99X Xmas Ball 09

Halestorm, Sick Puppies, FLYLEAF, Sevendust, & Puddle of Mudd

KEDJ's How the Edge Stole Christmas

Janus, Sick Puppies, Dead By Sunrise, Flyleaf, Papa Roach & Breaking Benjamin

FLYLEAF: Remember the Day of Your Death

HM: The Hard Music Magazine, Nov 2009

By: Doug Van Pelt

“After a victorious battle in Greco-Roman times, the returning king would parade back in front of his people with the spoils of war,” explains Flyleaf bassist Pat Seals over a plate of some of Belton, Texas’ finest BBQ ribs. “Apparently,” he continues between bites, “one of the king’s servants would be assigned the role of following along and repeating the phrase ‘momento mori’, which is a Latin phrase that means ‘remember your death’ or ‘be mindful of your mortality.’ It was a way to keep the king’s head from getting too big.” Smart move by those Romans. The band decided that, amidst their skyrocket to platinum success and the way they are looked up to by fans, that it would be a good reminder to stay humble. And an album theme was born.

“It’s not meant to be this morbid, you know, ‘We’re gonna die and the world’s gonna end!” explains Pat. “It’s more of, like: “Recognize how precious your time is right now. Be careful. The days are evil. Your life is gonna be over and you might only have this day with which to love people and to carry out the purpose God has for your life.”

“We came up with the name of the record,” elaborates Lacey Mosley (aka Lacey Sturm), “and we gave it to Pat, who does a lot of wood cutting…and he did this amazing wood cut of that scene – a king coming back from battle victorious and a slave behind him and in the picture you get (that) I was a slave and the rest of the guys are different characters in the army, like an archer or a drummer, a medic. There’s different stories in that picture, like the dry bones coming to life and you can see different stories that go along with the Momento Mori theme. Everyone kind of played off from there. We figured out our videos and our photo shoots and how we’re going to dress and how we present ourselves.”

The band is serious about the theme, too. From the album artwork to every visual piece, this album will reflect that theme. I brought along my camera to get some candid, behind-the-scenes-during-the-interview type shots and Lacey gently but directly replied with one of those spontaneous-sounding statements like, “Nah, we better not. We want to be very purposeful with how we look and how we present ourselves this time.” So, instead of Flyleaf members and their family eating BBQ here, you instead get a look at the menu, the mounted ram on the wall, and the sign out front of Schoepf’s.

“We want to emphasize the Momento Mori theme,” Lacy continues. “We’re rock stars, but we’re making a parody on rock stars, with signs of degradation, with tears and stuff like that (showing) that they wear out and all that stuff.”

It’s funny how much of a contradiction this theme is with the actual characters in the band. Collectively and individually they’re about the farthest away from pretense a rock band could be, wearing their small-town Texas charm like a comfortable hat that hides its presence from the head due to familiarity and fit. Lacey is even shorter than her on-stage image in real life. She showed me around the restaurant like it was an old haunt, which was still bristling with happy clients after 1 p.m. when most lunch rushes were over. She proudly pointed out where they added a new dining area here and a whole new serving line that led customers past the cooks and servers cafeteria-style. It would have been hard to imagine Lacey making the reach herself with her tiny frame before her band’s success and touring schedule took her from this food service job. But, judging by the greetings and treatment she received from the folks there, it sounds like she was a treasured employee.

Guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann weren’t able to make it for our sit-down interview, so I wasn’t able to gauge their personalities on anything but what I’d seen on stage – calm, driving and thoughtful. Turns out that Pat, drummer James Culpepper and Lacey were only too happy to call Jared out on his obsession with the video game Warcraft.

Pat is referred to as “Paccoon” by the band’s drum tech, Joel, because his eyeliner runs and he looks like a raccoon with giant black circles around his eyes not many songs into the set.

As briefly mentioned before, woodcarving is one of Pat’s serious hobbies. He’s got a complete kit with lots of carving knives. Lacey chimes in teasingly to point out that he keeps them all “in his big caboodle” while on the road, where he’ll spend spare time between shows carving out intricate stuff.

“When we’re home,” Pat explains, “James (Culpepper, drummer) has a sweet, crazy hideout ranch. We go out and shoot guns and horse around. He’s always building something that you’d never imagine some dude doing, like he built a bridge across the creek one day. He’s got all kinds of stuff doing on out there.”

