KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Guitarist Talks About Return Of JESSE LEACH, Forthcoming Album (Audio)

July 18, 2012

Steve Dallaire of the Canadian blog Boulevard Brutal recently conducted an interview with guitarist Joel Stroetzel of Massachusetts metallers KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

In a recent interview with Paige Montgomery from Alternative Revolt Magazine and the Denver Post Reverb, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Jesse Leach stated about how it feels to be back in the band, "It feels great, man. Surprisngly, [it was] a natural transition. I think the one thing for me was just learning [former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer] Howard's [Jones] material, learning how I was gonna, like, live in the songs and make them my own, and once that happened, it feels natural. It almost feels, in a way, that I hadn't left, but it is ten years later and we're all much different people, so it just feels a lot better than it did back then."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the band's new album, Jesse said, "We've got two songs completed for our new record and another 12-13 to go that I'm gonna finish up in the fall. . . Thankfully, [they didn't have any vocals done with Howard before I rejoined the group] — it was just music; it had no lyrics, no vocals — Howard hadn't attempted to do anything, so it was a nice, clean slate. [The stuff sounds] fresh, fast, heavy… I couldn't be more stoked to sing on the record. As a matter of fact, once I signed up to do the audition for those guys, they took me back to Adam's [Dutkiewicz, guitar] house and we listened to the record and that totally sold me. When I heard the record, I was like, 'I've gotta sing on this.'"

Leach sang on the band's first self-titled album, which came out in 2000, and on their landmark 2002 Roadrunner debut "Alive Or Just Breathing". Leach left the band in 2002 and was replaced by Howard Jones, but his work on "Alive Or Just Breathing" has always been revered by diehard, longtime KILLSWITCH ENGAGE fans.

Interview (audio):

Rock Am Ring performance:

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