Andy has spoken out.

In a brand new interview with Rock Sound, Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack has responded to bassist Ashley Purdy’s claim that the band were set to break up following their run on Warped Tour, which starts tomorrow.

"There is nothing but agreement from everyone involved that we are moving forward as a band and it is not the intention to break up, certainly not after these eight Warped Tour shows," Andy told Rock Sound tonight.

He also revealed that the band recently signed a new record deal, there was "never talk of a hiatus," and that the entire band will be together in a matter of hours for the beginning of Warped Tour.

Purdy made his comments as a guest on a since-deleted episode of Another FN podcast, where he said, "We start Thursday at Warped Tour in Pomona, and we are gonna to do eight dates through the southern California area, and that is where you are going to see Black Veil Brides for the last time ever in your entire lives so you better fucking go, because that's gonna be it."

You can read our full interview with Andy below.

HI ANDY. WHAT’S HAPPENING?

"Honestly, I’m answering a question that I suppose is very simple for me to answer because I am unaware of anything other than the feeling that I had going into this. To my knowledge, we are not breaking up, nor are there any plans to break up. I contacted the band when this all broke this morning and everyone assured me that is not the intention and that we’re moving forward like normal. I don’t know, I can’t speculate as to everything that’s behind someone saying something when they are in a playful party mood or whatever it is, I certainly have said things and done things in a public way before when I was inebriated that I regret so I don’t know. I can’t speak to what Ashley was thinking or what the situation was, I can only speak to the overall character of the band, and I only know that everybody wants to move forward and do what we have done for a living and as our passion for the last 10 years."

YOU SAY YOU’VE REACHED OUT TO THE BAND, THAT INCLUDES ASHLEY TOO?

"Of course. He’s in the band. Everyone in the band was contacted."

IT’S ODD TIMING. YOU’RE ALL GOING TO BE TOGETHER AT WARPED TOUR TOMORROW, RIGHT?

"In a matter of hours. I’m actually packing a suitcase and I’m headed to Pomona to get on the bus this evening, so we’ll see each other shortly after I get off the phone."

SO THERE’S NO REAL EXPLANATION FOR WHAT HAPPENED? IN THE COMING DAYS WILL THERE BE A CLEARER PICTURE ON THAT?

"It’s all speculation because I’m not the person who said it. I can only speak to what I’ve been told and how I feel and what I feel is that I’ve had sufficient communication with everyone and the position has been made clear that we’re moving forward and there is not a discussion about breaking up. If that is the intention of anybody, they have not made me aware of that. I’ve been told otherwise by everyone. I would boil it down to a statement, something that was made in the moment and perhaps that is his intention or whatever else, officially, that is not the intention that was repeated to me so for me, I would have to say that we’re the band we’ve always been and we’re going to go out on stage and play shows. I’ve been talking about this a lot today and I think the thing that’s getting missed in all of this is that the fans and the people who support your band wind up being taken into the situation and they get all the drama kind of thrown at them and that’s unfortunate, especially considering the fact that in a number of hours at this point, we’ll be kicking off the final Warped Tour here in Pomona. I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but that has to be the focus. One of the catalysts in the career of this band and we get eight more tries to do it before it’s over forever and that really has to be the focus. We’ve all agreed together that that’s the focus."

I GUESS AT THIS POINT YOU NEED TO GET ON A STAGE TOGETHER AND SHOW YOU’RE STILL BLACK VEIL BRIDES…

"I can’t control what somebody else says or how someone else feels about themselves or their position in the band. There are things that I have seen that were said that obviously are his perspective on things or maybe that I would feel differently about or say, Jake would feel differently about or Jinxx or CC. But we’re grown adults. It’s really not my position or anything that would be even appropriate for me to try to have any say in how someone else perceives themselves, their position or how they feel about something."

IT FEELS LIKE TODAY HAS BEEN A REMINDER OF HOW MUCH BLACK VEIL BRIDES MEANS TO SO MANY PEOPLE.