“James likes living in a tent,” adds Lacey, “even though he has this big house on the land. He stays out there and he’s got his old car out there that his dad hit a cow with, so it doesn’t drive, but the battery still works. SO he put it out by his tent and he put up a sheet and a projector and it’s like this huge movie screen out there that he watches movies on.”

“That car’s a story in itself,” Pat continues. “One day we got the practice and (notice) he had stayed up all night. His dad, driving at night, hit this cow that jumped out, and so he had to go euthanize the cow and butcher him on the spot. He had a freezer full of cow.”

“I just finished it,” James confirms. “Took about a year.”

These are the types of things that you’d only hear about from a band out of Texas, and you might not pull stories like this out of ‘em if you weren’t passin’ the time in a genuine, down-home barbeque joint.

The band is thrilled with their new album. “I hope I’m not jinxing anything for us,” laughs Pat a good two months before the release date. “We’ve had so many people talking about how hard it is to write a second album…” (the dreaded sophomore slump). “But, thankfully we had such a good amount of time allotted to us after the first one, you know, after the tour and stuff, we had a lot of time at home to really focus and write. I feel really relieved and good about the songs. I think there are 13 songs on that album, and we were (even) thinking, ‘Maybe it’s too long’ or something. We were like, ‘No! We want every song on there!’ And with that budget there wasn’t one that got thrown away. I’m really proud of that. We did our best, and whether it’s successful or not, we gave it the best shot we had.”

The band shouldn’t have much to worry about. Tunes like “Beautiful Bride” jump right out of the speakers with a solid metallic thump that will satisfy their million-plus fans. There’s less blood-curdling screaming going on this time, but “tough” would still be an adept description for these 13 tunes. “Again” has a hypnotic riff that should find its way onto every rock station’s playlist, and the trademark dynamics of Lacey’s singing from low and rhythmic to higher accented counter-lines are framed perfectly in one good choice for the lead-off single. Flyleaf seems to have pulled off what was hoped for by both fans and the financial backers at the label: They’ve delivered something that builds on their debut’s identity, shows true progression, and yet stays true to that edgy, melodic rock with an edge that hints at the kind of scary-core metal bands they’re toured with.

It’s apparent that more purpose and thought went into these songs than just sitting four guys and a gal in a rehearsal room and pressing the “rock” button. When they slow down a notch and lean on Lacey’s singing skills, like in “The Kind” and the creative use of whispers in “Swept Away” and “In The Dark,” they speed up and swell up with a dynamic shift of heaviness that might best be felt in big, full arenas. They rock their listeners so well that, by the time they really hit the brakes for a ballad, like “Tiny Heart,” they’ll have captured the attention of the listener. This is no small feat in a day when singles seem to get more attention than full-length albums, but passionate songs about the love of God for people (in the show-stopping “Treasure” and its companion “Circle”) make the journey from beginning to end worthwhile and satisfying.

Those that’ve had the pleasure of seeing the band live no doubt remember the part of their set where they play a couple of worshipful tunes, including a cover of David Crowder Band’s “You Are My Joy.” It shouldn’t have been a surprise that DCB would return the favor and cover Flyleaf’s “All Around Me” on the band’s new Church Music album.

“The first time I heard ‘All Around Me,’” Crowder explains, “I was in the parking lot of a grocery store in Waco, Texas and immediately I knew this song would be perfectly creepy with a piano, vocal, and some weird noises. Sure enough, it was.”

“I thought it was such a good version of it,” Lacey affirms in a to-the-point way that belies her familiarity with real, authentic and passionate worship.

My experience at multiple Flyleaf shows forced me to ask more. “For the uninitiated,” I asked, “how would you describe the presence of God during worship?” She just pointed to the song, as if no other words would add to or assist the explanation. “I think ‘All

Around Me’ kind of tells of the first experience I had whenever I felt God show up in a room. It kind of describes that feeling.”

“At the last Franklin Graham show, we played Rock The River for the Franklin Graham tour (in August). It was a hard decision to make and I ended up meeting with Franklin Graham and his heart was so good and so right, I’m glad we did it. But I just looked out at all these people at the end and I realized that so many people don’t believe, because they have never experienced that feeling of God showing up. I just remember praying for that when we were going into ‘All Around Me’ like, ‘God, please have mercy on these people and show up and let them feel and know that You love them and that You’re not far off but You’re right here.’

