{"id":17122,"date":"2013-07-09T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T21:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=17122"},"modified":"2013-07-09T07:41:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-08T21:41:48","slug":"sameer-bhattacharya-of-flyleaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/07\/sameer-bhattacharya-of-flyleaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Sameer Bhattacharya of Flyleaf"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cThe word that keeps coming up is rejuvenation, it\u2019s just fresh and feels like something, it is new, she\u2019s not Lacey, but there is this freshness and rejuvenation in the music and in her voice and really enchants you and it\u2019s an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

From tour release: Flyleaf\u2019s style of hard rock is reminiscent of Deftones, Evanescence and Chevelle. Heavy riffs, thrilling arrangements, memorable melodies and mammoth choruses all blazing with a fresh fire and uncontainable energy, spreading positivity and encouraging hope in their fans.<\/p>\n

Flyleaf released their acclaimed self-titled album in 2005. The band supported the album touring through 2006-7 on the Family Values Tour with Stone Sour and Disturbed in the US and an appearance on Australia\u2019s Soundwave. <\/strong>Rolling Stone Magazine proclaimed Flyleaf as one of the breakout bands of 2008. In 2009, Flyleaf released their sophomore album, \u201cMemento Mori\u201d to even wider acclaim.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s latest album, \u201cNew Horizons\u201d was released in 2012 and is the band\u2019s most explosive, expansive, and enigmatic work yet. The band\u2019s subsequent tour introduced fans to new vocalist, Kirsten May formerly of Vedera.<\/p>\n

Before they land in Australia next month for their first headlining tour, we chatted with Flyleaf guitarist Sameer about the band, the introduction of their new singer, touring and their most recent album \u2018New Horizons\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019re heading back to Australia for the first time in six years, what can fans expect to see on this your first headlining tour?<\/strong>
\nWell you\u2019re going to get to experience Kristen May who is just spectacular, she\u2019s so good, and you\u2019re going to experience the new record live and so much energy.<\/p>\n

I saw you in Sydney back on Soundwave back in 2007, do you have any memories from that first trip over?<\/strong>
\nI do, man, so many memories, it was an amazing trip all round, getting to see Australia with Deftones and the people there are just amazing, there\u2019s something about Australia that reminds me of Texas, as far as I\u2019m not sure what you call it, but we call is Southern hospitality and everyone\u2019s just so polite and so hospitable and it kind of reminded me of being home actually *laughs*. You guys have beautiful beaches and beautiful landscape and stuff.<\/p>\n

With \u2018New Horizons\u2019 released at the same time as Lacey\u2019s departure and obviously the change of a singer is a pretty big thing for a band, was Kristen someone you\u2019d had in mind straight away?<\/strong>
\nOh she was, you know we had compiled a list of singers that we thought would be really good for Flyleaf, and she was definitely at the top of the list.<\/p>\n

How did you know that she was the right person for the job?<\/strong>
\nYou know from meeting her, that initial meeting she and me clicked right away and after getting to talk with her and hearing her convictions and her take on the music and just her heart, that was a huge part of it. Then when we went into the practise room ad from that first note she sang we were just blown away, she\u2019s so good and so passionate.<\/p>\n

Also with no real time to get her feet wet, how has Kristen made the transition into the band and were you able to gel straight away or were there a few hic-ups along the way early on?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t think there were any hic-ups, because we all know each other, it was just due process, I really can\u2019t say there was anything that kind of snagged as we were progressing toward this. It was very smooth.<\/p>\n

So what has she brought to the band that you feel may have been missing previously?<\/strong>
\nThe word that keeps coming up is rejuvenation, it\u2019s just fresh and feels like something, it is new, she\u2019s not Lacey, but there is this freshness and rejuvenation in the music and in her voice and really enchants you and it\u2019s an amazing experience.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s only early days, but have you already thought about the possibility of writing new material with her?<\/strong>
\nYes, actually we\u2019ve already written a few songs and we\u2019re still writing, we recorded some with Howard Benson, our long-time producer and we don\u2019t have a release date set just yet, actually we\u2019re still writing, but in the short time that we have with her, it\u2019s so good. It\u2019s so easy, we went in, we had some ideas, she said she had some ideas and we started collaborating and it was like we\u2019d written together for ten years, it was that easy.<\/p>\n

Is there any chance of road testing some new ones while you\u2019re out on tour to see if they work?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I think we\u2019re coming up on a tour in August and coming to Australia in August and I think by then we\u2019ll have a few new songs that we\u2019re going to add into the set.<\/p>\n

On the new album, Song wise, the songs are so melodic that it\u2019s insane; I absolutely love the album, what inspired the songs that ended up on New Horizons?<\/strong>
\nLife. We have experienced a lot, from \u2018Memento Mori\u2019 up until \u2018New Horizons\u2019, people were growing up, we\u2019re starting families and really focusing on what we\u2019re trying to do, I don\u2019t even know if we\u2019re trying to focus on it, we\u2019ve just had a priority check shift and found what\u2019s really important in life and found more and more that it\u2019s not any type of success in the sense of how much we\u2019re making or how many records we\u2019re selling or what size house we live in, it\u2019s more and more about people. I think what really is a priority or should be, is your relationships with people and I think that\u2019s what \u2018New Horizons\u2019 is all about, getting to start over again and shift your priorities from, not that we were into material things before, but it\u2019s a realisation of wow, and we\u2019ve always said it\u2019s important and what we believed in, but now it\u2019s becoming real as we\u2019re getting older and the decisions we make have heavier consequences, we\u2019re not kids anymore, we can\u2019t just screw up and then it\u2019s all better the next day and being with our friends, every decision you make has a consequence and were more conscious about the decisions we make, whether it\u2019s going to be a selfish decision or a selfless decision.<\/p>\n

