is fun.

Do you feel there are still misconceptions about Black Veil Brides?

I would say that every night on tour, we hear from people that they are surprised we sound the way that we do or that we are the band. This is not a woe-is-me thing, but with some bands, a version of who they are is written into people’s minds early on in their career, and it takes quite a bit of convincing for people to ever actually listen and know what we actually do. I give more credit to those people who have actually listened to our music with any depth and then decided that we are terrible. If that’s the decision that is made, then I’m okay with that. But, by and large, most people who have made their decision about us have never heard us and think that we are Blood On The Dancefloor or something, which couldn’t be farther from the music we make. Do you know what I mean? We’ve been doing this for so long, and I am always shocked when people come up to us and say that we didn’t realize that we make guitar-oriented hard rock music as opposed to synth-pop/emo. I don’t know what they think we do! Really, it’s just a product of the era we came up in and the aesthetic we had early on in our career. I think it would drive me nuts if it bothered me, so we go out there and put on the best show we can every day!

It’s hard to believe, but ‘The Phantom Tomorrow’ album is celebrating its first anniversary. Looking back on the journey of bringing it to the masses, what does this record mean to you personally?

I believe it was one of the most singularly galvanizing experiences that we’ve had. Everyone in the world was going through the shutdown at the time, and everyone had fear and anxiety. It’s also been a tumultuous time politically in the United States. There was so much going on while we were making this record. As a band, we had this bastion on the hill, which was Erik Ron’s studio that we would go to every day. We lived in the bubble of making this album through all of it. Almost everything else in our lives was secondary. Obviously, our families came first. But, regarding socialization, no one was cutting out of the studio early on a Friday night to hang out with friends. Everybody was fully invested in the opportunity to make this album and give it everything we had. That allowed us to come together in a way that I don’t think we ever have. We make records in an era where budgets are not insane. You’re not spending millions of dollars on being in the studio for a year and a half. So to have the opportunity for the first time to go, “We’re gonna come and make this record every day until we can’t anymore, and the record is done.” was uniquely enjoyable, sometimes tricky, but an essential thing for us.

You mentioned your producer Erik Ron. We discussed what he brought to the table the last time we spoke. You continued to work with him on ‘The Mourning’ E.P. What type of influence has he had on the record-making process for Black Veil Brides?

We’ve been fortunate to work with, as I’ve said, to work with a bunch of incredible and iconic producers, whether it’s Bob Rock or John Feldmann. Erik really came at the exact right time for us as a band. To me, the best producers are those who can be good stewards of precisely what the band already wants to do and guide and direct it in a way that enhances what the band is. We’ve been a band for a long time and know, sonically, what we are. We know how to write together and each other’s idiosyncrasies. Erik came in and became almost the sixth band member at that point. So for him to continue to be that has been incredible. He’s also someone who is just a genuinely wonderful person. When my dog passed away earlier this week, Erik was one of the first people who texted us and sent his condolences. He’s a wonderful guy and a really gifted musician and artist. He’s been an enormous gift for all of our lives.

Let’s dive into ‘The Mourning’ E.P. How did the ball get rolling on this one?

We initially intended to go back with Erik to do what we thought would be Part 2 of ‘The Phantom Tomorrow’ because we still had ideas and bits and pieces of songs. Ultimately, when we sat down to write, I felt like I might have said everything I wanted about The Phantom Tomorrow. Once a song like “Devil” started coming together, it didn’t feel like “Okay, now we have to write another song about the Blackbird storyline.” Instead, it felt like we should write about what we were actually experiencing. For us, that was a combination of feeling galvanized, as I said, but also dealing with personal shit. We really wanted to be able to put a close on the old chapter of the band and say, “We’re moving forward, and this is who we are now.”

You’ve got some amazing tracks here. Tell us a little about each of these songs.

“Devil” is one of my favorite “pissed off” or “angry” songs. I always like our songs like that, whether it’s “Shattered God” or a bunch of other songs from throughout our career. I always love when I get an opportunity to spit fire a bit in the lyrics. Whether people know who the song is about or not, the chance to be able to say some things you have on your chest is always fun as a writer.