“We talk about worship being your life, you know, everything you do, you can make worship out of it. You can worship God with everything you do with your life – every conversation you have, every act of anything you do – your work, your place, anything. But there’s something different about sitting still and giving God your attention, putting your attention on and meditating on God and Who He is. There’s nothing apart from God. Thinking about that and recognizing Him everywhere and to just sit still enough to do that. I just think there’s something different in that. That makes me feel like you’re in the room with God. Our pastor always says, ‘The reward of walking with Jesus is walking with Jesus.’ If you’ve ever been in a place of worship where you felt like you were sitting next to Jesus or that He was standing in front of you, there’s nothing better than that feeling. It’s like finally you’re home. You’re where you’re meant to be. All the searching in life, where you try to attain that. Even in a relationship we get close. I think that’s the closest thing you get to it – a loving human relationship. People get so confused sometimes when they experience love from a person.

“This happens to me, even with fans in a short, brief encounter, I’ll pray. ‘God, let me love them like You want me to. Let me say what You would say to them. This might be there only change to hear from You.’ And then they’ll hear that. I’ll say something and it’ll touch their spirit, because it’s like it’s from God. What they experienced was the Spirit of Jesus. They experience it when we play. And then they think, ‘Oh, this is Flyleaf. Oh, this is Lacey. This is what Lacey makes me feel like’ or ‘This is what Flyleaf makes me feel like.’ And then, when we walk away, we just pray so hard, ‘God, please take the glory for Yourself and chase them in their life. Don’t let them walk away and quit experiencing You, so that they know it’s not from us, but from You and You’re everywhere and You’re always chasing them to romance them and draw them to Yourself, that they can experience that in their bathroom with the door locked on the floor, just sitting still, wanting to talk to You.”

Did we do enough?

In my experience as an observer and a journalist, there is one common denominator or characteristic that I’ve noticed in people that I would consider “humble.” In some of the men who put their well-being and their reputation on the line in the late-‘80’s movement “Operation Rescue” and that scene at the end of Schindler’s List, there is that awareness of the big picture or the large, heart-breaking problem. When these men had a moment to reflect on what they had done and possibly realize their participation in something heroic, they instead focused on the unfinished business. In that climactic movie scene, Liam Neeson’s character, Schindler, could not be consoled over the fact that “there were so many more that could have been saved.” I again witnessed a similar (and almost sacred) moment in the isolated dining room at Schoepf’s when Lacey described their recent trip to visit some troops in Afghanistan. “We went over to a base there that nobody went to…” She stopped to confer with James to properly identify the name of the base – Baylough.

“It’s way out in the middle of basically wherever the Taliban hide out,” James narrates. “They’re just kind of holding the fort there. They try to help the communities in the area. It’s really, really dangerous, so not a whole lot of people go out there. Not a lot of people are allowed to go out there. We had to wear body armor. Some of those places all we could bring was one acoustic guitar. We brought ourselves and met the troops over there. We barely missed a lot of things, too,” explains James. “The day before and the days after we left, people were killed and stuff.”

“Yeah, the one that we went to, there was 30 or 40 troops there,” Lacey continues. “We got to get face-to-face and play a bit and then we got to talk to them. We talked to a couple of the guys for hours. And one of the guys that I talked to was a medic and he used to be a youth pastor. And all theses horrible things happened to him and he kind of walked away and we got to talk to him about all that stuff and talk through it with him and whenever we left we got an email from him saying that he had rededicated his life to the Lord and ….about two days after we left, four people were killed. On that day that this happened he emailed us about it and said he was the first one on the scene and even though it was a horrible situation and there was nothing he could do for him, he knew that the captain was with the Lord. I remember looking at the….There’s a man in charge of sending groups out. He’s in charge of lifting the troops’ morale, and so that’s why he brought us out there for. I looked at him, because he’s kind of like a fatherly figure. He was like one of the early Jesus movement people from the ‘70s. He was a hippie, we could tell. He had a real scraggly beard and just a real loving person and everyone looked up to him like a father and I felt like that when I met him. After we found out that that happened I saw him and as soon as I saw him, I just started crying and I was like…” She pauses to apologize that she’s going to cry now as she relates the story.

Lacey looks over my shoulder as she relived the moment and her eyes well up like large saucers of egg white and tiny red capillaries, moist with emotion, and she repeats her own words: “Did we do what we were supposed to do? Did we?’” She shakes a little as if the conversation was happening at the very moment. “Did you think we did everything we were supposed to do?’ And he just…” She lets out a sigh and takes a breath. “…And he took my face in his hands and he said, ‘Lacey, you did more than you were supposed to do. You did it. Because that was the last time that those people had a chance to hear anything about their salvation.’

