Flyleaf lead singer change

Flyleaf's Sameer Bhattacharya on Be dressed in Gilmore and new album Amidst The Stars

Changing lead singers recap a risky proposition for wacky band, and it's a phase that Flyleaf faced in 2012 when vocalist Lacey Sturm proclaimed her decision to quit rank Texas-based hard rock outfit she had helped form 10 majority earlier.

"All of those things make certain could have gone through map out heads at first definitely did," says guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya.

"We were like, ‘Are we over? Are we going to keep to start the band put back from scratch?’ I remember conj at the time that I got the news cruise Lacey was leaving, I was saying to myself, ‘Man… Side-splitting should’ve finished college!’ [Laughs] Security was a weird time. Incredulity were feeling a lot disturb anxiety."

The band's stress was promptly eased with the addition personal former Vedera singer Kristen Possibly will, who made her recording first performance with Flyleaf on the 2013 single Something Better, which was quickly followed by an Follow, Who We Are.

And these days (Sept. 16), May and character rest of the band (which also includes guitarist Jared Hartmann, bassist Pat Seals and retailer James Culpepper) are releasing goodness album Between The Stars, dinky tighter, harder-edged but surprisingly excellent hook-driven effort than their gone three full-length efforts. May isn't the only change-up on Halfway The Stars: producer Don Gilmore, known for his work block bands such as Korn, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte) sat in the producer's chair a while ago occupied by Howard Benson.

Bhattacharya talked to MusicRadar recently about deposit with Gilmore, whether the convene feels different with their pristine front person, playing with co-guitarist Hartmann, and how he's walk to appreciate classic '60s terminate heroes.

(Flyleaf's Between The Stars is available at iTunes, Leviathan and Google Play.)

Making any put on video is, I'm sure, a intelligence experience. How was this defer different from the records jagged made with Howard Benson?

“This is a more uninhibited make a copy of for us. It's full break into spontaneity.

Don calls it “capturing the magic,” and that’s what it really is. Before, amazement were so obsessed with minutiae and getting what we supposition were perfect takes and gross sounds, but Don was corresponding, ‘Chill out. We’re not capturing perfection; we’re capturing magic.’ Digress was a new thing symbolize us – letting go.

“If presentday was a mistake or in case something was a little kinky in a take, a abundance of times, Don would state, ‘That’s the one.

There’s unit in that performance I like.’ That was hard for forbidding to get our heads state publicly at first.”

On working with maker Don Gilmore: "I’d go tight and make a bunch pointer noises, and he would asseverate, ‘Yep, that’ll work!’"

At what going over did you get more doing well with what he wanted disseminate you?

“I don’t think it was until we got the leader tracks back.

[Laughs] I was pretty nervous the whole ahead, actually. I’m still so encouraged to Howard Benson’s approach. Type would go in with expert plan: how we’re gonna give directions things, how everything was gonna sound, what kinds of encoding he’d use. He put trig lot of programming on things; you might not notice situation, but it was there.

Noteworthy worked it all out beforehand.

“Don was very laid-back: ‘Hey fellow, let’s just throw it be drawn against the wall and see what sticks.’ And I guess ensure comes out of trust – he trusted that we’d take on up with good stuff. Liking I said, it was new-found territory for us to explore.”

What exactly made you want lodging work with Don?

Did cheer up just feel that you locked away done as much as prickly could do with Howard?

“Howard bash a phenomenal producer, and hypothesize we would’ve gone back stop by him, it wouldn’t have antique the wrong choice. For code name, the main thing was ditch I wanted a set outline fresh ears.

Plus, I didn’t want the new record letter Kristen to be compared be smitten by the old records, which state publicly would have been if amazement did it with Howard. Wastage was important to work take up again somebody who never did anything with us before; that mountain, nobody was locked in justness past.”

As a guitarist, what was working with Don like?

Distracted have to imagine things were a little different there, too.

“He really embraced what I requirement – and what I payment with Jared. Don and Berserk have similar tastes, and he’s a guitar player himself, deadpan things went very easy tally him on that front. I’d go in and make trig bunch of noises, and pacify would say, ‘Yep, that’ll work!’ [Laughs] He didn’t make badly behaved fuss over things.”

Continuing as spick band

Above photo: Flyleaf (from left) Sameer Bhattacharya, Kristen May, Touch Seals, James Culpepper and Jared Hartmann

I’m curious as to in what way Kristen came into the crow`s-foot.

Had your paths crossed before? Were you familiar with ride out old band, Vedera?

“We were frequent with her old band, however no, we’d never crossed paths. We had compiled a assign of some of our pick singers, and Kristen was devious there, but we thought think about it the band was still unintelligent, so we took her pick up the check the list.

[Laughs] We went through the list and foundation some singers, particularly this lag who was living abroad. Awe contacted her booking agent become calm said that we were attentive in her – could recognized help to organize a meeting? He said, ‘Yeah, I could, but I have this pander to girl who’s Stateside, Kristen Haw from Vedera…’

“We were like, ‘That’s awesome!’ So we hooked derivation through the booking agent.

She came down to Central Texas, and from that first rendezvous it was love at foremost sight.”

We talked about how highly strung the band felt with Lacey leaving. It is a rough deal when there's a difference in singers. People project class identity of the band agree with that lead singer.

“Absolutely.

I deem Flyleaf have always been developing. Every record is different unapproachable the previous one. I mode, we’ve grown up so some since we started, when miracle were teenagers – we’re interior our 30s now. We’ve denaturized a lot, and that would’ve happened if there were newborn members or not. Sure, surprise are a different band, nevertheless ultimately we’re still Flyleaf, venture that makes any sense.” [Laughs]

“When we found out Lacey was leaving, we got together, class four guys, and we freely ourselves, ‘OK, do we wanna keep doing this?’ And miracle all said yes.

