POP EVIL's LEIGH KAKATY: 'I Had A Lot More Struggles With Mental Health Than I Like To Admit'

During an appearance on the Thunder Underground podcast, POP EVIL frontman Leigh Kakaty addressed his previous comment that the band's upcoming eighth album will be the group's "most lyrically raw and sonically heavy" release so far. Asked what it was that pushed him in the direction of being more open with his lyrics, Leigh said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, that's a great question. I think just the reality sets in at some point in your career that, okay, this will be our eighth album. I've written about myself early on in my career, I've written about other people, I've written about fans, I've written about past experiences.

"I had a lot more struggles with mental health than I think I like to admit," he explained. "I think a lot of us singers, we do live in an ego world, in a way, where you just forget sometimes about yourself, like, you just, 'It's all good.' And I don't mean necessarily a cocky, arrogant way. You're not used to really thinking about yourself in those ways. You're just worried about everyone else. You're leading a team. You're the face of a brand. So you don't have time always to think about your depression. It could slow the whole thing down if I start getting sad or depressed about something. I mean, it would be over. So I don't really have time to really kind of cleanse some of the stuff that's really sat with me for all these years. So this album, with the song 'What Remains'… When we sat down to write the album, I didn't know, Every album is a little bit, like, 'What's gonna come out?' You try to shut your eyes, see what comes out, see what goes on, see what kind of cleanse happens. And it took a few songs — I think three or four songs were written before 'What Remains', and then 'What Remains' was written, and it just kind of all stemmed around that song. It was, like, 'Oh my gosh. I gotta let this out.' And then there was kind of hesitation. I don't wanna write about myself. I had talks with the band, the managers, and they were, like, 'Look, this could be really therapeutic for you. You should do this. We should explore this.' And as we started to dive in more, it just felt like a very natural progression for me. I was starting to get — I guess I was just getting lighter, in a way; it just felt like a lot of weight was being lifted, all the stuff. Even COVID that we've all dealt with, I mean, there was a lot for every band, but for me personally, there was a lot of baggage that built up, a lot of stuff that was just kind of still lingering that needed to kind of come out. And what a great opportunity to have a band and to have a platform like that to be able to express myself and let that out and hopefully help other people that might be dealing with similar issues that can relate and they can hopefully get themselves in a position where they can feel a little bit lighter as well. And it just felt like it was just the right move."

Leigh added: "I'm super proud of it and I'm obviously nervous as well. Obviously, whenever you make art and you put it out there in the world, it's always stressful in a way, but it's exciting at the same time. So I'm looking forward to this album finally being released and to whatever the next chapter that it takes us."

"What Remains" was produced by WAGE WAR's Cody Quistad and serves as the dawn of a new era for POP EVIL, which the band promises will be its most sonically heavy. The cinematic music video for "What Remains" was directed by Sam Shapiro. In the video, which can be seen below, viewers will plunge into the dark, fragmented landscape of singer Kakaty's psyche, unraveling the thin line between self-identity and survival.

POP EVIL recently embarked on the "Animal Instinct" co-headline tour with BAD WOLVES. SIERRA PILOT and ONI are serving as support. The trek kicked off October 30 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and will run through November 30 in Lexington, Kentucky.

The newest member of the POP EVIL lineup is drummer Blake Allison. Allison replaced departed member Hayley Cramer, joining Kakaty and fellow bandmates, guitarists Dave Grahs and Nick Fuelling, and bassist Joey "Chicago" Walser.

POP EVIL first rose to international prominence with debut album "Lipstick On The Mirror", featuring RIAA-certified-gold single "100 In A 55". After Kakaty famously tore up the band's major label contract onstage, POP EVIL signed with eOne Music (now MNRK Heavy). 2011's "War Of Angels" debuted in the Top 10 of the Rock Albums chart and produced three Top 10 singles.

The band's 2013 album, "Onyx", put them in the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 for the first time and boasted three consecutive No. 1 rock songs, two RIAA gold singles, and one platinum single "Torn To Pieces". POP EVIL's next release, "Up", was the No. 1 Independent Album in America and made it to No. 25 on the Billboard 200. It featured several Top 5 rock songs and a chart-topper with "Footsteps", which also went gold.

POP EVIL's 2018 self-titled set included the No. 1 hit and newly certified gold single "Waking Lions" and two other Top 10 hits. 2020's "Versatile", meanwhile, scored two No. 1 rock songs: "Breathe Again" and "Survivor". In 2023, the band released its seventh studio album "Skeletons", which spawned their eighth and ninth No. 1 singles: "Eye Of The Storm" and "Skeletons".