“I don’t know if I said enough, I don’t know if I was brave enough to speak what I was supposed to, and he just kept saying, ‘You did what you were supposed to do. You did more than you were supposed to do.’ I just had to believe that, because I was really overwhelmed with the idea that we were the last people to go and talk to these people – and they were so young. Some of the guys out there are just 18 years old.”

There are times when someone cries in front of you or they seemingly act “too hard on themselves” and the almost natural instinct is to nurture and comfort them. In the case of the humble brokenness exhibited in this band of believers, this would be one of those times to resist any well-meaning “corrective” measures; because, as it turns out, you’d probably be wrong. These tender hearts that might seem overly attentive of God’s will and direction are probably right where God w ants them. And we would do well ourselves to remember our mortality.

Flyleaf singer Lacey sits down with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino for this exclusive interview about Memento Mori, giving a little bit back, going out on a limb with The Jets and so much more…

Flyleaf's Lacey is not a rock star.

She's something much more important.

In fact, Lacey's got the potential to be the voice for an entire generation. With poetic lyrics and powerful, poignant and passionate vocals, Lacey sings truth over each note that Flyleaf plays. Fans connect with every line, and Lacey gives as much as she can constantly. At the same time, she's beyond humble, affable, caring and friendly. Spending time with her is warmly comforting and inspiring. She's got an incredible story of triumph, and she can easily relay it. On Flyleaf's sophomore album, Memento Mori [Due Out November 10 via A&M/Octone], Lacey and her band mates open up a whole new sonic world for listeners. Like a book, each moment segues into the next and tells one story. It's quite unforgettable too…

Sitting in Privato, a posh restaurant inside West Hollywood's LeMontrose Suite, Lacey balances excitement and humility about her band's new masterpiece. Over peanut butter and jelly French toast and French fries with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino, Lacey discussed Memento Mori, the most important moments in her life, learning from The Jets and Metallica and her favorite thing in the world…

Memento Mori sees each member of Flyleaf personally delving deeper than ever before. How does it feel to listen to the album now?

I think that's exactly it! It's really cool you pay attention like that…We're a lot more "self-examining" in the sense of recognizing things that we didn't recognize before about people around us and ourselves. The album feels really heavy when you listen to it from start to finish but, in the end, there's so much encouragement to be hopeful, march ahead and live the best life that you can.

That's important for kids to hear these days.

That's the whole point of us staying together. If we weren't doing that, we would've broken up 500 times [Laughs]. We miss out on things because we're in a band, but the goal is more important. Flyleaf has been together for seven years—since some of us were in high school. We've been through at least seven gigantic life changes in each member's life. Every year, someone has had a huge life change. We're learning how to deal with each other, and we have that focused goal of giving the kids something hopeful to believe in. We want to make sure we don't waste the opportunity that we have.

Your fan base is extremely diehard. What's it like interacting with them after shows?

It's the best part of what we do! It's really amazing to get letters from fans, and that's how we hear their stories most often. However, it's better to stand in front of them, hear them pour their hearts out and get to hug them afterwards. We can say we're proud of them and tell them their story are amazing. They can help a lot of people with their stories if they will rise up, step over it and learn from everything. The best thing about doing what we do is that the kids are listening and you can speak blessing over them. You can say, "You're amazing, and you're meant for amazing things! You're gifted with influence—you can see it from how your friends look at you." If you see that in a kid, you have to say it. Maybe their parents never told them; maybe they never knew that, and they'll take that more seriously that they're influencing people. To hug them and tell them, "Go and do something amazing" is the best part of getting to do this.

A lot of kids are looking for meaning, and they want music that speaks to them and speaks for them.

TV accidentally parents kids. I love kids so much. I was the second oldest of six kids, so there were four under me that I took care of. For my whole life, all I knew was kids. My favorite thing was watching them grow and develop a new skill. It was an amazing feeling know that I was the one who taught them how to tie their shoes [Laughs]. When I was in junior high and high school, I remember learning things from Metallica. "Holier Than Thou" taught me about self-righteousness. I started to find it in people, and the lyrics would play in my head. I remember being taught about being an anti-rock star by Kurt Cobain. He'd say something like, "They care so much about their hair and their clothes. Everybody get out of the hallway we're rock stars!" That really stuck with me. I thought, "Wow, there's someone so hugely influential and he's just like me!" That was one of the reasons why I wanted to name our band "Passerby" in the first place. That was our first name, but it was trademarked so we had to change it. On the first record, the whole idea was to relate with kids and say, "We're just like you. We're no different. We have a story and we're on stage, but you have a story and you need to use that however you can to learn, to teach and be comforted so you can comfort and to go through trials so you can help someone else go through them."

