Jesse Leach is feeling reflective in our new issue as we chat to the singer about his beliefs, his punk rock ethics and his decision to leave Killswitch in 2002.
The frontman left the fold way back in 2002 as they were on the brink of world domination, making a sensational return ten years later and putting in a career-best showing on last year’s excellent return to form, Disarm The Descent.
While many might wonder what had been had Jesse never left in the first place (though let’s be honest, Killswitch definitely did alright, eh?), he insists that it was something that just had to happen at the time.
“When I left Killswitch, there was definitely something wrong with my head,” he muses. “I was dealing with a depression. At that time it was a pretty lowdown feeling of being alienated, just sort of not being prepared mentally for a life on the road. In your head, as a kid, it’s one thing but when you actually get out there it’s a whole other thing. I was having trouble with my voice and how to use it properly, I was struggling to maintain it, I wasn’t hanging out with the band because I was just so worried about conserving the voice I had, I wasn’t drinking, I just wasn’t participating in any of the fun aspects of being out on tour.
“Going out and seeing things, being sociable, having a few drinks, I did not of that and it just ended up driving my head into some really dark places to the point where I was apathetic to what I was doing. I was just a young punk kid and I didn’t know myself – who does at that age? – and it’s laughable to me now when I look at myself then and consider the person I’ve become.”
