Jesse Leach Reveals a Killswitch Engage Member Recently Had a “Hairy Situation” With Their Health
Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach has revealed that a member of the band underwent a “hairy situation” with their health sometime in the past year.
The news came to light during a recent interview with The Void With Christina (below), when Leach was asked if the band worked on new music during the lockdown. The singer replied:
“No, we’re not. There’s a couple of factors. One I can’t really speak of, ’cause health had something to do with one of the band members. We had a little hairy situation there. But we’re doing better now. We are not writing, and there’s a couple of reasons for that. Number one is we’ve all just been through the wringer this year mentally and physically for some. So that has been the last thing on our mind.”
Although he didn’t elaborate on those health issues, he did go on to cite the upcoming sophomore album from Times of Grace — his side project with KSE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz — as another reason that the band hasn’t concentrated on creating new material recently. And while it sounds like it may be a minute before the next Killswitch record drops, Leach did not rule out the possibility of a livestream show:
“We’ve recently regrouped via Zoom and talked and hung out and have started to talk about the potential of a concert online, like all these bands have done already. We may eventually do that. And we’ve come up with creative ideas on how to make it different, and interesting songs to play and concepts. So that conversation started. It’s something that’ll be in the future.
“But another reason why there’s not a ton of incentive to write new music right now — number one, we’re not together; number two, Times of Grace is getting ready to roll out [a new] record. So in order for that to breathe and have its time, and then Killswitch will have its time after, they very, very graciously understood that when Times of Grace comes out, we’re gonna allow Times of Grace to breathe. Adam and I are focusing on putting visuals together. And we’ve got the first single and visual done. So we’re very much gonna cater this record to an online experience, allowing Times of Grace to have their time in the press and the media. So that’s another reason why Killswitch is not working on anything right now.”
Times of Grace’s debut, The Hymn of a Broken Man, came out in 2011. The duo have been teasing their second record since February of 2017, but didn’t announce the completion of the album until this past June. In January, Leach revealed that they’d finally release new the new offering this spring… although it’s pretty much spring right now and we still haven’t heard anything, so maybe it’s gonna be more like summer/fall? Regardless of the season in which it’s released, it sounds like we’re definitely getting new ToG music in 2021.
Last year, Leach said of the album:
“We have enough songs for a full-length record and then enough songs for an EP afterwards, if we choose to… We’ve decided to separate the two batches of songs. It’s done and done, and I’m extremely proud of it, and I think it’s probably the best record that Adam and I have ever done in our careers.
“Not only because it’s something we’re proud of lyrically and what it stands for, and it’s much different from the first record — I just think because it’s diverse. It shows a little bit more of a rock side, a little bit more of a stoner, post-metal side, it shows more blues. It gave us freedom to just do whatever we wanted to do.”
He didn’t mention the EP during The Void interview, although that doesn’t necessarily mean the band has ruled out the idea.
In any case, Killswitch Engage’s most recent album, Atonement, came out in 2019, which only feels like it was ten years ago, whereas Times of Grace’s last album actually came out ten years ago. So it seems fair to give ToG “their time in the press and the media” before moving forward with new Killswitch music.
While we wait for more Times of Grace news, here’s hoping all the dudes in KSE are doing okay now!
