Playing Hard Rock Music in the past decade is a bit like going into an Apple store and trying to sell someone a flip phone. I know that I have been very fortunate to make rock records and tour the world in Black Veil Brides and with my solo vehicle. Andy Black. The joke at the center of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages is the very idea of this music being "a thing." Hard rock, heavy metal, and punk rock are often considered antiquated, which honestly makes it sort of more rebellious than ever to try to become a rock singer. Like many people who end up in the creative arts somewhere, I was a bit of a loner. I built a version of myself from all of the things I feared when I was a child and presented it to the world as an adult. I'm a high school dropout and made most of my friends online.

I cofounded Black Veil Brides in my hometown and told everyone I would move to California when I turned eighteen. When the day arrived, nobody in the band came with me. It didn't matter. I moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Hollywood and lived in the back of my '98 Cadillac El Dorado because I wouldn't allow myself any other options. I had to make it. Book jacket.