Black Veil Brides and The Funeral Portrait

The band is comprised of frontman Andy Biersack, guitarists Jake Pitts and Jinxx, bass player Ashley Purdy and drummer Christian “CC” Coma, but they were born out of Biersack’s imagination; he came up with the idea for the band and put them together, with everything from their name to their glam metal-influenced image being planned meticulously by the singer, who’s a few years younger than the rest of his bandmates. The group’s image is probably their defining characteristic - their dress code involves black leather pretty much exclusively and facial makeup is obligatory - but it’s something that they’ve begun to tone down as they entered the most recent stage of their career, one that saw them release their most successful record to date, “Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones”.

That album, a concept record, saw the band lurch away from metal and towards the hard rock style that their hit single “Fallen Angels” had hinted at back in 2011. By naming their most recent record after themselves - “Black Veil Brides” dropped in October of 2011 - they’ve solidified the notion that this iteration of the band’s sound is the one that they ultimately want to define them, and their live shows have shifted accordingly; rather than being the unhinged punk rock affairs of old, they’re instead far more focused on musicianship and connection with the audience than ever before.