Killswitch Engage’s Leach doing it his way

Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach says he's happy to mix up musical influences on his side-project Aliken – but he won’t go near aggressive metal.

He recently released a promo for Fade Into You – a track originally recorded by Californian outfit Mazzy Star in 1994. And he reveals he loves alternative music from that era.

He tells Rock 105.5: “That’s one of my favourite songs on the planet. I’m a big sucker for that 90s sort of alternative, gothy sound like Cocteau Twins and The Sundays. I grew up dating a punk-rock chick and she made me a mix tape with all of those groups on it. I thought it would be fun just to mix it up and do something different.

“There’s more to come. But not just reggae. I’m going to do rock ’n’ roll and some punk stuff. I’ve got a Minor Threat cover coming out soon. I don’t want to be boxed in so my solo stuff is going to be anything but metal – anything but aggressive.”

Leach recently hit out at fans who try and pigeonhole him as a metal singer – and he says he doesn’t care if people don’t like his solo output.

He adds: “I’m being an artist, I’m being true to who I am. If you don’t like it, I don’t care.”

Killswitch Engage are currently working on their upcoming album, the follow-up to 2013’s Disarm The Descent.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.