Flyleaf's Jared Hartmann and Lacey
Photo: MTV News

Flyleaf frontwoman Lacey has been to hell and back. And now she wants to help others with their voyages.

Growing up in a broken home, she began experimenting with drugs at the age of 10, contemplated suicide as a teenager and finally found salvation in her faith. It's a backstory that's as sordid as it is public ... she talks about it openly, and, as a survivor, she's not ashamed of any of it.

In fact, most of her band's new album, Memento Mori, due November 10, is about that trip from darkness to light and about guiding others on their journeys.

"So much of this album is inspired by the mentality of letting go and trusting that good can come out of that. About trusting that God is going to work out the details that we can't control," she said. "It took me so long to realize that, and it wasn't until I did that my life got better ... so I'm hoping our fans will realize it too.

"A lot of our fans are kids who have so little hope in life and face so many dark things. And definitely there are times where you need to feel what they feel, cry with them, rejoice with them," she continued. "But there comes a point where we have to let them go on their own. We have to hug them and say, 'We have to believe that you're going to wake up tomorrow, because if we went through so much stuff and ended up here, the possibilities are endless for you.' "

In particular, Lacey points to a pair of songs on the album that are central to that theme: "Tiny Heart" and "Set Apart This Dream." Sure, they're about her struggles, but they're also about the struggles of those close to her, like Flyleaf's legions of dedicated fans, or, if she's being totally honest, her younger sister.

"There are definitely songs that came out in the studio, while I was in the vocal booth, that I was singing directly to my sister. Like 'Tiny Heart,' 'Set Apart This Dream,' those two songs specifically, I remember thinking of her face, singing to her, so it would come out in the most honest way," she said. "As much as we want to protect the people we love from everything bad, they have to make their own decisions. And if you're not walking beside them, they're going to make mistakes. I wanted to keep my sister from making mistakes ... I wanted her to learn from my mistakes, so she didn't have to do the things I did or suffer the way I had — and there's a lot of that on the record."

And if she sounds maternal, well, that's just how she was raised. And as the matron of Flyleaf nation, it's just another example of her past seeping into her present.

"They say that, that I'm maternal," she laughed. "I was the second oldest of six kids and took care of the four under me. From the time I was little, I was taught to look [after] the ones around me."

• Flyleaf

Flyleaf's Lacey Mosely in "Again"
Photo: A&M/ Octone Records

Flyleaf are a band on the verge. Following the success of their self-titled 2005 debut (which moved 1 million copies), they are finally ready to release the follow-up, Memento Mori.

For the album's first single, the bracing rocker "Again," they teamed up with director Meiert Avis (who has helmed clips for a diverse list of artists, including Avril Lavigne, U2, Jack's Mannequin, Audioslave and Bruce Springsteen) for a video that acts as a statement of purpose for who they are and what they've been thinking about.

"The whole theme is that everything comes to an end," explained guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya, noting that their album title is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "remember death." "But there's always hope and a bigger picture too."

The clip was shot entirely in front of a green screen, which allowed the band to perform the song while the mind-bending visuals were added later. "There are these images that start out as light and energy, and they slowly turn into these woodcuts — something real," Bhattacharya said.

The woodcuts in question are designs created by bassist Pat Seals, who also designed all the artwork for the album. "One of the videos that Meiert gave us for reference was Radiohead's 'Like Spinning Plates,' " frontwoman Lacey explained, referencing the English band's 2001 clip that featured surreal computer graphics but ended with a concrete image of conjoined twins. "It's ethereal and industrial at the same time."

• Flyleaf Premiere 'Again'

• Flyleaf

Flyleaf's Lacey
Photo: MTV News

Flyleaf have basically spent the past seven years on the road. Driven by a seemingly otherworldly determination, they've played hundreds of gigs (including shows in Afghanistan), logged thousands of miles and basically willed sales of their self-titled 2005 debut past the 1 million mark.

Not surprisingly, it hasn't exactly been a picnic.

"We've seen so, so much. Good times, really bad, really trying times, all of it," frontwoman Lacey said. "We've encountered near-death experiences and death experiences so often within these past few years that we've been reminded that we are mortal and our days our precious. That's what we've learned from all this, and that's the message we want to spread."

So, driven once again by that otherworldly determination, and buoyed by a newfound sense of purpose, Flyleaf are gearing up to start the machine again. On October 20, they'll release Memento Mori, an album that takes its name from the Latin caveat "remember, you shall die." Working once again with producer Howard Benson, Flyleaf have expanded on the crunching, doomy guitars and soaring vocal melodies that made their '05 debut a hit, but this time out, Lacey and company aren't just exploring the dark and depressing. Like the title of the album implies, there's a newfound focus on realizing dreams and living life to the fullest.

"The whole theme of the album is summed up by the title — Memento Mori — that everything comes to an end and that we're mortal and we're going to die," guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya said. "But in all of that, there's hope and a bigger picture. It's beautiful, when you think about it, the idea that every day is precious."

