Andy Black: "You can take on the world.”

"Part of the reason I listened to Bruce Springsteen as a kid was not because I thought he was writing about me, but because he wrote about himself and I related to him.”

This is at the core of what Andy Black does. His job is to write honestly, without pandering to the perceived duty to inspire people - that would be disingenuous. The fact many can connect to the work he does is just history repeating itself in a sense; a music fan finding an affinity with someone laying it bare in song.

Debut album ’The Shadow Side’, his side-step from Black Veil Brides, is packed with these moments that make you feel ready to take on the world, wrapped up in a dark-pop parcel. Life can throw a lot at you, but you can overcome it; the world can’t keep you down.

“I think that when I’m writing, regardless of what I’m writing about, the feeling that I have is essentially [that mantra] at all times. That’s what music represented to me. I came from a town of about 2,000 people with one stop light and I was told that nothing I ever wanted to do, I would succeed in. I was a little chubby kid that no girls ever talked to, I had little chance of becoming an internationally known rock star. Music was my escape and my belief system. Whether I’m trying to or not, I have this inherent feeling that music is uplifting, it makes you feel victorious, and that makes you feel like you can take on the world.”