KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's JESSE LEACH Says He Has Started Taking Vocals Lessons Again

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach was interviewed on the June 29 edition of "The Louvau Show" on the 93.9 KWSS radio station in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below. (Note: The Leach interview begins around the nine-minute mark.)

Speaking about having to sing former KILLSWITCH frontman Howard Jones' vocal parts on tour in the two years since he rejoined the band, Leach said: "For me, that's still a struggle. I feel like we're such different singers. Like, he's got such a… almost like a… and I use this word loosely, 'cause I know he probably wouldn't like me saying this… almost operatic [feel]. He's got a real strong, melodic tone to his voice that comes naturally to him. For me, I'm a punk/hardcore guy, so for me singing was not second nature; it's something I had to learn. And even now, even in my recent performances, 'cause I've had to review some of them for a release we're gonna be doing soon, I'm still pushing a little more than I should as a singer. And I've actually started to [take] vocal lessons again."

He continued: "I really wanna hone my craft and do the songs justice, and it's something that I really appreciate when people say that I'm pulling it off, 'cause that's a feat in its own, but I'm gonna be getting better.

"I feel like it's one of those things where, if you're an artist, and you sort of give up and think you're at the top of your game and that's it, I think you're doing it wrong. And for me, I just wanna learn what else my voice can do and how to sing even better and have more control. So that's kind of my new thing. We're coming up on a break, and I'm gonna be going back in vocal training to learn how to sing better."

Leach also elaborated on his approach to singing the material that Jones originally wrote and recorded with KILLSWITCH, saying: "When you're writing, you're writing with your own instrument that you're used to. And then when you sing somebody else's material, with somebody else's instrument involved, how do you tweak the stuff to make it work? And for me, it's just a little bit of push here and there where I may not be as melodic, but I'm close. It's kind of my style. I think I'm a better blues singer than I am a straight-out, hit-the-note, sustain-the-note type of singing. So it's definitely been a challenge to learn to how to try to do that."

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's fifth studio album, "Disarm The Descent", sold around 48,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on April 2, 2013 via Roadrunner Records.