That's what Memento Mori will do. Two standouts are "Missing" and "This Close." What's the story behind those songs?

I love "This Close" the more that I listen to it. It's fitting because I'm going through a completely new season in my life where I don't know who I am anymore [Laughs]. A lot of things that I held on to and had convictions about are shifting. I realized I've been judgmental in certain areas and I have to soften up about them. It's not that the convictions are changing, but the striving to control is changing [Laughs]. I'm not going to try to control the circumstances around me like I felt I needed to before. It's a really relieving feeling to know that God's in control and we're not. Sometimes it means our hands are off. You make decisions that you think with all of your heart are right, move forward and then you find out that they're wrong in the end. That will really shake your sense of your own identity. You have to clean up a bunch of mess, deal with the aftermath, give it all to God and say, "Please heal my heart and teach me the difference between right and wrong." That's where we get tripped up the most—really believing in a heart that can be deceptive sometimes. If you've ever had your heart broken, your heart will sometimes deceive you and make you blind and foolish. In the end, you have to be honest and say, "I don't know who I am anymore." Admitting you don't know anything is the closest you'll ever get to being real [Laughs].

When you can admit that you don't know, that's when you start to know!

[Laughs] Yeah, it's interesting! You hear that from older people all the time. Now it makes complete sense. When I get older, I'll realize that I don't know anything, and then I'll be where I'm supposed to be [Laughs]. It's weird.

Is "Missing" thematically similar?

I think so. Sometimes you go in one direction, you're sure it's right, and it's not [Laughs].

Everything feels so connected on the album. How did you approach a song like "Beautiful Bride" where there are so many styles and transitions?

The record was written in a disconnected way, but it came together to tell an amazing story. I feel like it flows in that sense of moving you through lives that all end up saying the same thing. Life is short. With "Beautiful Bride," the way it fit together was magical. It wasn't thought out. The feeling was there.

Do you have notebooks filled with lyrics?

[Laughs] Yeah! They're not all lyrics though. There are a lot of lyrics, but some of it is just me sifting through my brain.

How do you sort through all of that? What goes into Flyleaf and what do you keep for yourself?

That's a good question…I try to picture how our audience will interpret it. If it's okay for them, then I'll use it. If I think they'll misinterpret it, then I won't. There are songs that don't have any resolution sometimes. You sit down with your guitar, you feel like crap and you just have to sing something. You have to play the guitar as hard as you can with four notes and just sing a million words over the top of it. Sometimes, there's no resolution to it and there's hopelessness. I don't want to tell that to people, unless at the end of all that rambling, there's a resolution. There's enough to make us sad out there. Ecclesiastes is like the most depressing book in the Bible. One of the lines in there is, "All is vanity underneath the sun." That line is in the bridge of "Missing." For me, purpose comes from faith, and if that wasn't there, everything would be pointless. I am amazed that people who don't believe in God have the courage to live the way they do. I just couldn't do it. Sometimes things are good, and sometimes they're not. Sometimes things are hopeful, and sometimes there's no hope. When I was 16, I was an atheist and I was going to commit suicide. Miraculous things happened, and God proved himself to me, which was grace and mercy. That doesn't happen to everybody. If I said I was alive for any other reason, I'd be lying.

You give fans something positive as a byproduct of what you're doing.

Exactly, you can get caught up in something you have to do like your work. You say, "This is my purpose," but when it's over, what do you do? My purpose is whatever I'm in today. God will just give you enough light for the step you're on. Even before I was in the band, the whole time I was a janitor, a waitress or a babysitter, I felt like I was doing what God told me to do that day. Writing is not my favorite thing to do. My favorite thing to do is helping people.

How did you get into music?