The next song is “Saviour II.” We’ve been doing this for a long time. If you are fortunate enough to have an audience, the great benefit of being an artist is that you are given a certain level of responsibility. Your audience looks to you for inspiration. I wanted to be able to write a song that showed appreciation for that but also to remind our audience and ourselves that we are just guys in a band. We’re not infallible. We don’t have some sort of magic skills. What we do is not anything that you couldn’t do. Therefore we are trying our hardest to make good on all the stuff you have given us, and I hope we can continue to do so. So, in many ways, it’s a love letter to the audience. It’s also about working your hardest in life and trying to achieve the things you’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to try to achieve.

Living in a pandemic is inherently bizarre, but living in L.A. at the time, this bizarre malaise was hanging over everything. People were strongly turning to politics. It was political football, where everybody had a team, shirts, hats, and everything else. It became a bit overwhelming with the daily discourse. Ultimately, no matter where you were, from the grocery store to the dentist’s office, it all came back to political themes and division. Inherently, that all comes back to religion and all the other ways, people were coping and attempting to get through it. With “The Revival,” I wanted to write a song about all the things we create to defend ourselves from external circumstances. Life can be extremely hard, and I think we need to cut ourselves some slack when we do shit that is a defense mechanism for how hard things can be.

The final song is “Better Angels.” I’ve always loved the idea of altruism, positive thinking, or meaningful things. The “better angels” of our nature are things that sometimes are difficult to stay in line with. There are always those moments when you want to do something great for somebody else, and it means a lot to you to do that, but you might have to sacrifice something yourself. As humans, we inherently have that push and pull. As I get older, I strive to be someone who leans more into the better angels of their nature and less into the self-serving causes. For me, it’s not letting anything devour me internally and doing things that I believe are inherently ethical or better for the people around me.

You recently said that this E.P. illustrates where you are as a band and where you want to go musically. How do you view that sonic trajectory from where you are currently standing?

I’m reticent to say, “Oh, the next album is going to be super heavy.” Let’s face it; everybody says that, right? But, realistically, making the song “Devil,” in particular, was something we had so much fun with. I think it sparked something in all of us where we want to explore that part of our catalog more. So I would say that, at least in the stuff we’ve been writing in these very early phases for the next album, it is much more in line with that style.

With that said, is there any timeline you are looking at for a return to the studio?

No, not right now. We have so much touring coming through this year and into the next; I would say it would probably be midway through next year before we actively record demos and get into that process. So I wouldn’t say a new album is coming too soon, but it also won’t be too long.

The next leg of the ‘Trinity of Terror’ tour kicks off on Halloween. Is anything special planned for that show?

We’ve been talking about that! We have this tradition where we always do different costumes or makeup, so we’ve been discussing various options. It’s also my Mom’s birthday every Halloween, so I also have to figure out a way to honor her birthday as well.

Your heart is undoubtedly in the right place!

Thanks! We’ve been so lucky to do this ‘Trinity’ tour with Motionless In White and Ice Nine Kills, a tri-headlining tour for the last year. As you mentioned, we’re coming up on the final leg of it, and it’s the biggest one of all three! We’ve got Atreyu out there, and we’re playing rooms we’ve never played. There is more production, and it’s a bigger show for everybody. Riding that has been truly amazing for all of us. We also have some tours coming up outside of The States that we will be announcing pretty soon. We’re looking forward to getting this E.P. out, hitting the road, and seeing people in person. We are so important to get to enjoy the thing we have been missing for so long, which is live music!

Amen to that! Thanks for bringing it every night! Best of luck to you and your crew in the months to come. I look forward to seeing where this new chapter of Black Veil Brides’ story takes us!

Thank you very much! I appreciate it, Jason! I look forward to talking to you again soon.

Black Veil Brides will be heading out on the Trinity of Terror Part 3 Tour alongside Motionless In White and Ice Nine Kills. The full tour itinerary, VIP packages, and ticket information can be found at www.trinityofterrortour.com.