Formed in 2000 in rural Texas, metallic post grunge outfit Flyleaf exploded on the scene, and quickly gathered the kind of buzz that send the industry into a frenzy.

The band, consisting of vocalist Lacey Mosely, guitarists Jared Hartmann and Sameer Bhattacharya, drummer James Culpepper and rounded out by bassist Pat Seals, released their debut self titled album in 2005, spawning the hits ‘I’m So Sick’, ‘Breathe Today’ and ‘Fully Alive’. They then joined Korn, The Deftones, Stone Sour and Dir En Grey on the reactivated Family Values tour in 2005, before joining Stone Sour, Staind, and Korn on UK tours as main support act in most cases. In 2006, Flyleaf also played a number of European festivals including their debut performance at the Download Festival.

Flyleaf writes songs filled with dark and brooding lyrics, mainly from an autobiographical standpoint about things in Lacey’s own life; but no matter how dark the subject, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, and the band takes great pride in helping to show others that there is hope and spreading the message through their music.

In 2009 the band released its sophmore album ‘Memento Mori’ and has just embarked on its first full UK headline tour. It was on the Portsmouth leg of said tour that I was able to sit down and have a chat with Sameer and Pat about all things Flyleaf.

Altsounds: You're back on tour again. It seems like you guys are always on tour. Do you enjoy being on the road?

Pat: Yeah man, I do, a lot. It's good to be back here too, we haven't gotten to come back to the UK in two years.

Sameer: We just got back on the road. We did a winter tour with Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin. In November we did another tour with a band called Paper Tongues. Then before that we were off the road for a year recording 'Memento Mori'.


Altsounds: You've been to the UK a number of times before supporting the likes of Staind, Stone Sour and Korn. How does it feel being here on your own headline tour?

Pat: It's a little kinda scary and exciting y'know. Its like the first time we did a headliner in the States. We were wondering if people would come, but I think most of these shows are sold out, I can't believe it, it's really awesome to come back here on our own.

Sameer: We love the UK, to come back here especially on a headliner and have most of the shows sell out is really exciting.

Altsounds: Do you have any particular favourite memories of your time in the UK?

Sameer: For me there's this one show we played with Stone Sour at the London Astoria. It was an amazing show and that was our first time we played a really big show in the UK. Being in front of so many people in a foreign land was pretty exciting.

Altsounds: And the venue doesn't exist anymore. They tore it down.

Sameer: I didn't know that.

Pat: I went over there yesterday and was like 'where did it go?'. In front they had a little write up about it and it said they were tearing it down to build another tube stop. Its like ploughing down Big Ben to make a Wal-Mart or something (laughs).

Altsounds: You guys have put in a lot of hard work into building a fan base. How does it feel to have people finally stand up and take notice?

Sameer: To know that people are in some way getting what we're doing and connecting with the message in the songs is the most rewarding thing. To see our fan base grow and to see that many kids coming to the shows and hearing their stories is the most rewarding thing to us, it's an amazing feeling.

Altsounds: How does it feel knowing your songs are touching people?

Sameer: It's reaffirming what we're doing, it makes what we're doing worth it.

Altsounds: How would you describe Flyleaf to someone who is unfamiliar with your music?

Sameer: We had an exercise where we had to describe Flyleaf in five words and I forgot the five words. (laughs) In a way we're fearless in our approach. We pray that we're hopeful and the message is hopeful. The songs are about redemption and recognising where you are right now and how you can become more than what you are.

Altsounds: That's one thing I've found about you guys through listening to your music: your songs don't always touch on the lightest subjects. but there's always that undercurrent of hope to them. You don't ever wallow in the darkness.

Sameer: It's so easy to get lost in the darkness. and like you said get wallowed up in it, it takes an effort, it takes an extra push to look for that hope and you can recognise that there is hope. We strive for that, we have to fight to find it also. We can relate to people and say 'we know what your going through in some kind of way, we don't know your individual situation but we're all struggling to find hope in these seemingly hopeless things'. We all have these dark things in our lives, but hope is not lost and that's a really important message.

Altsounds: Your new album 'Memento Mori' was a big step forward for you as a band. What did you set out to achieve when you wrote the album?

Pat: We didn't write down our goals about how the songs would be or anything, we just kind of felt them out and went forward blindly I guess, and they came out how they did. I think just being on the road for a few years and making the first album taught us a few lessons and things to avoid.

Sameer: It's really amazing how the songs on 'Memento Mori' came together, because they were written over such an expansive time; 'Tiny Heart' was written before the first record was released, and some of the songs were written in the midst of the debut 'Flyleaf' cycle, so for all of them to fit together like they do on 'Memento Mori' is pretty amazing and something we weren't planning on.


Altsounds: Knowing how successful the first album was, did you put a lot of pressure on yourselves when you wrote this one?

Pat: For me it was kinda like whispering in my ear a little bit. I think we all tried not to let it effect us and write about what was important to us and just enjoy the experience.

Sameer: For me personally, I concentrate on writing the songs, recording the songs, playing the songs. As far as the success of the album or how many radio stations play the song or how many people download the songs from I-Tunes wasn't a huge concern. There's a whole team that are worried about that (laughs), that was the last thing on my mind. I was concentrating on whether the songs were honest, were they hopeful, where they speaking about real things.

Altsounds: How did your experiences with touring and the bands rise in popularity effect the album?

Sameer: I think sub conciously it did because we toured with a lot of amazing bands: we were very fortunate with Korn, Deftones and Stone Sour, and being around those guys and the way they tour, the way they write and perform songs, I think we took that and it put it in the back of our brains.

Pat: We had a lot of people to study and rip off (laughs)

Altsounds: How do you feel about your music being shared illegally?

Sameer: There's two ways about it. When I was young in high school I downloaded loads of records illegally because I didn't know any better when Napster first came out, and everybody was file sharing. But I think now we've been in the business a few years and understand how it works. This is our art, and this is how we make our living, you wouldn't go to a painters house and start taking things off his walls. I understand that it's wrong and people shouldn't do it and people have to make their own decisions and have their own convictions.

Pat: But at the same time I think it forces us to try harder to make a product that's a little more precious and brings people to shows. If they download it and hear it and like it then of course that's good. When I get a record for for free if I like it then I'll go out and buy it for the sake of supporting it. I think it takes away from that ancient rome aspect of the music industry from 10 years ago, where you had to write one good song and 10 crap ones and put it out and people would still buy it.

Sameer: It definetely pushes us to write better songs that mean something.

Altsounds: There's the other side to it, that although you're losing some record sales at least the music is getting out there.

Sameer: The most important thing is that the message is getting out there, and that's what we've really got our hearts set on. We want our music to get out there, we want people to embrace it and take what they want away from it.

Altsounds: I’ll be honest with you, when your first album came out I couldn't afford it and I copied it from a friend, I've bought it since. I know it takes away from your art, but in a way sharing also brings people together like the days of tape trading.

Pat: That's awesome too and you're sitting here talking to us as a result of that. That's what music is about, sharing. I guess you have to split the difference between artists not being able to work anymore and working in seven-eleven (laughs).

Sameer: The thing is people don't think there is anything wrong with it, but it's still stealing and people need to be aware of that.

Altsounds: Now that the band has reached a certain level of popularity, have your goals changed at all?

Pat: I think initially we just wanted to be heard and needed to be known and to just get out there. We were like 'we'll play any show, we'll open for anybody'; we just wanted an audience. Now we have an audience. to a small degree we can pull back and think about what we're saying and how we want to be perceived.

Sam: I think our goal has always been the same since we started, and that's the message. Is it honest? Is it true to us, true to our faith, is it hopeful?

Altsounds: How have your experiences in the band changed you as people?

Sameer: To say it hasn't would be a lie, the events of your life shape you. I don't know, I would have to ask an outside perspective how it's changed me.

Pat: I definitely came into my adulthood in the band. I joined the band when I was 18 and I'm 25 now. I dunno how I'd be if I wasn't in the band or it didn't exist. Would probably be working in seven-eleven going 'I wonder what that's like' but thank God I can do this and it's really cool and exciting.

Altsounds: How do you feel about people that write you off based on your religious beliefs?

Sameer: You can't judge people for that. People are people, they make their own decisions. You can get pissed at them about it but what does that do? (laughs)

Pat: I guess it's just up to us to just be ourselves. If people like us, that's awesome. If they don't they don't, it's their choice we can't do anything about it.

Altsounds: You have worked with charities and other good causes in the past. Do you think its good for bands to use their status to help support these causes?

Pat: I think you should if you’ve been given something. I think it’s a painful trend of human nature to be self serving and to look after yourselves. In this case, where you have such a platform where people are looking at bands when they wanna know how to dress and how to think or whatever, then the band takes responsibility to try to do their best to support something good.

Sameer: I definetely agree with Pat. When you're given a platform you have a responsibility. When you have a platform, people are going to listen to you whether they are going to agree with you or not, and someone's going to model some aspect of their life after that, and I think you have a responsibility to be aware of that and use that power for good. I think a lot of people are very apathetic to that and it's damaging.

Altsounds: What are Flyleaf’s plans for the rest of 2010?

Sameer: We’re going to play some european festival dates. We’re hoping to get on a big UK festival but we haven't heard anything yet; we’re fighting to get on it.

Altsounds: Is there anything you would like to add for our readers?

Sameer: Just thank you, thank you for supporting us. We really appreciate it, without the fans and the fans of this publication we wouldn’t be here, so thank you!