I have to say, the name almost lends itself to your situation, was that somewhat intentional or just perfect coincidence?<\/strong>
\nI think its perfect coincidence, when we wrote the record and we didn\u2019t have a theme in mind, which I think is the best way to do it as there\u2019s more freedom to let the songs be themselves, but the underlying theme was starting over, like second chances and that every morning is new.<\/p>\n

You mentioned that you worked with producer Howard Benson once again, what did he bring to the table on this record that you may not have thought to do on \u2018New Horizons\u2019 or on your previous two releases?<\/strong>
\nHe\u2019s starting to focus more on the progression of what\u2019s going on in music right now and trying to shift away from the active rock to the more modern rock but we\u2019ll see how that pans out because we\u2019re a rock band at heart, we\u2019ll let the songs write themselves. On this record he was really good at bringing up the lyrics, bringing up the songs and I think that\u2019s what he\u2019s done on these songs.<\/p>\n

We recently chatted to Jasen from Drowning Pool and he said that touring with you guys was \u201cI can\u2019t stress how much fun that run was, kind of like something out of a cheesy movie, everyone just got along so well.\u201d Was that the perfect tour for you guys?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s a really good description of the experience of the Drowning Pool tour *laughs* it was a cheesy movie, it was so much fun, that was probably one of the most fun tours that we\u2019ve ever done. We Flyleaf guys we\u2019re very introverted people for the most part, and it\u2019s really hard to bring us out of our shells, especially when we get in the crowd and with the people we\u2019re hanging out with for the first time, but those Drowning Pool guys, they were so easy to hang out with and we were able to be ourselves and just have fun. It was like a family reunion the whole time *laughs* and it was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

A good way to introduce Kristen to the fans as well it would seem?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely, to me she\u2019s much more extroverted than the rest of us guys which has a blessing as she\u2019s opened up a whole lot of doors for us, she is just a likeable person and she\u2019s a go getter you know what I mean, she\u2019ll start conversations with strangers and want to go out there, it\u2019s really inspiring to the rest of us.<\/p>\n

In the just over ten years as a band, besides the singer change, what would you site as the biggest moment you\u2019ve experienced within the band?<\/strong>
\nThere have been so many huge moments, I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s been the biggest moment, but playing the Muz- TV awards in Moscow was pretty intense and amazing, and then we did a festival in England and Rage Against The Machine headlined and we got to play the main stage and that was awesome. Then we played Rock im Park and Rock am Ring with Metallica and that was ridiculous, I think that was 06 \u2013 07. I mean, so many huge things have happened in our career that there\u2019s not one huge event there\u2019s all these events that create this amazing story.<\/p>\n

Now looking back at your first album, it\u2019s around eight years since then, but over the course of the three albums, how have you personally seen yourself evolve as an artist?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s like a subtle evolution, you become a better player without really trying, you\u2019re just playing every night and writing songs and being around guys like Corey Taylor and Jim Root and Jon Davis and Munky from Korn, the P.O.D. guys, all the heavy hitters, just being around that, it\u2019s like their presence infiltrates your being in a kind of way *laughs* but they permeate and if you\u2019re in that area with them they kind of rub off on you a little bit here and there. I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s an unconscious evolution, you take input from all these different artists and put them into your playing and put them into your art without even thinking.<\/p>\n

Besides finally getting back to Australia, what does the rest of the year have in store for Flyleaf?<\/strong>
\nWe have some dates in South America and Mexico City, we\u2019re going to Japan, we\u2019re doing another US tour starting in July, and then we\u2019re releasing a live EP from the Drowning Pool tour that we recorded at the shows with Kristen on there and then hopefully we\u2019ll release some new music with Kristen.<\/p>\n

Is there anywhere that you haven\u2019t yet toured that you want to get to?<\/strong>
\nDefinitely, we\u2019ve been to Africa but we haven\u2019t played there, so would love to play Johannesburg or South Africa, or anywhere in Africa. Love to play South East Asia and the Philippines; I know we have a lot of fans in the Philippines and Manilla. It would be awesome to play in China and I think that would be a huge thing as well, there are a lot of countries on the bucket list.<\/p>\n

Lastly, do you have a message for your Australian fans?<\/strong>
\nWe are so excited to come back to Australia, I think that\u2019s the one thing we always get asked is \u2018Why don\u2019t you come back to Australia?\u2019 so we\u2019re real excited to come back and rock out with you guys again. Thank you all so much for the support over the years it\u2019s been amazing.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Kristen May \u2013 vocals, Sameer Bhattacharya \u2013 guitar, Jared Hartmann \u2013 guitar, Pat Seals \u2013 bass, James Culpepper – drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.flyleafmusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> New Horizons (Out Now)<\/p>\n

Catch Flyleaf on tour in Australia this August:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thurs, August 15 \u2013 Brisbane \u2013 Hi Fi
\nFriday, August 16 \u2013 Melbourne \u2013 Hi Fi
\nSaturday, August 17 \u2013 Sydney Metro \u2013 All Ages<\/p>\n

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