Brian “Head” Welch - Lead Vocals, Guitar
J.R. Bareis - Guitar
Dan Johnson - Drums
Michael Valentine - Bass
Like their name suggests, Love & Death captures the honesty of beauty and tragedy delivered by musicians with intense passion and commitment to the message of their music.
Although Brian "Head" Welch is already an established solo artist, he has sought the artistic push-and-pull of a traditional band set up since his departure from Korn in 2005. Now he's accomplished his goal in the shape of Love and Death, combining the aggression of KoRn with added melodic elements and memorable choruses. "I fought managers about the band name thing for three years, and I finally won," recalls Head. “When I left Korn, I had a book coming out [2007's 'Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit KoRn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story'], so they were thinking it was a good branding thing to call my solo project Brian “Head” Welch, which I never liked. All of my band members put a lot into our project as well, so I didn't want it to be all about me - I wanted it to be about the whole band."
Head has found a home as a lead vocalist as well as a guitarist. He is joined in Love and Death by seventeen year old guitarist J.R. Bareis, bassist Michael Valentine, and drummer Dan Johnson. The solidified line-up is on display throughout the group's debut full-length, 'Between Here & Lost’.
‘Between Here & Lost’ was recorded in Nashville, TN with producer Jasen Rauch (RED, Breaking Benjamin) and mixed by Paul Pavao, Ben Grosse (Marilyn Manson, Disturbed), Jim Monti (Korn), and Lee Bridges. The album consists of 11 tracks, ranging from songs about personal struggle and triumph (“Chemicals”, “My Disaster”, “Paralyzed”) to emotionally charged anthems (“Fading Away”, “The Abandoning”, “By The Way...”) to a riff heavy rendition of Devo’s 1980 hit “Whip It."
"One of the biggest changes on this album is that we connected with a great producer” states Head. “With my first solo album (2008's 'Save Me from Myself'), I wanted to oversee everything myself to see if I could do this type of thing. I think some of it was experimenting and some of it was just pride, but a band really needs someone who produce an album to make the material the best it can be. That's what producers are there for, so that was the biggest thing, just bringing Jasen into the fold." "Another story is songwriting" continues Head. "We really collaborated with a lot of people. There's like five or six different outside writers on our album. I've never done that before. In LA, you're in a band and that's 'your band,' and you're in competition with all the other bands. In Nashville, it's a bunch of musicians/writers that are like, 'Hey, do you wanna get together to write and see what happens? Cool man!' Whatever it takes to get the best song. We really enjoyed the process."
As evidenced by standout tracks "The Abandoning", “Meltdown” and "Chemicals", 'Between Here & Lost' is sure to satisfy longtime fans of Head’s work. "I like 'The Abandoning' because the chorus goes somewhere you wouldn't think it would go. It's really dark and then it opens up very melodic. 'By the Way' is very melodic too, and I haven’t done a lot of melodic songs - they're usually really dark sounding. Having a tripped out hardcore song like ‘I W8 4 U’ with Mattie Montgomery from the band ‘For Today’ singing on it - I've always wanted to do that! With 'Meltdown,' I love the trippy bridge section. It's pumping and melodic and then it goes where you wouldn't think it would go."
The aforementioned track, "Chemicals" will already be familiar with fans of the band, as it was the focus of an EP that was issued several months before the release of the full- length, and features a striking video. "That was also fun and a lot of no sleep" explains Johnson about the clip. "It started at 7am every day and went until like 2am. We filmed it in South Central LA, in Watts - one of worst neighborhoods in the country. It was amazing!" Valentine also remembers learning about what it takes to construct a video on the set. "When you film something, it's done in pieces, so it was like one second we were in a box room and we have regular clothes on, and then the next, we're tied up inside some garage with smoke coming out of smoke machines. We were thinking 'Where is this going?' It was the first real video I'd ever been in, and I had a great time." Come 2013, Love and Death aim to take it to the road, supporting 'Between Here & Lost' with live dates in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. “The touring schedule is going to start a little slow, but it's going to get really crazy" states Head. For fans that may just be discovering the band, Love and Death were willing to give a few hints as to what to expect from the band on stage. "It will be a bunch of people throwing their bodies out of whack and us giving it all we got” states Johnson. "We're not a band that stands still on stage at all" adds Valentine.
