Part 2 of 3. Interview with Jake and CC of Black Veil Brides. First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk October 2011
Hate. Now there’s a heavy trip and one with which the Brides are intimately acquainted. It seems there are only two ways to go where this band is concerned: love ‘em or hate ‘em. The ultimate Marmite metal act. A cross to bear, maybe, you’d think. These young gentlemen, however, are made of sterner stuff.
Jake looks me straight in the eye as he says, defiantly, “Those bands I mentioned? The ones that hate on us? And we got plenty of those, and call us gay or fags or whatever ‘cause we wear make-up? Well, that’s cool, man ‘cause we got a sold-out show in Nottingham tonight and what do we do? We sell out every night”
“We’re offering something a lot of people are looking for” he continues, “Something that no one else is doing, right now, something a little different. It’s about bringing back being a rock star, bringing back the fun that used to go with that and our fans know that, our success is a true testament to them. They made us, man. This is all them”
There’s no smugness, just a resolute pride that, whatever their detractors might say, they have their core constituency and, as we’ve seen, a fanatically loyal one.
Jake and CC, both, seem to take as fanatical view of their fans as the fans do of them and there is no denying the mutual love affair between the two camps is a key factor in the band’s rise. The outsider status, too, shared by both the band and its admirers, goes a considerable way to fostering a remarkable esprit de corps. The BVB Army against the world and they’re more than happy with that.
CC earnestly explained, “You go see certain bands play and you’re like ‘yeah, whatever’, but you go and see us play and everyone comes as their favourite character, or with their own take on it, and that’s what it’s like with this band. You know, we go out on tour with bands that have normal fans and they’re used to playing to those crowds but our fans really get into it with all the make-up and stuff and they look like us! It’s awesome!”
On a roll now, the excitable drummer continues, “I mean, look at those guys in those whiney bands, they all look the same in their boring check shirts or whatever and they have their boring fans, fuck those guys, man, hating on us! Our fans are awesome!”
It’s not just the make-up, though. It’s the unashamed homage to their heroes that mystifyingly seems to incense people. KISS, sure, Alice Copper, too, and certainly Motley Crue who, in their day, were hated with equal ferocity and faced the same charges as those levelled against Black Veil Brides today.
“Yeah, we did a photo shoot with Nikki Sixx”, smiles Jake, “and then we did Sixx AM Radio and one of the things he said, when we did that interview, was that back in the day everybody hated Motley Crue as well and now everybody’s telling him Motley Crue are their favourite band”
CC exclaims gleefully, “and then he said, ‘I fucking love seeing people hate you guys’. And that’s how he got into us. People were telling him, ‘you’re absolutely gonna fucking hate these guys’ and he was like ‘well if everybody hates ‘em, I’m probably gonna love ‘em! I gotta go check these guys out’. I mean, to have an icon like Nikki Sixx in your corner, man, and Motley fucking Crue, it doesn’t get any more rock star than that, dude. And that spirit, you know? That’s in the life-style we live. We wanna have a little fun, we don’t wanna take life too seriously, you know? Enjoy the band, write some good songs, have a cool show and have a good time”
What’s not to like?
And we’ve still got a ways to go so if you liked this, you’ll like the next and final instalment. So, grab that whiskey bottle, muthafucker, and top me up. All this story-telling makes a man dry.
See you next week. Don’t be late.