When I was younger, I really liked pop music. I knew all the songs on the radio. Since I was little, my mom used to impress her friends and say, "Hey Lacey, who's playing?" I'd know it was Sade, Stevie Wonder or whoever was playing. I picked up on melodies really quickly like that. I didn't have any profound connection with any music though. I loved Mariah Carey because I thought she had a pretty voice, and I loved Janet Jackson because of the way she danced. I learned her dances with my friends [Laughs]. My brother and I loved that song "We Built This City on Rock N' Roll." I liked pop groups with no purpose other than you could dance to them. The Jets were my first favorite band [Laughs]. My best friend had a poster of them when we were five-years-old. Even since five, music was so important to me. In kindergarten, I remember listening to The Jets. They had this song called "You Got It All." It was amazing [Laughs]. There's this girl singing it, and I always had this picture in my head of her out on a tree—on a limb somewhere [Laughs]. That's not really what happened though, and I don't think that's what she meant. Then I moved on to New Kids On the Block. I loved Jordan Knight! He was my favorite! We did a show in New York for a radio station with them. My brother is ten months older than me. He went to a Nirvana concert in 6th grade. He got a Nirvana tape there, and my mom made him leave before they trashed the stage. He was mad about it, but my mom had a really great respect for Kurt Cobain. Kurt stopped the show and said, "If I see another guy grab a girl, we're going to make you listen to feedback for two hours." My mom was impressed with it, so she let us listen to Nirvana even though she was suspicious about rock music in general.

Was Nirvana especially important?

Well, my brother came back from the show with Nevermind, and I had the only boom box in the house. He came in my room to play the tape, and I left it in there. I started listening to it, and I loved to unfold the tape and read the lyrics while I was listening to it. That was the first time that I ever heard music with that kind of passion. The sound of it was so amazing to me. Then In Utero came along, and I fell in love with it. I started listening to old Metallica. We lived in Arlington, Texas, and Pantera was huge. They were our hometown band. That's where my heart was. I wanted to move into music that had the groove of R&B, but it was heavy and impacting. Then Korn came out and changed everything. I really learned that music can teach you stuff about your soul, who to be, what's good and bad and what's right and wrong.

On the first album, you really came out swinging with something to prove. Do you feel like you can just be Flyleaf now?

It's funny because at the listening parties we've done, I realized just how much I like the record [Laughs]. It's really cool and diverse. I think a lot of kids needed what we did on the first record. Memento Mori really is us. We were one-hundred percent behind everything.

—Rick Florino

10.26.09

» www.artistdirect.com

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - When alternative rock band Flyleaf chose to call its second album "Memento Mori," it wasn't a tossed-off phrase or instance of pretension.

After a spate of tragedies and illnesses, the band's mindfulness of death is a constant theme on the album, which will be released November 10th on A&M/Octone.

"'Memento Mori' was very fitting, given everything we've been through over the past seven years," singer Lacey Mosley says. "We've seen a lot of everything."

Certainly, the band has experienced plenty of success. Its self-titled debut was released in 2005, spawning the hit singles "I'm So Sick," "Fully Alive" and "All Around Me." The album stayed on the Billboard 200 for 133 weeks and sold 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In 2006, the Texas band released the four-song EP "Music as a Weapon," and the following year it issued a limited-edition two-disc version of "Flyleaf."

Rather than rush to release new music, the band (Mosley, guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartman, drummer James Culpepper and bassist Pat Seals) focused on touring. Mosley says the primary reason the band took so long between albums was that the group wanted to tour heavily and get to know its fans.

The delay was also exacerbated by members coping with personal tragedies: Bhattacharya's 22-year-old cousin battled cancer, Culpepper lost his mother and his aunt, and Mosley had a health scare.

"There was a possibility that I might have an illness, but it ended up that I came out fine," she says. "It was a possibility that I might have cancer. I don't want it to be a big deal."

But in the next breath, Mosley reveals that the scare affected her lyrics. "It was just a situation that shook me and made me think, 'Is this what I want to live my life for?'" she says. "Am I living my life for the right thing? If I died tomorrow, would I be satisfied or would God be satisfied if I met him tomorrow? That's the whole point behind 'Memento Mori.' I hope it's not too depressing.

"The thing that is so phenomenal about getting to record music or write a story or take photographs or whatever is that you can look back and remember that time and be filled with that purpose again," she adds. "I'm so glad we got to do that."

When the band decided to head back to the studio, it again turned to producer Howard Benson. "He's always looking for ways to make a song a pop song," Mosley says, "and we're always looking for a way to push that boundary so that it makes him happy but it also makes us happy creatively as artists and rock lovers. I think you could hear both of that."