Very soon, the entire world is going to experience a heavy dose of Love and Deat
J.R. Bareis - Guitar
Dan Johnson - Drums
Michael Valentine - Bass
Like their name suggests, Love & Death captures the honesty of beauty and tragedy delivered by musicians with intense passion and commitment to the message of their music.
Although Brian "Head" Welch is already an established solo artist, he has sought the artistic push-and-pull of a traditional band set up since his departure from Korn in 2005. Now he's accomplished his goal in the shape of Love and Death, combining the aggression of KoRn with added melodic elements and memorable choruses. "I fought managers about the band name thing for three years, and I finally won," recalls Head. “When I left Korn, I had a book coming out [2007's 'Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit KoRn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story'], so they were thinking it was a good branding thing to call my solo project Brian “Head” Welch, which I never liked. All of my band members put a lot into our project as well, so I didn't want it to be all about me - I wanted it to be about the whole band."
Head has found a home as a lead vocalist as well as a guitarist. He is joined in Love and Death by seventeen year old guitarist J.R. Bareis, bassist Michael Valentine, and drummer Dan Johnson. The solidified line-up is on display throughout the group's debut full-length, 'Between Here & Lost’.
‘Between Here & Lost’ was recorded in Nashville, TN with producer Jasen Rauch (RED, Breaking Benjamin) and mixed by Paul Pavao, Ben Grosse (Marilyn Manson, Disturbed), Jim Monti (Korn), and Lee Bridges. The album consists of 11 tracks, ranging from songs about personal struggle and triumph (“Chemicals”, “My Disaster”, “Paralyzed”) to emotionally charged anthems (“Fading Away”, “The Abandoning”, “By The Way...”) to a riff heavy rendition of Devo’s 1980 hit “Whip It."
"One of the biggest changes on this album is that we connected with a great producer” states Head. “With my first solo album (2008's 'Save Me from Myself'), I wanted to oversee everything myself to see if I could do this type of thing. I think some of it was experimenting and some of it was just pride, but a band really needs someone who produce an album to make the material the best it can be. That's what producers are there for, so that was the biggest thing, just bringing Jasen into the fold." "Another story is songwriting" continues Head. "We really collaborated with a lot of people. There's like five or six different outside writers on our album. I've never done that before. In LA, you're in a band and that's 'your band,' and you're in competition with all the other bands. In Nashville, it's a bunch of musicians/writers that are like, 'Hey, do you wanna get together to write and see what happens? Cool man!' Whatever it takes to get the best song. We really enjoyed the process."
As evidenced by standout tracks "The Abandoning", “Meltdown” and "Chemicals", 'Between Here & Lost' is sure to satisfy longtime fans of Head’s work. "I like 'The Abandoning' because the chorus goes somewhere you wouldn't think it would go. It's really dark and then it opens up very melodic. 'By the Way' is very melodic too, and I haven’t done a lot of melodic songs - they're usually really dark sounding. Having a tripped out hardcore song like ‘I W8 4 U’ with Mattie Montgomery from the band ‘For Today’ singing on it - I've always wanted to do that! With 'Meltdown,' I love the trippy bridge section. It's pumping and melodic and then it goes where you wouldn't think it would go."
The aforementioned track, "Chemicals" will already be familiar with fans of the band, as it was the focus of an EP that was issued several months before the release of the full- length, and features a striking video. "That was also fun and a lot of no sleep" explains Johnson about the clip. "It started at 7am every day and went until like 2am. We filmed it in South Central LA, in Watts - one of worst neighborhoods in the country. It was amazing!" Valentine also remembers learning about what it takes to construct a video on the set. "When you film something, it's done in pieces, so it was like one second we were in a box room and we have regular clothes on, and then the next, we're tied up inside some garage with smoke coming out of smoke machines. We were thinking 'Where is this going?' It was the first real video I'd ever been in, and I had a great time." Come 2013, Love and Death aim to take it to the road, supporting 'Between Here & Lost' with live dates in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. “The touring schedule is going to start a little slow, but it's going to get really crazy" states Head. For fans that may just be discovering the band, Love and Death were willing to give a few hints as to what to expect from the band on stage. "It will be a bunch of people throwing their bodies out of whack and us giving it all we got” states Johnson. "We're not a band that stands still on stage at all" adds Valentine.
Very soon, the entire world is going to experience a heavy dose of Love and Deat