It's a message echoed on songs like "Arise" — on which Lacey sings, "Arise, and be all you dreamed" — and the first single "Again," for which Flyleaf shot a green-screen-heavy clip last week in Los Angeles with director Meiert Avis. (Bhattacharya said the end result will resemble Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates" video.)

The message in that song, according to Lacey, is simple: Don't waste time worrying about the stuff you can't change. It's something she's had to learn in her own life, and no, it wasn't exactly a picnic.

"With the songs that we write, we talk really openly and honestly about our struggles and about battling inner demons ourselves," she said. "So the kids just naturally want to tell us their struggles and the demons they deal with, and I love 'em so much. ... I wish I could hug them all and make it better, but that's not always good enough. It doesn't make it better. So you just have to trust that God's bigger than we are, and the kids keep going.

"In part of my maturing process, I have to learn how to hear those things and still be compassionate but also let them go and trust God with everything," she continued. "Because, you know, I'm not God, and that's a relief."

• Flyleaf

Disturbed's David Draiman
Photo: Bruce Glikas/ Getty Images

Ozzy Osbourne has Ozzfest, Korn, the Family Values Tour. Megadeth rocks Gigantour, and Slayer's got the Unholy Alliance Tour.

For Disturbed, who spent this summer co-headlining Ozzfest with System of a Down in Osbourne's intermittent absence, there's the Music as a Weapon Tour. This year, David Draiman and the boys will be bringing back the tour — its last run was in 2003 — and bringing Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Nonpoint along for the ride.

The third installment of Music as a Weapon is set to kick off November 15 in Providence, Rhode Island, with 23 total dates scheduled through December 22 in Madison, Wisconsin. The tour will be Disturbed's first U.S. run since Ozzfest wrapped August 13 in West Palm Beach, Florida (see "Avenged Win Over Crowd, System Snore, Ozzy Returns To Form At Ozzfest Launch" and "Disturbed, Four-Time Ozzfest Veterans, Scared To Be 'Old Ones' On Tour"). Stone Sour and Flyleaf are fresh from this year's Family Values, which concluded September 22 in Virginia Beach, Virginia (see "Korn Resurrect Family Values Tour With Deftones, Stone Sour").

"It's our major headlining run," Draiman told MTV News. "We bring out all the bells and whistles — it's our stadium run. The bill is really strong, and we're looking into pyrotechnics this time around, as well as different stage setups, different versions of songs, solos, extended sets. It's going to be the big rock show that people expect from us. You have to keep raising the bar each respective year. It gets more and more difficult to do that, but it's definitely going to be one big, crazy rock show this year."

Draiman said the band will encourage more crowd interaction on this fall's Music as a Weapon, and plan to stage even more dramatic moments during the trek.

"We've become the type of band you can count on to pull off live versions of the songs that sound close enough to what you hear on the record," he explained. "But after awhile, it kind of gets monotonous, playing the same versions over and over again — especially the hits you have to play every show. So, making it a little bit different, giving people a little something they didn't expect and keeping the show fresh is very important."

After Ozzfest, but before the band jetted to Europe for a string of pre-Weapon dates that wrap October 10 in London, Draiman had surgery to repair a deviated septum that made breathing difficult for him, causing the band to miss several gigs. The operation, which corrected the damage three broken noses rendered over the last few years, was successfully completed on August 15.

The band heads into Music as a Weapon riding on the success of its latest single, a cover of Genesis' "Land of Confusion" (see "Todd McFarlane To Make Genesis' 'Confusion' Clip Even More Disturbed"). Disturbed's third studio LP, Ten Thousand Fists, has sold more than 1.2 million copies and remained in Billboard's top 200 since its #1 debut a little more than a year ago.

Disturbed's Music as a Weapon Tour dates, according to the band's publicist:

• 11/15 - Providence, RI @ Dunkin Donuts Civic Center
• 11/17 - Portland, ME @ Cumberland County Civic Center
• 11/18 - Hartford, CT @ New England Dodge Music Center
• 11/19 - Amherst, MA @ Mullins Center
• 11/21 - Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
• 11/24 - Battle Creek, MI @ Kellogg Arena
• 11/25 - Dayton, OH @ Hara Arena
• 11/28 - Nashville, TN @ Gaylord Entertainment Center
• 11/29 - Duluth, GA @ The Arena at Gwinnett Center
• 12/1 - Fort Myers, FL @ City of Palms Park
• 12/2 - Orlando, FL @ TD Waterhouse Centre
• 12/3 - Biloxi, MS @ Mississippi Coast Coliseum
• 12/5 - Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Live
• 12/6 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
• 12/9 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Nokia Theatre
• 12/10 - Oklahoma City, OK @ The Ford Center
• 12/12 - Lincoln, NE @ Pershing Auditorium
• 12/15 - Indianapolis, IN @ Pepsi Coliseum
• 12/16 - Detroit, MI @ Cobo Arena
• 12/18 - Peoria, IL @ Civic Center Arena
• 12/19 - Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena
• 12/21 - Cedar Rapids, IA @ U.S. Cellular Center
• 12/22 - Madison, WI @ Alliant Energy Center

• Disturbed
• Stone Sour
• Flyleaf
• Nonpoint

Flyleaf's Lacey Mosley
Photo: Mediaeater

After shooting their second video last week, Flyleaf would like to officially debunk a rock-world myth.

