KERRANG! 7WORDS:JAKE RICHARDSONPhoto:PAUL HARRIESW
ith the release of comeback
single Leave It All Behind,
it’s a new era for Sleeping
With Sirens: one that sees
the band move away from the pop-heavy
sound of their previous album, 2017’s
Gossip. In addition to the new tune,
the Florida quintet have announced the
release of their sixth full-length, How
It Feels To Be Lost, which will drop in
September via Sumerian Records.
The past two years have been particularly
tough on vocalist Kellin Quinn who, in the
midst of Gossip’s hectic touring schedule,
was struggling to hold it together. Wracked
by depression and anxiety, it would have
been easy for the 33-year-old to throw in
the towel. But thanks to the renewed vigour
that came with working on some of Sleeping
With Sirens’ heaviest material ever, Kellin has
emerged from the darkness with a new sense
of purpose. As he reveals to Kerrang!, How
It Feels To Be Lost is the sound of the band
embracing their love of rock’s heavier side.
It’s an album with a powerful message, and,
according to Kellin, this is the Sleeping With
Sirens record you’ve always wanted to hear...Hey, Kellin! Why did you decide to make
Leave It All Behind the first single from
the album?
“The message of the song is very poignant.
We all struggle with thoughts in our mind
sometimes, asking questions like, ‘What
is my purpose?’ and ‘What is the point of
everything?’ When life gets hard, these
thoughts can run around your head, so
I wanted to play with the idea of that and
push these feelings to the edge. Leave It All
Behind talks about weighing up your life and
deciding whether it’s worth sticking aroundor giving up. It’s a very dark mindset, but
it’s honest, and I think we have to be honest
with ourselves when it comes to subjects like
depression and anxiety. We all go through
that stuff, in some way. Life is becoming
increasingly difficult for young people – it
can feel hard to find your purpose – but this
is a song of hope. The lyrics say, ‘If you feel
like you are nothing / If you feel like letting
go / I’ll be your hope if you are hopeless
/ We are not alone.’ That’s an important
message to portray, because those dark
thoughts can make you feel like you’re by
yourself, but they’re feelings that many
people experience. I’ve been in that place
over the past couple of years, and I wanted
to let people know that they’re not alone.”Is Leave It All Behind
representative of
the overall sound
of How It Feels To
Be Lost?
“It’s a really good
middle-ground in
terms of the record’s
sound. This isn’t an
album like [2015’s
fourth LP] Madness
where you’ve got
songs like Kick Me
and The Strays that
are totally different.
This record is very
cohesive, which is
something we were
really going for. Leave
It All Behind has that heavy vibe that the
album as a whole possesses, but it’s got
plenty of melody, too. It’s a great taste of
what’s to come.”What was the vision you had in mind when
putting together the video for the song?
“I wrote the treatment for the video on a flight
to LA while we were finalising what the singles
for the record would be. I’ve always been
interested in special effects, and you see loads
of music videos which are just your standard
‘band in a room’ thing. It’s a concept that’s
been done to death, so I wanted to focus on
a real character, and use that to analyse how
I see myself and my struggles. The video
covers my recent experience with depression
and anxiety and coming to the end of that
period. There are a lot of interesting elements
to the video, not least me falling out of a
window! I think it’s awesome.”You debuted Leave It All Behind at All
Points East in London
recently. What did you
make of the crowd’s
reaction to it?
“I was so nervous to
play it, and we had a
technical issue during
the intro, which didn’t
help! As we were
playing, I looked out and
saw people smiling and
being like, ‘Holy shit!’
I was really pleased with
that, and I feel like fans
are ready for this from
our band – it’s time for
the heavier, darker side
of Sleeping With Sirens.
We listened to what the
fans wanted, and that’s what we’re giving
them. We’ve done being heavy in a smart
way on How It Feels To Be Lost, and I felt it
was important that we didn’t totally go back“WE HAVE TO BE
HONEST WITH
OURSELVES WHEN IT
COMES TO ANXIETY
AND DEPRESSION...”
KELLIN QUINNTHE BIG STORY
It’s been a dark few years for KELLIN QUINN, but the SLEEPING WITH
SIRENS singer has not only fought depression – he’s also resurrected his
love of heavy music with new album HOW IT FEELS TO BE LOST