Name Andy Biersack
More from Spin:
- Zeal & Ardor Sound Burdened By Black-Metal Roots on ‘GREIF’
- For Melt-Banana, ‘3 + 5’ Equals Amped-Up Exhilaration
- Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore Celebrates New Album by Reflecting on His Solo Work
Best known for Best known for Black Veil Brides, yelling at people at award shows, bleeding orange and black for my beloved Cincinnati Bengals.
Current city Tampa, Florida
Really want to be in I recently moved here and I love it, so I suppose it would be here. I’m originally from Cincinnati but moved to LA as a teenager, and while I love both of those places for different reasons I’m not sure I’d prefer them right now for any reason.
Excited about Our new EP Bleeders and heading out on tour this summer with F.I.R.
Also, for what it’s worth, the Cincinnati Bengals 2024 season is also something I’m excited (nervous) about.
My current music collection has a lot of Punk, a lot of post-punk goth stuff, some pop/rock classics, and some metal.
And a little bit of Musical theatre and a little gothic classical creepiness.
Preferred format I love vinyl, but by virtue of the fact that I am usually on tour or traveling these days, I am mainly using streaming to listen to records. I always buy on vinyl though when one of my core favorites releases a new album.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
Magic, Bruce Springsteen
It’s a perfect record. I say that with full understanding that a mostly-overlooked, late-era Springsteen record is unlikely to find its way as the top album on many of these lists, but I am here to tell you that anyone who listens to this record and doesn’t love and appreciate the lyrical prowess, the incredible melodies, and overall craftsmanship of the songwriting is wrong and I don’t respect their opinion. I was about 16 when this record came out and it just struck me immediately.
As with many of these records on this list, there is just something almost impossible to describe, but you know it when you hear it…the record speaks to you in a way that in feels like it must have been made for you. It’s exactly everything I want to hear and all these years later I listen to it constantly.
2
Good Mourning, Alkaline Trio
As with Springsteen’s Magic, this was one album that, from the first second of “This Could Be Love,” I was instantly hooked. This was my first Trio record and I discovered it from one of those “for fans of” sections that used to be in FYE at the malls. I was really into AFI at that point and was looking for more bands that I could listen to. I took a flyer on this record because I thought the art looked cool. Cut to today and Alkaline Trio are my favorite band of all time, the most important artist for me as an inspiration, and an unending source of joy and creativity. I have something like eight or nine Alkaline Trio tattoos and it all started with this record.
3
Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll, Social Distortion
One of the first bands I ever saw live “on my own”—meaning I snuck out to go to the gig—was Social D on the tour cycle for this record. I love this era so much, from a lyrical perspective Mike [Ness] is pretty untouchable on this record and admittedly when I was 15 or 16 I would dress in his whole aesthetic from this record cycle every day for school. The black Dickies and work shirt, slightly titled driving cap, and thick black eyeliner. I prayed for a gold top Les Paul just because I wanted to look more like him—haha.
The song “Reach For The Sky” is actually the first song any iteration of Black Veil Brides ever played on a stage during the high school battle of the bands. To this day, every show we play, it’s our walk out music before the intro starts. I love this record and it means the world to me.
4
Foxy Shazam, Foxy Shazam
I grew up in the same city as this band, and when I was first coming up they were sorta the “it” band in Cincinnati. Back then, they were musically much more akin to something like Daughters or maybe a band like Blood Brothers. I had alot of respect for them and for Eric Nally as a frontman, but musically it wasn’t “my” thing, or so I thought at the time. They were discovered pretty early on and within a few years were on the precipice of really breaking out. This record they made with John Feldmann was, I believe, their first major label release and man is it a fucking masterpiece. I would say it’s one of the best rock albums ever made and I don’t feel like that’s being hyperbolic. Hell, it’s the reason I so badly wanted to work with Feldmann and Erik Ron who engineered this record. It’s a tremendous achievement in songwriting and every single track on here is a winner. Unfortunately for reasons I’ll never understand, Foxy has yet to reach the level of acclaim they deserve, but I challenge anyone to listen to this album and then question how fucking amazing it is and they are as a band. 10/10.
5
Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf
The pinnacle of a theatrical over the top, insane rock and roll opus. This record was one of my early favorites, as my dad introduced me to it when I was a kid. I have vivid memories of walking the halls of my high school with my anti-skip (shit never worked) CD Walkman tucked into my backpack and listening to “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” cranked at the maximum volume that my crappy little headphones would allow. I attempted to learn every lyric to every song including the spoken word bizarro sections. Jim Steinman was a genius and this record is an all time classic for a reason. Everyone should listen to Bat Out Of Hell, it will make you a much more fun person to be around.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