To promote the new album, Flyleaf took its usual "fans first" stance and let them decide the cities where the band would perform before the release. “There’s so much more to these shows than just the band playing an acoustic set,” A&M/Octone marketing director Val Pensa says. “Fans will get to see the video premieres of the two videos [for the first single, “Again,” and a track called “Beautiful Bride”] before anyone will ever be able to see them online or on TV, they’ll be able to listen to six or seven songs from the new record, and they’ll have a chance to preorder the album.”

Pensa says there will be a deluxe edition available, with four additional tracks, and an iTunes special release. “Fans who preorder will get an instant free track, ‘Beautiful Bride,’ Pensa says, “and they’ll also have the opportunity to get a digital booklet, the video and a cover of ‘Stay’ by U2.”

“Again” is being promoted to active rock and alternative radio and is No.28 on Billboard’s Alternative chart and No.21 at Active Rock.

Though not categorized as a Christian band, the members are Christian and have attracted a Christian fan base. Therefore, Octone has enlisted EMI Christian Music Group t o market and distribute the album to the faith-based market.

Mosley is confident that both believers and nonbelievers will be able to relate to the message of "Memento Mori."

"The album is about recognizing that our life is short and precious and the people's lives around you are short and precious as well," she says. "It might be your last opportunity to talk to them, and it might make you choose your words more carefully."

'As much as we want to protect the people we love from everything bad, they have to make their own decisions,' frontwoman Lacey says.

"They say that, that I'm maternal," she laughed. "I was the second oldest of six kids and took care of the four under me. From the time I was little, I was taught to look [after] the ones around me."

» www.mtv.com

» english.women-in-metal.com

» www.stereotruth.net

» www.azstarnet.com

Flyleaf are a band on the verge. Following the success of their self-titled 2005 debut (which moved 1 million copies), they are finally ready to release the follow-up, Memento Mori.

For the album's first single, the bracing rocker "Again," they teamed up with director Meiert Avis (who has helmed clips for a diverse list of artists, including Avril Lavigne, U2, Jack's Mannequin, Audioslave and Bruce Springsteen) for a video that acts as a statement of purpose for who they are and what they've been thinking about.

"The whole theme is that everything comes to an end," explained guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya, noting that their album title is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "remember death." "But there's always hope and a bigger picture too."

The clip was shot entirely in front of a green screen, which allowed the band to perform the song while the mind-bending visuals were added later. "There are these images that start out as light and energy, and they slowly turn into these woodcuts — something real," Bhattacharya said.

The woodcuts in question are designs created by bassist Pat Seals, who also designed all the artwork for the album. "One of the videos that Meiert gave us for reference was Radiohead's 'Like Spinning Plates,' " frontwoman Lacey explained, referencing the English band's 2001 clip that featured surreal computer graphics but ended with a concrete image of conjoined twins. "It's ethereal and industrial at the same time."

» www.mtv.com

» www.mtv.com

Desert Bound
The Journey of One Combat Airman Deployed with the U.S. Army
(A blog by a member of the 1-12th Infantry Regiment)

The band Flyleaf touched down at Forward Operating Base Ramrod July 5 to the delight of hundreds of Soldiers and civilians. The band held a meet and greet with the Soldiers and then went over to the Canadian Artillery side of the base and fired off several 155mm illumination rounds. They can shoot up to 40 kilometers away with pinpoint accuracy.

After that, they held a two-hour concert on our makeshift stage directly between the chapel and our Rocky-style gym. It was a great time and a much-needed morale booster for everyone here. Who would have thought in Southern Afghanistan that we would be listening to an internationally known “Christian” Rockband?

The band left early the next day, but they stayed after the concert to sign everything from scraps of paper to Soldiers shirts. I’m sure we’ll see some of the items being auctioned on E-bay.

I’d like to personally thank Flyleaf for coming out here. For two hours no one thought of fighting, or worried about their next patrol; they just stood their smiling and singing along with a band who wanted to show their appreciation for all the military does. Thanks Flyleaf!

» jetgwot.wordpress.com

Praise be to Him that we had gotten funds from an anonymous, God-sent donor to go to a consultation at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas on March 6th. There the doctors discussed what they believed to be the very best regimen for the rare from of brain cancer I have (medullablastoma), and came up with a treatment plan. They opted out of doing surgery because of the fact that there are multiple tumors in my spine. Operating one tumor at a time would only cause the other tumors to continue to grow and spread as I spend time recovering from each surgery. So doctors thought it was best to tackle the situation as holistically as possible with radiation and a different chemotherapy plan to specifically target the brain. I began radiation and chemotherapy at the beginning of this week (week of March 15).

The doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center have worked in conjunction with the doctors here in Scott & White Hospital and have discussed what drugs are most effective for this type of cancer. Because treatments at MD Anderson are very expensive for for self-paying patients, like myself, every single appointment, scan, MRI, etc., is very costly. Therefore, they thought it best to get treated closer to home, since the treatment would be no different and no less advanced than what would be provided at MD Anderson.

We do, however, plan to go back to MD Anderson for further research and studies that they would like to conduct on my case so we can better understand this cancer.

The doctors don't know if these drugs will work as effectively as the hope, considering that the cancer has come back in such a rigorous form so quickly; but we have the full faith that God is in total control of ALL things. Whether God grants me life or death in the near future, I know His plans are the most perfect ones, and it is such a joy to be alive and honestly doing GREAT today.

I want to praise and thank Him for this life and the great things He is teaching all of us through this. I can say that I am thankful for this time, because it puts life into great perspective and shows what is truly truly important.

Once again, thank you all for your love, encouragement, and prayers. I am thankful for each one of you in our lives.

Love always,
Esther Boyalapalli

We’re excited to announce these new Southern tour dates!

For tour dates and ticket listings go to the Tour section here.

Flyleaf is playing a show in Temple TX this Friday!

Everyone,

My (Sameer) cousin, Esther, has received recent news that she has medullablastoma in stage 4, which is the most aggressive stage. She is a 22 year old girl with her whole life ahead of her. I love her. She is a sister to me.

The cancer has spread to her spine neck and brain. Insurance will not help out and they don't have the money to manage this. The cost will surpass $100k for all the treatment at MD Anderson in Houston. I hope to have a clearer breakdown of the costs soon. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

I'm asking everyone who can to come and/or donate anything according to what they can and feel led to.

The band will be auctioning off some of our gear and whatever we can so that she gets what she needs.

I'm blessed to have such supportive people around me.

She must get the funds! I will do all it takes!

Come out! You might even hear some new songs from our upcoming record!

FRI March 8 @ Bethel Assembly of God Church in Temple TX.

Doorsopen at 7PM.
TASTYDACTYLS: 7:30PM-8:30PM
FLYLEAF: 9:00PM-10:00PM
$15

All funds will go to Esther Boyalapalli

Thank you!

-Sameer and all of Flyleaf
www.helpsaveesther.com

http://thegauntlet.com/interviews/1257/Flyleaf.html

» flyleaf.shop.bravadousa.com

» www.milkrocks.com

Flyleaf has just announced they will be hitting the stage for the Boost Mobile RockCorps (BMRC) concert on June 20 at the Gibson Amphitheatre.

How do you get tickets? You can’t buy them. You can’t win them either. The only way to attend is to earn a ticket by volunteering four hours of community service at a BMRC project.

BMRC is partnering with Los Angeles area non-profit organizations for volunteer projects designed to improve areas in the Southern California region. Volunteers work on a range of service projects including school and playground renovation, park preservation, food distribution and much more. Projects are happening now through June 20.

In exchange for contributing four hours of community service, BMRC recruits in the Los Angeles area will earn tickets to the year’s most exclusive rock/ hip-hop concert on June 20 at the stunning Gibson Amphitheatre featuring Flyleaf and more.

If you are interested in becoming part of the Boost Mobile RockCorps movement, call 1-888-ROCK-889, or log onto http://www.boostmobilerockcorps.com for more information and to register for membership.

The scheduled Flyleaf/ Seether co-headlining dates will continue with Seether as the only headliner:

5/20 Chicago, IL *SEETHER HEADLINING ONLY- MOVED TO VIC THEATRE

5/21 Covington, KY at Madison Theater *SEETHER HEADLINING ONLY

5/23 Charlotte, NC at Foodline Speedstreet Nascar *SEETHER ONLY

5/25 Cleveland, OH at Tower City Ampitheater *SEETHER ONLY

5/27 New Orleans *CANCELLED

Please contact your local box office for details.

All previously purchased tickets will be honored at the make-up show, the date of which will be announced in the coming weeks. Again, the band is very sorry for the last minute circumstances, and please keep Lacey in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks