MOTIONLESS IN WHITE's CHRIS MOTIONLESS 'Always' Knew 'Afraid Of The Dark' Would Be First Single From Upcoming Album

In a new interview with James Wilson-Taylor of Rock Sound, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE frontman Chris "Motionless" Cerulli spoke about the band's recently released song, "Afraid Of The Dark". The track, which was produced by Drew Fulk and Justin deBlieck, is the first single from MOTIONLESS IN WHITE's upcoming seventh studio album, which is due later in the year via Roadrunner Records. Regarding when "Afraid Of The Dark" came together and whether it was always the plan to release the track as the first single, Chris said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes, this is technically the first song we started working on for the album. I just started dabbling in working on things. … Once I knew what the song was going to be, yes, I was, like, 'This has to be the first song.' And that was even before we really had the amount of songs for this record to pick from. It's another kind of record where we wrote — I don't even know — 50, 60 songs over the course of the whole time. And this always stood out as this has to be the one. So it was pretty cool. But it also made an interesting dynamic in trying to work on it, because knowing it was gonna be the first one, [there was] so much more pressure on it — for better or worse."

After Wilson-Taylor noted that "Afraid Of The Dark" "really nicely marries what we could call modern MOTIONLESS with [the band's] old-school" sound, Chris concurred. "Yes, that was the goal," he said. "Once I knew that this was gonna be the first song, even before we knew that we were gonna push the record to [a] '26 [release] to [coincide with] the 20-year [mark of the band's formation], I was, like, this still is gonna be a song that's just about the journey and the trials and throwing back to older moments of the band that fans could latch on to and really speaking to them on a level. But that's actually kind of what pushed us to push from '25 into '26, was, like, this has to be a song that releases in a timeframe that makes so much sense with what the history of the band is, and to talk about all those moments and really give fans a song that is for them and that story and that journey that we've both been on together. It's not just the band that's been a band; 20 years of that journey can only exist with the fans accompanying us."

When "Afraid Of The Dark" was first made available in late January, accompanied by an official music video, it was described in a press release as "a fist-in-the-air anthem that will be instantly beloved by the MOTIONLESS faithful. At the time, Chris said in a statement: "20 years ago, I stepped into a tour van with my best friends, having no idea what was next every mile we drove down the road. Funny enough, we broke down two hours later in the AM hours in a snowstorm. We had to sleep on the floor of a rest stop on the side of the Interstate and wait what felt like forever for a tow truck. We were forced to cancel the first few shows of our first tour ever, and to figure out how to scrape up every cent we could to try and get the van fixed and get back on the road. Nothing was ever going to stop us. There was never a doubt that we would find a way to live out our biggest dream and set a precedent for anything standing in our way."

He continued: "On our 20-year anniversary, that spirit is burning just as hot as it was on that day. We refuse to settle, refuse to let any opposing force stop us from clawing our way up from hell, and we refuse to fear the dark of the unknown. I want the story of MIW to inspire anyone listening to not fear the unknown, but to run head first into it with everything they've got. This song is about taking control of your destiny and writing the script of your own future without any doubt or apprehension. For those of you who have been with us for any part of the last 20 years, this one is for you. If you mean it, you will make it."

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE will spend the spring on tour supporting BRING ME THE HORIZON, including a performance at Madison Square Garden and at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals.

After earning three straight Top 5 Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums debuts, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE's 2022 effort "Scoring The End Of The World" bowed at No. 1 on the chart, in addition to securing the band's highest position on the Billboard 200 at No. 12. The LP notably spawned their second RIAA gold-certified hit and first Active Rock No. 1, "Masterpiece", which has leapt towards the platinum threshold.

Photo credit: Acacia Evans