Page 30 - Black Velvet Issue 89

BV89 pg30,31,32,33,34,35,36_BV89 pg30 28/06/2016 18:52 Page 1

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THE ANDY SHOW

or years, Andy Biersack has been the frontman of Black Veil Brides.
F‘The Shadow Side’ sees Andy doing things on his own and showing
the side of him you don’t usually see. Black Velvet sat down with Andy and
discussed social anxiety, how being an only child has helped him, and how
he’s past the black sadness that extensive touring brought.

he Shadow Side’, Andy Biersack’s solo album, in
‘Twhich he goes under the moniker Andy Black, was re-
leased on May 6th via Universal/Island, the same label that his
band is signed to. The album is said to take Andy’s darkest
emotions to create something stronger. Andy tells Black Velvet
how it feels putting his emotions on show. “I think having done
Black Veil Brides for the last ten years and having the opportu-
nity to write hard rock music, there’s a certain element inher-
ently in writing a song that is your emotions. It’s an opportunity
in any level to be able to take something that you feel and con-
textualise it into a song and people hopefully relate in some
way. But the part in hard rock is that it’s usually something a
little bit more triumphant in a way. There’s something within
hard rock that’s the idea that you’re rising above something,
getting out of something. Or at least with Black Veil Brides it
is. Or that’s the emotion that I feel when I listen to hard rock
music. So with doing this solo record the idea was to do some-
thing that wasn’t necessarily as hopeful in a way, it was more
just realistic of a moment. So I guess the way it felt was mostly
just different… in some ways cathartic, because it’s enjoyable
to be able to take something that I am feeling and to write it
down. While it’s still metaphorical in a way there’s a much more
literal sense behind it. It’s about the emotion that I’m feeling in
that second that I’m writing the song and it kind of goes from
there. But yeah, I guess it was cathartic in a way.”
Andy found himself reflecting on certain events, either from
the distant past, or the more recent past. “I’m the type of per-
son who can’t really write about something as it’s happening
to me,” he says. “Literally in the moment I can’t sit… I know
some people will be feeling an emotion or experiencing some-
thing and they will write a song about it as it’s happening, and
I can’t do that. It’s too literal in a way when it’s happening. I
know I just said that things were more literal on this but I had
to delve into my bank of memories and while I was currently
experiencing things, it was much more stuff that was underly-
ing emotions and things. You certainly can go to a darker place
if you’re bringing yourself there. I think anybody that writes
songs, particularly if you’re writing something that has an emo-
tional charge behind it, you’re bringing yourself to a moment

ANDY BLACK