Jesse Leach

Jesse Leach
Background information
Birth name Jesse David Leach
Born (1978-07-03) July 3, 1978
Genres Metalcore, heavy metal, groove metal, hard rock, Southern rock
Occupation(s) Singer, actor, DJ
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1993 – present
Labels Roadrunner Records, Ferret Music, Angel Side Side
Associated acts Seemless, Killswitch Engage, Corrin, Nothing Stays Gold, The Empire Shall Fall, Times of Grace

Jesse David Leach (born July 3, 1978) is an American musician from Providence, Rhode Island, and is the lead vocalist of the metalcore band Killswitch Engage. He also fronts the stoner rock/heavy metal band Seemless, as well as handling vocal duties for the hardcore metal bands The Empire Shall Fall and Times of Grace. In February 2012 he rejoined Killswitch Engage following the departure of vocalist Howard Jones in January 2012.

History

Early career

Leach's first band, Corrin, was formed in the early 1990s. Corrin recorded four songs in 1996 which were eventually released as a CD by Propaganda Machine in 1998 after the band's breakup.

Leach's second band, Nothing Stays Gold, formed in the mid-90s. They put out a single ep before splitting in 97/98.

Killswitch Engage

Main article: Killswitch Engage

Some remaining members of Overcast and Aftershock were forming a new band in the Massachusetts area and were seeking a vocalist. In 1999, Leach along with bassist Mike D'Antonio, guitarist Joel Stroetzel, and guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz formed Killswitch Engage. Their self-titled debut was released on July 11, 2000.

Killswitch Engage's next effort, Alive or Just Breathing, was released on May 21, 2002, putting Killswitch Engage at the forefront of the metalcore scene. Two weeks prior to going on tour, however, Leach married his fiancee. When he was not contacting his wife, Leach would sit alone in the tour van for hours after shows and simply wait for the remaining band members to return. Leach's passion for his music combined with his emotional struggles of the time made him unable to exercise control over his screaming. He would blow his voice out after a few shows and struggled with the rest of the tour. Leach also began suffering from a mild depression which grew worse as the tour continued. According to Mike D'Antonio in an interview for Killswitch's "(Set This) World Ablaze" DVD, "It seemed like there was always this dark cloud over Jesse's head." His depression led him to resign from the band and drop out of the public eye for some time. Leach wrote an email to the band explaining why he left. Quoting Leach from his interview in the DVD, "I didn't have the mental energy to face them, or even call them on the phone rather. I was at a point in my life where I just didn't want to face any of them so I wrote them a long email explaining, like, I'm just done. Explaining what every song meant to me, explaining what the whole experience was to me, and I said 'Bye. Ya know? You're not going to be able to find me, I'm going on my honeymoon finally. And, uh, don't try and call me don't try and contact me, I'm done. Done with music, period.'"

Leach reconciled with his former bandmates in 2005 at the Roadrunner United 25th anniversary concert, performing a duet with then singer Howard Jones. The entire band played on stage (minus Adam D who had been out with an injury and was replaced by Andreas Kisser of Sepultura) with both Howard and Jesse singing "My Last Serenade". The song ended with the two embracing, and Leach thanking the crowd for their support through his difficult times.

On February 6, 2012, Killswitch Engage uploaded a photo of Leach and the rest of the band to the website, indicating Leach's return to Killswitch Engage.[1] Killswitch Engage later released a statement via its Facebook, confirming Leach's permanent return to the band. In several interviews since he has given much credit to Howard Jones for his work with the band while Leach has been gone.

Killswitch Engage's sixth studio album Disarm the Descent was released on April 2, 2013. It was announced in December 2013 that "In Due Time" was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 2014 Grammy Awards,[2] bands first Grammy nomination for Killswitch Engage with Jesse Leach.

In March 11, 2016, Killswitch Engage released their seventh album Incarnate.

Seemless

Main article: Seemless

In 2003 Jesse joined a blues rock band called Seemless. Seemless toured the US many times with bands like Fu-Manchu, The Sword, Trivium, and In Flames. Seemless is known for explosive, emotive live shows and showcases Leach's new-found soulful blues-y vocals. Touring with Seemless also showed the music world Jesse was back and able to complete tours. Seemless has released two albums so far and has had multiple videos featured on MTV's Headbangers ball. In 2006 their video for the single "Cast No Shadow" made MTV's Top Ten new videos. Seemless is currently writing new songs and playing out occasionally. Due to drummer Derek Kerswill's involvement with the MA metal band Unearth, among other projects, Seemless has taken a hiatus from the touring life.

The Empire Shall Fall

Main article: The Empire Shall Fall

In 2008, Jesse Leach formed the band, The Empire Shall Fall, with friends in his area. The band have now released their first independent album "Awaken" which was released on November 17, 2009. Including Leach, The Empire Shall Fall consists of guitarists Jake Davenport and Marcus de Lisle, bassist Nick Sollecito, and drummer Jeff Pitts.

Times of Grace

Main article: Times of Grace
Jesse Leach performing in Times of Grace.

Leach worked on another album with Killswitch Engage bandmate, Adam Dutkiewicz. Leach has stated that the working title for the project with Adam D. is Times of Grace. Dutkiewicz also takes lead vocals on several tracks, and was released on January 18, 2011. The album's first single, "Strength in Numbers", was released October 15 via Roadrunner Records as a free digital download for 72 hours for those who signed up for the band's mailing list. The song is now available for purchase on iTunes. The album was made with the support of Killswitch Engage.

Other projects

George Fisher told in "The Jasta Show", that Jesse Leach wrote the lyrics for George Fisher's new side project called Serpentine Dominion, also consisting Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage and Shannon Lucas. He Explained: I originally was going to write stuff for the new band, and you know what? Writing lyrics has just never been my thing, and we were getting down to when I was supposed to go up there and lay down my vocals. And Adam just said, 'Look, I'll ask Jesse to write some stuff.' So he wrote it, and I just said I don't want no pro-religious crap 'cause I ain't about all that. Anyway, so it's more just about like getting revenge against corrupt motherfuckers and shit like that. And so Jesse wrote a bunch of lyrics and Adam arranged a lot of it, and then when I went up there, we recorded it in his bedroom of his house. And, basically, I would be, like, 'No, wait. We've gotta change this, fix that.' Maybe we'd tweak a word or take a word out or take a couple words out or take some lines out. We just basically fucked with it, you know? And I went up two or three different times to work on the vocals." [3]

Discography

Corrin

Nothing Stays Gold

Killswitch Engage

Seemless

The Empire Shall Fall

Times of Grace

Guest appearances

Acting career

Leach played a small role in the 1999 film "Outside Providence", directed by Michael Corrente. The film is an adaptation of Peter Farrelly's 1988 novel of the same name. Leach played a boy named Decenz.

References

  1. ↑ "IT'S OFFICIAL: JESSE LEACH IS BACK IN KILLSWITCH ENGAGE". MetalSucks. 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  2. ↑ Connor Williams (2013-03-30). "ALBUM REVIEW: DISARM THE DESCENT - KILLSWITCH ENGAGE'". RockRevolt Magazine™.
  3. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/killswitch-engage-cannibal-corpse-members-launch-serpentine-dominion/#T7Qguw5DQbBZ40Qr.99
  4. ↑ http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=332787977&blogId=509686334
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