"I think what anything like this can remind you is – and I don’t mean to sound grim – but bands are collections of people that innately have differences of opinion in day to day life. When you go to lunch with your friends, you don’t notice if they order something different than you or think of it as a weird thing. The truth is that every single person from any walk of life feels differently about something than the person next to them. Not everyone agrees 100 per cent on everything all the time. And the problem with the perception that’s built with bands is because they’re a united front musically, there’s an assumption that everything is a group thought, that every single thing is agreed upon by every single person and initially, that isn’t always the case. Ultimately the things that you see by and large that are released by bands are things that were discussed and agreed upon and initially there was some disagreement and eventually it was agreed that it was the best thing to represent the band that you’ve created together. It’s a rare situation that you see someone strike out in a band and say something that is going against maybe what you perceive the band’s collective notion to be, so I think what it points to is the fragility of a group of people together if you are unable to accept that other people might have different opinions and I think maybe for the audience it can show that a band doesn’t need to be a bunch of people agreeing about everything all the time, they may feel differently about things but that doesn’t mean that the band is in a dire situation or everything’s going to end, it just means that sometimes people don’t agree, and that’s okay."

IT’S SHOCKED A LOT OF PEOPLE BECAUSE THOSE DISAGREEMENTS RARELY HAPPEN SO PUBLICLY.

"I’ll say this, I’ve been in a situation since I was a teenager where people in our world, particularly on the internet initially, have taken me and lifted me up to this level where I now get to do this professionally and I get to talk to people like you and I get to pack a suitcase and go on the tour that I grew up dreaming of being on. Those people are the people that as I said earlier, this affects the most. And to those people, I would simply say that my intention is to continue to do the things that I have been given the form to do forever and I think that I can safely say that the rest of the band feels the same way. Now, what that means moving forward in terms of how we perceive their place in this artistic world or what kind of music they make or where they’re making it or whatever else, that remains to be seen. But as of right now, there is nothing but agreement from everyone involved that we are moving forward as a band and it is not the intention to break up, certainly not after these eight Warped Tour shows."

SO NO BREAKUP, BUT EVEN A HIATUS HADN’T BEEN DISCUSSED? JUST DOING THIS RETROSPECTIVE RELEASE AND CARRYING ON?

"Here’s the truth. On a personal level, I developed the Andy Black project several years ago and I signed a record contract and I made a record and then went on tour. And then, because I have a record contract, it came time to do another one. They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to need another one of those now’. And I am more than happy to do that and I think it’s a real cool opportunity to do that, but there was always an intention to start this record during the time that we were in our downtime. I have about eight songs done, I have to finish it and I contractually have a date by which I have to release it. Similarly, Jake [Pitts], the guitar player in Black Veil Brides who is just as much an equal member as me, formed a band with his wife [Aelonia] and has been working on that for several years. Now, because of the time frame in which we were allowed to release anything away from the label that we were previously with, he’s going to be able to release the full-length record that he’s been working on for some time. There are things that happen in the context of your career if you’re lucky enough to have people that pay attention to what you’re doing that may afford you the opportunity to make different types of music and to do different things. I think it’s encouraged for every member of this band. To me, we all do our own things and the understanding is that at the end of the day, we come back together and this is our home, so to speak. So there was never talk of a hiatus. Record cycles end and then new ones start, the plan for us now is to move forward working on the retrospective release which is a pretty involved process, one that Jake is producing and that we’re really excited about."

SO DESPITE ANYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED IN THE PAST 24 HOURS, THERE’S POSITIVITY IN THIS BAND?

"The last time I saw everybody in person was at Download, and we had a great time and before that, in the rehearsals leading up we had built our schedule and plan for this release, so there’s plans in place. A record deal that was just signed. There’s a lot going on that to me takes precedence over the possibility that someone is saying that maybe we’re breaking up, because at the end of the day if I’d texted everybody and said, ‘Hey, is this happening?’ and someone said, ‘Yes, absolutely’, then maybe I’d be having a different conversation with you, but to my knowledge nothing has changed, so the positivity that was there this morning, the day before and tonight is the same."

IT SOUNDS LIKE BLACK VEIL BRIDES ARE HERE TO STAY.

"Look, I’m only one member. I am the singer and I’m the guy who talks to you the most often and all of that, at the end of the day I can’t control how other people feel and react, and it’s not my place to. So if things change in the future, that’s only because everybody is their own individual, but I can tell you that as of right now my intention and seemingly the intention of everyone involved is to remain together and to kick ass on these Warped Tour shows, and to move onto the next chapter."

OKAY, THAT SOUNDS PRETTY CLEAR CUT. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SPEAK TO US.

"Things happen, but whatever. I know what’s going on and we’re all going to meet up tonight and tomorrow we’ll be onstage together. I suppose it’s kind of bizarre to have an announcement of a band breaking up and then the very next day they’re onstage playing a show, but with Black Veil there’s always something odd, right? That’s kind of our thing."



Black Veil Brides released their latest album ‘Vale’ in early 2018, and play the last ever Vans Warped Tour starting tomorrow (June 21).