Interview With Flyleaf Frontwoman

The Gauntlet: How has everything been with you?

Lacey: It's been going good.

The Gauntlet: Except for the voice?

Lacey: The voice is doing fine, it is just funny because it is getting worn out a lot. We are now playing hour and a half sets and that puts more wear on it than I am used to. Singing is not good for the vocal chords. The doctor looked at them and said I need to be on vocal rest when I am not singing. It is probably something good for me to follow.

The Gauntlet: For the last 20 months, Flyleaf has really been road warriors with the nonstop touring.

Lacey: That's true. I didn't really know anything about singing for the first three years. Last year I got vocal lessons to learn how to speak and sing in a way that won't hurt my voice. I am not really used to it yet so I am going to go back to the doctor on Monday. It teaches me how to sing differently so the weight of my voice comes from a different place of my throat. My vocal chords are swollen and overworked.

The Gauntlet: You don't have much rest on the horizon though, just a week or so of downtime before Family Values.

Lacey: That's enough though. If I can keep quiet, that's all I need. Family Values will be much easier than this tour. We will only be playing forty minute sets and the dates are spaced apart more. I think it is because Jonathan Davis [Korn] is the same way about overworking his vocals and it works out good for me.

The Gauntlet: If you are doing hour and a half sets on this tour, I assume you are trying out new material?

Lacey: We are. We have three new songs and another song 'Always' that wasn't on the record.

The Gauntlet: Is this new material going to be on the new album?

Lacey: We aren't recording the new album yet. There hasn't been any talk about it yet. When we do, we want to play the new songs live first though.

The Gauntlet: I heard you'd be hitting the studio when you get back from Family Values?

Lacey: Really? Who told you that? Family Values goes through September and then we are going to be playing overseas. Hopefully after that we will have some time to do stuff as a band on our own. We are going to go an see some World Vision places. We want to check it out and see what happens when we give them money. They dig wells for communities so they can have clean water. World Vision is one of the oldest organizations and they reach so many communities. So hopefully we will get to go to Uganda and Kenya. I spoke with Shaun [Morgan] from Seether and hopefully we will get to do a song together. I talked to him and if we can go together to look at World Vision, maybe we can go down to South Africa and play a hometown show. So maybe in January or February we'll have some time to work on a new album. �All Around Me� just went to radio. After �All Around Me,� I would like to put out �Cassie.� I don't think that is going to happen.

The Gauntlet: Why not?

Lacey: It would be nice. I think the label will do �Sorrow.� From �All Around Me,� we got a lot of play through alternative radio. Alternative radio thinks �Fully Alive� is too heavy. If we put out �Cassie,� they might not pick it up which is OK with me. I would rather put out �Cassie� as I like the message and I like to play it live.

The Gauntlet: I imagine you are looking forward to Family Values again.

Lacey: Yeah. It was really great last year. We were honored to be asked back.

The Gauntlet: You won't be the only girl on the tour this year.

Lacey: Walls of Jericho played last year and Kandace is a female singer.

The Gauntlet: That's right. But they got onto the tour late and went on as the gates opened so no one ever saw them play.

Lacey: I saw them play everyday and they rocked. I love watching them play. They are the best.

The Gauntlet: Flyleaf has had a very close and inspiring relationships with it's fans. I'm sure you hear all kinds of touching things from your fans.

Lacey: Yes. My favorite is when fans write to me and say that for some reason after listening to our music... It makes us want to continue. We prayed while making the record that God will speak to people through our music and they will feel hope and love from the record. There is a good God out there. We get emails from people who didn't kill themselves after hearing the message in our music. When I hear that stuff, I know it isn't from us. We aren't preaching to people. God came after me and showed me that he loves me. We get a lot of letters like that.

The Gauntlet: Are you accessible to fans?

Lacey: On MySpace, it is a lot harder than it used to be. We will log in and have 3800 pages with 10 messages each page. It is a lot harder now than it used to be. We will reply to as many as we can and think we did really good, and the next day there are even more as all those people replied, plus the new messages that have come in.

The Gauntlet: I guess I should be happy I only have three messages a day on MySpace.

Lacey: [laughs]

The Gauntlet: It's not funny that I have no friends, not even virtual ones. When you are ready to work on the bands sophomore album, would it be with Howard Benson?

Lacey: Well, it would be cool to work with Howard. There is some stuff we need to work out with Howard first. Like make sure that some things we didn't like about the record don't happen again. When we first entered the studio, we felt just lucky to be there. We are still lucky, but now we realize the things that didn't work. There are things on the album that we are ashamed of today. We would rather be true to who we are and do things the way we envision them and not to make the label happy or the producer happy. This represents us. As much as we feel that and everyone thinks that, a lot of the record doesn't reflect us. There are parts of the record that doesn't reflect us at all. It is really disappointing. Hopefully the second record, we will all agree, that is something we need to work out with Howard or any producer. Howard has changed a lot in giving artists more leeway which is great. He can make ten top albums a year. He is really good with the message and that is important with our band. I think he is definitely an option.

The Gauntlet: Do you just have the three songs for the album?

Lacey: No, we have more songs written than that. We are just playing these three live right now.

The Gauntlet: This years Family Values lineup is pretty diverse. It ranges from bands like Korn, to Evanescence to Flyleaf and Five Finger Death Punch.

Lacey: Oh yeah. They just got signed to Firm Music. I love it. I love heavy metal. I heard some of their new album and was really excited. I love metal so much. I love Unearth, Nothingface, Lacuna Coil and Demon Hunter. Demon Hunter are Christians.

The Gauntlet: Really? I never would have thought of you as a Demon Hunter fan.

Lacey: Why?

The Gauntlet: You have some heavy-ish songs, but Demon Hunter to Flyleaf is a huge leap.

Lacey: I love them. I hear stuff like that in my head but I can't express it.

The Gauntlet: Will the next album have heavier material?

Lacey: If I get another band. Nobody in the band except Jared and myself like heavy music. Pat likes Pantera. Sameer likes Radiohead type music. What I love about music is when it is meaningful. When you see someone play, it should make you cry, or happy or take action and do something in some way. I like music that changes your mind in one way or another and explains yourself.

The Gauntlet: That's one thing about Flyleaf's lyrics, the songs are about something. There are so many metal bands that just sing about slaying dragons. It has been a while since I have needed tips on dragon slaying in my personal life.

Lacey: [laughs] I feel really weird when I say to people I am a singer. I feel more like a movement leader in a way.

The Gauntlet: Like an activist?

Lacey: Not like an activist. More like I am what I am and this is who we are. We don't have to please anyone and that is so hard to get across in this business. Things are all about compromise in this business. People want to change our vision and you need at times to be heard. We don't want to compromise our message.

The Gauntlet: It is a rough business.

Lacey: We have some tough decisions. We have been asked to change our vision in places to make something more appealing to radio and be heard.

The Gauntlet: Do you only like Christian metal bands?

Lacey: No, I do wish there were more because I love them so much. We were being interviewed last year with Jim Root of Stone Sour and Slipknot. MTV was trying to get us to fight with each other because Slipknot has pentagrams and goat heads and stuff and we are a Christian band. Jim told the interviewer that he wasn't anti-Christian, he just isn't religious and has his own views. The pentagram isn't even Satanic. It was so cool because I love Jim Root and Stone Sour so much.

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Tags:  Flyleaf  , Lacey, interviews

Jason Fisher    June 16, 2007