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Black Veil Brides vocalist Andy Biersack, no stranger to facing intense scrutiny for being one of the next faces of alternative music, has given his thoughts on rising singer Yungblud, saying that while he thinks he’s talented, he has problems with the media touting him as the “saviour” of rock.
“Yungblud is very talented,” Biersack says after a reader asks him about the Doncaster solo act in the new issue of Metal Hammer.
“I’m not deeply invested in his material, but people just want to talk shit about young rock star-types. It doesn’t help when headlines are calling him a ‘saviour’. He’s not calling himself that! The music industry has a never-ending turnover of ‘Saviours of Rock’n’Roll’.
“It’s stupid to label anyone a saviour of a gigantic rock world that still exists. You’ve got rock bands headlining stages for 100,000 people. People in the mainstream need to pay attention to what’s happening.”
Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison, has had a banner year following his performance of Black Sabbath’s Changes at Ozzy Osbourne’s retirement show Back To The Beginning last July. His version of the song won the Best Rock Performance trophy at this year’s Grammy Awards, and he paid tribute to his mentor Ozzy alongside members of Aerosmith at the MTV VMAs in September.
The rapid rise has seen the 28-year-old face pushback from certain corners of the rock world, which is something that he and Biersack have in common. Black Veil Brides were hugely controversial during their 2010s ascent, with their highly melodic songs and face-painted presentation annoying a pocket of metalheads. At Download festival 2012, the band were bottled by the audience.
During the Hammer interview, Biersack denies that he and his bandmates were ever intentionally provocative.
“I find it loathsome when an artist’s objective is to rage bait,” the frontman says. “I was introduced to music through my dad, who was into Mötley Crüe, as well as punk bands like The Damned and The Misfits who were very goth-oriented and visual. I wanted to combine all of that.”
He admits: “We did lean into it a bit when we realised it pissed people off, because I was a little shithead, but when we started, it was sincere and genuine. By 2013 the look had evolved pretty significantly. When the feathers and body paint didn’t feel sincere anymore, we dropped it.”
Black Veil Brides released their new album, Vindicate, on May 8. The band are currently touring North America, with the trek set to continue tonight (May 21) at the Fillmore in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They will return to the Download stage next month.
Yungblud is also currently touring North America. He’ll take the stage at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday (May 22).
Read our full readers’ Q&A with Biersack in the new issue of Metal Hammer, which you can order now and have delivered directly to your door. As well as the Black Veil Brides frontman, we interview Ville Valo about 30 years of Him and members of At The Gates about their late singer, Tomas Lindberg.
