Andy Black is giving fans another sneak preview of much-anticipated sophomore album, The Ghost Of Ohio (Lava/Republic), with today’s release of the title track. Watch the video now below.
“The Ghost Of Ohio” follows the recent release of lead track and video, “Westwood Road,” which was directed by Martin Landgreve and Magnus Jonsson and has already amassed over a million YouTube views – click HERE to watch. Both “Westwood Road” and “The Ghost Of Ohio” are available as instant downloads by clicking HERE or HERE to pre-order The Ghost Of Ohio ahead of its April 12th release date.
About the song, Black says, “I grew up in southwestern Ohio and moved to Los Angeles at age 18, I’ve been on the road for essentially my entire adult life but some part of me always has this intrinsic connection to the town I am from and the good and bad times I experienced there. This song and video both represent the idea of viewing your home from the perspective of an outsider. I wanted to explore the idea of what it feels like to be ‘home’ but feel a million miles away even though you’re surrounded by all the things you are most familiar with.”
“Since the record is also the companion piece to a graphic novel of the same name that follows the titular character in a fictional version of my hometown, I wanted to capture that feeling in the video. This is ‘the ghost’ haunting his own memories and experiences. One of my favorite music videos is Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ and I hoped to capture that same sort of vibe with this video.”
“My grandmother’s birthday happened to fall around the same time that we were in Cincinnati filming the video and it was such a great experience getting to spend that day with her. The following day we shot in her house for hours. I’d say about 30 percent of the video is in her house (attic, back yard, etc.), which is a place I spent a tremendous amount of time as a child. Also we were able to put photos of both her and my late grandfather in the video which was very special to me! It’s her voice you hear say “he’s the ghost of Ohio” in the outro of the song.”
The Ghost Of Ohio sees Black re-teaming with Grammy nominated producer John Feldmann (Blink-182, Panic! at the Disco), who helmed 2016’s acclaimed debut The Shadow Side. “Westwood Road” was mixed by Grammy winner Neil Avron (Twenty One Pilots, Thirty Seconds To Mars). The new album is semi-autobiographical, mining the haunted history of Black’s hometown to tell a story that explores his childhood anxieties and obsessions.
Black, who’s always had a reverence for the magical convergence of sight and sound, created the diverse album to also serve as a soundtrack for its graphic novel counterpart, marrying melancholy themes with upbeat rock and pop to tell the tale of someone who died young and whose spirit inhabits an area for a hundred years looking for ways to connect. The album’s artwork was painted by Eliran Kantor (Iced Earth, Testament).
Black will support the long-awaited new album with The Ghost of North America Tour, a headlining run that will kick off April 7th at Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA (see itinerary below).
Black, born Andy Biersack, left Cincinnati for Hollywood at age 18. He lived out of his car, broke, and as Rolling Stone once put it, “subsisting on visions of what would become his wildly successful glam-metal outfit, Black Veil Brides.” By his early 20s, he led Black Veil Brides on extensive world tours, released a string of Billboard Top 10 and 20 albums and was splashed across the covers and pages of magazines ranging from AP to Italian Vogue.
On the The Shadow Side, Biersack stretched his creative wings beyond the blueprint of the vintage-Sunset-Strip-meets-modern-hard-rock-vibe of BVB. “That album was the beginning of a return to who I’ve always wanted to be,” he says. “A rediscovering of my deepest roots.”
“The Ghost Of Ohio is the next step. It’s a full embrace of my long-held passion for imagination, stretching back to when I discovered my dad’s KISS trading cards in the basement and walked my neighborhood streets dressed up like Batman.”
Don’t miss your chance to experience Andy Black’s The Ghost of North America Tour.
Dates are as follows:
Apr. 07: Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
Apr. 09: Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Apr. 10: Portland, OR – Hawthorne
Apr. 12: Las Vegas, NV – Vinyl
Apr. 13: Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Apr. 14: Phoenix, AZ – The Nile Theatre
Apr. 16: Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Apr. 17: Denver, CO – The Gothic
Apr. 19: Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey
Apr. 20: San Antonio, TX – The Rock Box
Apr. 22: Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Apr. 23: Orlando, FL – Plaza Live
Apr. 25: Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts
Apr. 26: Greensboro, NC – The Blind Tiger
Apr. 29: Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls
Apr. 30: Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
May 01: New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre
May 03: Worcester, MA – The Palladium
May 04: Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes
May 06: Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation
May 07: Chicago, IL – Metro
May 08: Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
May 10: Cleveland, OH – Phantasy Nightclub
May 11: Detroit, MI – The Majestic
May 13: Toronto, ON – The Opera House
May 15: Montreal, QC – L’Astral
May 16: Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
May 17: Virginia Beach, VA – Elevation 27