Flyleaf | Main

The Belton, TX-based heavy rock quintet Flyleaf formed in 2000 when frontwoman Lacey Mosley tried out a string of the dark, hard-edged songs she consistently wrote as a brooding teen on drummer James Culpepper. After a brief period of playing together, they recruited guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann, members of a local outfit that had recently called it quits. In 2002, bassist Pat Seals joined, and the band, initially known as Passerby, was born.

The road to Flyleaf's 2005 self-titled debut on Octone Records was dotted with more green lights than red: the band played wherever it was invited around its home state at first, gradually building the kind of fan base that allowed it to open for acts such as Bowling for Soup, Fishbone, and Riddlin' Kids. By 2003, with word of Mosley's arsenic-laced lyrics and blow-torch-style delivery spreading through Texas and beyond, Flyleaf earned a spot at the annual South by Southwest music conference. A contract from Octone was rushed to the signing stages by 2004.

An EP, issued in early 2005 and also called Flyleaf, benefited from the un-obscure production team of Rick Parasher (Pearl Jam, Blind Melon) and Brad Cook (Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age). Key tracks such as the roiling "Cassie" and the emo-tinged "Breathe Today," both of which appear on the full-length, furthered Flyleaf's reputation, as did raging live shows alongside Saliva, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, and Staind.

For the fall 2005 release, producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, the All-American Rejects) joined Flyleaf in Los Angeles. A batch of 20 songs was winnowed to 12, with Mosley's searing vocals and Bhattacharya's and Hartmann's storming guitars offsetting each other to effect a sound by turns morose, compassionate, hope-swollen, and bitter.

The moodiness befits Mosley's background: as one of six siblings in a single-parent household, the confessional songwriter spent her childhood moving from apartment to apartment whenever the bills went unpaid. She openly acknowledges an early addiction to drugs and alcohol that fueled bouts of depression. As of the release of Flyleaf's full-length, the band was committed to sobriety. ~ Tammy La Gorce, All Music Guide