Black Veil Brides Biography
Black Veil Brides is a five-piece American metalcore band from Los Angeles, USA consisting of Andy Six, Chris Hollywood, Sandra A, Pan and Ashley Purdy. Led by front man and lead vocalist Andy 6, the Los Angeles based band is bringing back the live show spectacle made famous by, among others, The New York Dolls, Alice Cooper and The Misfits. Nothing about this band is subtle, including Mr. 6’s over the top rock star persona, the garish Zombie like makeup the band prefers and their ghoulish stage props. With 6’s haunting vocals setting the tone, BVB’s sound in their earliest recordings such as “Sex & Hollywood”, “Hello My Hate“ and “A Devil For Me” shows an influence by such legendary bands as Generation X, The Damned and Lords of the New Church while more recent recordings such as “We Stitch These Wounds,” “The Gunsling”, “Knives and Pens” and even the ballad “Mortician’s Daughter” clearly demonstrates the band’s growth, both musically and lyrically, and how they measure up to their contemporaries. What makes Black Veil Brides even more unique is how they also pay homage in their hooks and melodies to the anthemic rock popularized by bands such as Poison and KISS. Black Veil Brides energy is infectious and with an army of devoted fans and their debut album set to be released this year, BVB are ready to take their place among the most popular young rock bands in the world today.
Andy's real name is Andrew Biersack and he is the only original member left in Black Veil Brides. He has become one of the most notable faces on the popular site Myspace, and is the latest in a long line of internet heroes. Before becoming a musician he did some acting in minor roles, and is well known for his love affair with Scout Taylor Compton, star of Rob Zombie's "Halloween". He is originally from Cincinatti Ohio where the band was started.
Chris Hollywood, real name Chris Bluser, is also from Cincinatti. He left a band called Singed.
Sandra A is a talented female drummer mostly known for her signature sunglasses. She is from California.
Pan's real name is D.A. Burton. He plays guitar in BVB as well as a lot of other instruments. He came from two other bands, House of Glass and Widdle Monsters, both from Chicago. Pan is also a writer and artist. He has a book called "The Autumn, D.emons N. A.ngels".
Ashley Purdy is the bassist, and is also from California. He has been well known around the Hollywood circuit.
Formation
Black Veil Brides inception started in 2006 in Ohio, when Vocalist Andy Six began seeking players to create a vision of a modern day Misfits meets Motley Crue and Kiss with lyrical content that pertained to the outcasts. Songs that could be a rallying cry for the disenfranchised and bring back the community and passion that was once so prevalent in Rock n’ Roll.
Early on the band went through various member changes to accomplish this, but it wasn’t until 2009 when Andy moved to Los Angeles that the vision started to come into fruition. The music video for the song Knives and Pens was created June 2009; it's a song that spoke of the difficulty of growing up as an outcast in America and the struggles that face youth on a day to day basis. The video amast thousands of plays within the first week alone and by the time the video was on YouTube for a month it had already reached views in the millions!
Several weeks after the video was released Andy began the hunt to find members to fill out the band. Through a Craigslist Ad Andy contacted Bassist Ashley Purdy. Andy had known of Ash from his previous bands in Hollywood. With Ash coming from a more dirty Rock n’ Roll and Glam Metal background, he and Andy instantly got on the same page about image and direction that the band needed to go in. Together they were able to shape the concept and visual imagery of the band into that of a band they always wanted to be in and the band you now see today.
Still on the look out for players that both musically and visually complimented them and who also shared the same vision; They eventually recruited Jinxx. Andy and Ash had known of him previously in the Hollywood circuit and began the writing process. Jinxx being a more classically trained musician was able to add a new dimension to the line up. However, the band felt they were still missing a shredder; someone who could bring the heavy metal and melodic sound the band was looking for. Jinxx then recommended his buddy Jake Pitts that he previously had played with and already had a great writing relationship with. After meeting with Jake and seeing his musicianship, it was certain he was the man for the job. In September 2010, Christian Coma steps in to replace Sandra Alvarenga as the bands drummer. "CC" had also played a stint with Jake and Jinxx in a previous band so they were certain his showmanship and style lent itself to be perfect for the project. The band then knew they had all the key players to round out an All-Star line up. In the midst of this time the band gained legal representation from Dina Lapolt at Lapolt Law and Management from Blasko at Mercenary Management.
We Stitch These Wounds and recent events (2009-present)
BVB signed in September 2009 with Standby Records. The writing process for a tour and a record began immediately. In December 2009, the band embarked on their first US tour entitled "On Leather Wings". The tour was a success for them, in each city the band played to the legion of fans who were awaiting their live debut appearance with sold out shows across the United States. During this time plays on the bands MySpace were consistently topping 10k a day (peaking in the 9th spot on MySpace’s Top Music Charts in the ‘Metal’ category) and the views for the video Knives and Pens on You Tube was at almost 5 millions views! The band found themselves repeatedly in the "top artists" charts on myspace.com and watched the legion of Black Veil Brides supporters grow. Coming home from a successful tour the band immediately hit the Recording Studio to begin their Debut Album, “We Stitch These Wounds”. At this same time without a Record out yet, Black Veil Brides had their first shirt in Hot Topic stores regionally and could not keep them on shelves.
In February, 2010, the band began to record at Clear Lake Audio in Van Nuys, California, with Manager / Producer Blasko. As the band finished recording, they began their next tour as a supporting act on the Royal Family Tour. They again found the dedicated loyal fan base and demographic growing as the fans begin calling themselves the "BVB Army"; adorning 'War paint' and dressing like their favorite members to each show. Again, the band were exceeding expectations in ticket sales and merchandise sales. This in turn allowed the band to have another T-shirt put in Hot Topic stores Nationally and also selling out On-Line; this all still being 2 months before a debut release of their first Album. The Debut We Stitch These Wounds was released July 20, 2010 on Independent Label, Standby Records. With little promotion on an Indy budget, the BVB debut record, "We Stitch These Wounds", sold nearly 11,000 copies in its first week, good enough for #36 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and #1 on the Billboard Independent chart. The first Single from the album "Perfect Weapon," was released as a video on June 14 on YouTube. It fell right on track with views in the Millions as the "Knives and Pens" video did. As of this date, the success of the single "Knives and Pens" has earned over 16,000,000 views on YouTube as of Sept 2010.