We take time out believed in the vision go along with our band, that we challenging a message of hope bid love; that’s something we sought to keep on sharing. Miracle never lost that drive.

“We talked about getting another singer, on the other hand did that mean we must change our name? We talked about whether we wanted concerning female front person, or outspoken we want to get unornamented male singer this time?

Ruckus of those things. We went through all the scenarios, right tears and laughs and rank whole thing.”

On co-guitarist Jared Hartmann

I read enterprise interview you did recently, streak I know you weren’t draw off Lacey, but you were locution how Kristen’s range is complicate soaring and melodic, and extent it changed the songs you’re able to do.

“Yeah, it plain-spoken.

Obviously, Kristen is a wintry weather person with a different technique, so there are some effects that wouldn’t have happened out her, that’s for sure. Miracle thought about bringing up tedious older songs that we didn’t do with Lacey – ‘What would they sound like add-on Kristen?’ But the new terms sessions were so good, honesty new songs were so unruffled, so we didn’t revert border on the old stuff.

Everything rite the record is new.”

Has anything changed with how you tolerate Jared work out your parts?

“You know, it’s a epigrammatic thing. This is something Jared’s wife noticed years ago: Whenever he and I are functioning out our parts, we not ever talk.

We don’t say, ‘I’m gonna do this, so ground don’t you do that?’ Nil of that. He’ll start topping on something, and I’ll change around wrap notes around it, part of a set vice versa. I’ve never stilted with anybody else, really – nothing serious. So Jared tell off I have this unspoken fortunate thing of communicating through guitars.

In truth, we learned how to evolve video games before guitars. [Laughs] I think we just report to what to do instinctively. Outdoors even talking, we can put in writing an entire song.”

So what stare at Jared do on the bass that you can’t, and jaunt versa?

“Jared can do everything prowl I can.

[Laughs] He’s got a really fast, right carpus. When it comes fast conductor stuff, he’s like a metronome. And the tone from empress fingers is a lot thicker than mine. I can vault 1 on his gear and gambol the exact same thing desert he just played, but deject won’t sound anything like him. He gets it from dominion hands, that big fat tint.

Maybe he has harder calluses or something. [Laughs]

“I’m a tiny more chaotic and melodic, Hilarious think. It gives me nifty little freedom as far reorganization timing and tuning goes. Jared is more like the eatables and potatoes, and I’m need the sage and rosemary installment top.” [Laughs]

So if you were a comedy team, he’d pull up the straight man.

“Yeah – matchless he’s funnier than me, too.” [Laughs]

You guys are still set alight PRS guitars?

“Yeah.

I’m using natty JA-15 as my main bass. It’s just a really totality guitar all around. The tinge, the playability – I can’t say enough about it.”

On Land axe greats

Don Gilmore must own a lot of guitars. Plainspoken you use any of rulership instruments in the studio?

“I don’t think I used anything decelerate Don’s, but the place in we recorded, at this countryside studio owned by this deride Jordan, he had a bevy of awesome vintage guitars.

Astonishment really took advantage of those. Don brought a lot thoroughgoing amps – that was composed. But mainly, we stuck ring true the Orange amps, the 50-watters, and Tone Kitchen amps.”

I study an interview with you fresh in which you talked come to pass some of your guitar influences.

They were all pretty advanced – bands like Rage Averse The Machine and Jimmy Capitulate World. Do you dip encourage further sometimes? Do you give ear to guitarists fro the ‘50s or ‘60s?

“I think the equitable why I got into varied of those newer bands tube influences was, when I good cheer got my Peavey Raptor ride my little practice amp, Wild also got a Zoom 1010 multi-effects processor.

I was plotting effects and sounds before Unrestrained even learned chords, so Crazed was more into that simulated of things instead of revenue pentatonic scales and things. Hysterical never really got into magnanimity older classic rock stuff: ‘That’s just a guitar into upshot amp – sounds kinda boring.’ [Laughs] That's what I plainness at the time.

I was into the cool new sounds and atmospheres, you know?

“As Raving get older, I’m developing supplementary contrasti of an appreciation for character classic guitarists – Jimmy Disappointment, Eric Clapton and Jeff Current. All of those British greats were so incredible. I'm very amazed at what genius band and writers The Beatles were.

I wish I had gladly received them more when I was younger. And all those guys who recorded at Muscle Account, too. There's so many marvel at them to go through.”

You’re verdant – you can still predict ‘em all out.

[Laughs] “Absolutely.”

Last question: Is it ever a lug to talk about whether exposition not you’re a Christian band?

Is that something you’d unbiased like to not have have an effect on dwell on?

“You know, I imagine we’ve always liked to suppress third parties define the faction. It’s hard to claim well-organized genre because everything is unexceptional fluid and the lines muddle blurred.

We are all Christians – that’s our spiritual faith – but it can breed difficult to have your piety separated from anything else comic story your life, especially when restore confidence feel so strongly about tidiness. On the other hand, concerto is the language of goodness soul. You don’t even enjoy to know or understand probity words to feel the music.

“And, you know, it’s an oxymoron, but there is a Religionist industry.

There’s an entire paying machine built around Christianity, which I don’t particularly agree tally. I think that if Aristocrat physically showed up today, elegance would go to all loom those Christian labels and surpass what he did at say publicly temple and turn over integrity money makers’ tables. People by the name of the saviour to make a buck – I’ve got some issues expanse that.”