FLYLEAF Shares First Part Of Documentary About Reunion With LACEY STURM, Return To Live Stage

FLYLEAF has shared the first part of a new documentary covering the band's reunion with singer Lacey Sturm and eventual return to the live stage.

In a message accompanying the YouTube release of the video, FLYLEAF wrote: "FLYLEAF changed lives when they entered the world with a drive to foster hope. In the process, their own lives changed too.

"This is the first chapter of that story — a story of pain, revelation, and a band ultimately held together by love."

FLYLEAF played its first concert with Sturm in 11 years on April 27 at Schoepf's BBQ in Belton, Texas. Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below.

FLYLEAF, which hadn't performed live since 2016 prior to the Belton concert, will make a number of festival appearances this year, including at the Sick New World festival later today (Saturday, May 13) in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in September in Alton, Virginia.

Sturm left FLYLEAF in October 2012. She was replaced by Kristen May, who recorded one album with the group, 2014's "Between The Stars", before exiting.

Lacey opened up about her reasons for her departure from FLYLEAF in a video promoting her 2014 memoir "The Reason: How I Discovered A Life Worth Living". At the time, she said: "We were on our second album when I got married. And the album was called 'Memento Mori'. And 'memento mori' means remember you're mortal, remember that you'll die and remember that your life is short and precious and so are the lives of those around you.

"For two years, I toured with my husband and it was really amazing, and then after those two years, we ended up getting pregnant with my son," she continued. "And I recognized that my priorities were gonna change even more and that message of 'memento mori' and remembering how short your life is was really weighing on my heart.

"We toured for ten years. I mean, we weren't home for more than a month, probably, a year. So, for me, I just felt really blessed to be pregnant and to be in a place where I could stay home if I wanted to, and really ask that question: how is this gonna change my priorities? How is this gonna look? We had a few things happen that really brought that message home, but the one that hit the hardest was the death of our sound engineer [Rich Caldwell]. We did one last show with FLYLEAF as a benefit for his wife Katy and their son Kirby. And it was really hard to do a show without him, and it was really hard to think it could be our last show. So I remember looking at my son after Rich had passed and just wondering to myself, if this was the last year I had with my son, how would I spend it?

"It was really amazing to recognize this season changing in my life and the freedom that I was gonna be able to focus on my family. And I'm so thankful for that time. And although it was really hard, I'm thankful. And that's the reason I stepped down from FLYLEAF."

Back in 2016, Sturm was asked in an interview with RockRevolt Magazine if there was chance that she could reunite with her former bandmates after they had parted ways with May. She responded: "Well, you know, I feel like I'm the kind of person that I think so much happened that I never in a million years thought would happen, so I've learned to quit saying 'never.' But at the same time, I'm a really present person."

She added at the time: "I don't have any plans for that, but then again, you never know. I don't know… [Laughs] They haven't called me. And I don't have any plans [to go back]."

At several shows last year, Sturm joined SEETHER on stage to perform the FLYLEAF song "I'm So Sick".

In December 2021, Sturm released the official music video for her latest solo single, "Awaken Love". The track followed the previously released "The Decree" and "State Of Me".