Black Veil Brides
Before the birth of the BVB Army, the thousands of lyric tattoos, and the gold and platinum records that followed, Black Veil Brides was simply a dark vision dreamt up by an only child in Ohio.
He loved Batman and KISS. Then, the striking visage of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, on the cover of his dad’s dusty CD (released a dozen years before he was born) kicked open the door for Andy Biersack. Sweeney Todd cleared the way for The Phantom of the Opera, Misfits, and all that followed, culminating in the birth of Andy Black and the ascension of Black Veil Brides.
The Bleeders EP, Black Veil Brides’ inaugural release in a new partnership with Spinefarm Records, celebrates one of the singer’s first loves. The EP boasts the title track alongside a loving rendition of Sweeney Todd’s “My Friends” and a faithful cover of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”
The group’s cinematic scope and unwavering commitment to self-expression strikes a familiar chord with their fellow “bleeders” who seek refuge (and revenge) in the power of the dark and imagination.
There are over 160 million views of “Knives and Pens,” an early demo committed to music video before Andy (who moved to Hollywood at 18 and lived in his car) met his band of brothers. The RIAA-certified platinum single “In the End,” itself close to 170M views, further proves the group whose merch dominated Hot Topic before they’d even made their debut album was built to last.
A treacherous DIY headlining outing in 2009 paved the way for the next 15 years of performances and beyond, a history that includes the triple-co-headlining smash Trinity Of Terror Tour; multiple mainstage runs on Vans Warped Tour; treks supporting Avenged Sevenfold and Mötley Crüe; and just about every major rock and metal festival in North and South America, Europe, and Australia.
Guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx joined the fold before the creation of BVB’s debut album, 2010’s We Stitch These Wounds. The duo played in an earlier band with drummer Christian Coma, who came aboard for their first Billboard Top 20 album, Set the World on Fire, featuring gold single “Fallen Angels.” Metalcore milestone Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones followed in 2013.
A no-frills fourth album, 2014’s Black Veil Brides, gave them another Top 10 debut. 2018’s Vale went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock chart. 2021’s The Phantom Tomorrow, the band’s first album with bassist Lonny Eagleton, produced the No. 8 Rock single “Scarlet Cross,” their highest charting yet.
Bleeders offers a taste of what will become Black Veil Brides' most visceral, theatrical, and unrelenting era yet. They combine a unique identity with an unquenchable creative thirst. They’re an object of devotion for those who sing their anthems in unison, a diverse BVB Army who never surrenders.
Black Veil Brides and their audience slash away at the darkness together, bleeders one and all.
Creeper
Creeper had formed in 2014 in Southampton, each of its members influenced by their mutual involvement in the town’s hardcore scene and a love of punk and glam rock. Oliver Burdett and Hannah Greenwood soon joined founding members Gould, Ian Miles, Dan Bratton and Sean Scott in 2015. “Creeper was born out of wanting to bring a fantasy element to punk rock, something we believed had been lost as we got older with all the plaid shirt-wearing emo bands,” says Gould proudly today. “We wanted to create something flamboyant, that had pomp,” They achieved this in spades with EPs that immediately garnered an obsessive fan-base of outsiders and lost teenagers affectionately dubbing themselves the Creeper Cult. The band were hailed as the best new rock band of recent times by critics, receiving a Kerrang! Award and Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award in 2016. Debut album Eternity, In Your Arms (2017) aimed to heighten their hometown by the sea to a place of mystery and grandeur; to echo realisations about growing up and out of your old, younger self. It debuted at number 1 in the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and in the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. Rarely does a new band break through into a scene where the majority of groups achieving those feats are 10+ years into their career, especially with a debut album.