"Everyone says videos are not fun to do, but ours are always fun," bassist Pat Seals said. "Maybe we're privileged."

Or maybe the band's just been lucky enough to find the right chemistry with a director right off the bat. Flyleaf have, after all, shot both of their videos — for "I'm So Sick" and the upcoming second single "Fully Alive" — with the Brothers Strause, the team behind Linkin Park's "Crawling" and Nickelback's "How You Remind Me."

"Most definitely," Seals confirmed. "Everyone on that crew is just really, really cool."

In following up "I'm So Sick," the Brothers Strause wanted to show Flyleaf in another elaborate setting — or "create iconic imagery to match the song's message of rebirth and rejuvenation," as they wrote in their treatment — but tell more of a story this time.

"The band is playing in this garden-type place, and there's a statue set up of [Flyleaf singer] Lacey [Mosley]," Seals explained. "And as the video progresses, the statue kind of crumbles, and Lacey climbs her way into where the rest of us are playing and eventually replaces herself as the statue and comes to life, so to speak. It's like a metaphor for what the song is about."

"Fully Alive," which Flyleaf wrote in an hour — "It wasn't a toiling song," Seals said — is inspired by former Trust Company singer Kevin Palmer's wife, Layla, who is now in the band Amity Lane with Kevin.

"She was faced with something pretty adverse, and she still found strength to be happy and be uplifted and full of life in the face of that," Seals said, choosing not to elaborate. "It was just a really powerful thing. I guess, kind of through that, the statement of the song is just enjoy what you have. You know, don't take it for granted. And be thankful for just being alive."

That's not much of a challenge for Flyleaf at the moment, considering the band's been riding high since "I'm So Sick" took off (see "Flyleaf Embrace Family Values, P.O.D.'s Christian Mantra"). Now the group is about to leave for the Family Values Tour (see "Korn Resurrect Family Values Tour With Deftones, Stone Sour").

"Deftones are probably my favorite band, so I'm very stoked," Seals said. "We all have a lot of respect for the bands that are going to be there, and it's going to be the biggest thing that we've been a part of. ... We'll be a little bit more out of our element, but I think it's gonna be really good. It's gonna be a chance to hopefully make some new fans."

Flyleaf will likely keep touring through the rest of the year, but they're already starting to write songs for their next record.

"It's pretty sporadic, but we've been fortunate these past couple of months to actually write some more songs," Seals said. "We got about three songs finished. We don't have 'em in the set quite yet, but we're not totally blinding ourselves to the next record. I think now, when it's not, like, a demand time, we're trying to get into really creative ideas. And when it is time to pay the piper, we won't be empty-handed."

• Flyleaf

Flyleaf
Photo: J Records

One year ago, Flyleaf lead singer Lacey Mosley was sharing a hot tub with a group of overworked child actors, living in Los Angeles party headquarters/ apartment complex the Oakwoods and trying very, very hard not to crack up.

For Mosley — who, along with the rest of Flyleaf, hails from the tiny town of Belton, Texas — it wasn't just the hectic L.A. lifestyle that was beating her down. It was the songs she was writing: self-lacerating tales of addiction, abuse and dysfunction that had little to do with the sunny Cali climes she found herself in.

"We were staying at Oakwoods, working on the new album, and we would be in the hot tub, and there would be all these little 5- and 6-year-olds in there, just talking about how they blew auditions and how stressed out they were. It was brutal," Mosley said. "And here I was with all these really dark songs. It was just a bad place. We didn't see a lot of drugs, but we heard a lot about them. The whole thing was a struggle."

Working with noted producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge), Mosley and Flyleaf worked their feelings of alienation and angst into an album's worth of chugging, spiky riffs and razor-sharp self-dissection. They released the self-titled disc in late September (on tiny Octone Records) and then did what they'd been doing since they formed in Belton in 2001: They hit the road. Hard.

"Touring is all we've ever known. I mean, we started out in an Expedition and two Ford Explorers, cramming all our friends into the car, just to have an audience to play to," Mosley said. "One time, we had all the equipment piled in a van, and we're driving through a blizzard in Colorado, and we had a mattress on top of the equipment so we could sleep on top of all that. And it's really dangerous up there, because if the van flips over, you would've been crushed. And we're all asleep at 4 a.m. and we hear our tour manager be like, 'Somebody pray!' because we were sliding off this mountain into this void, and we floated over into oncoming traffic, but luckily we missed all the other cars and just sort of pinballed into the guardrail."

Aside from nearly dying, something else happened while Flyleaf — which also includes guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann, bassist Pat Seals and drummer James Culpepper — were out on tour. The tune "I'm So Sick" began to pick up steam on modern-rock radio. And before Flyleaf knew it, they saw sales of their album begin to soar. (It sits at #90 on the Billboard albums chart and has sold more than 100,000 copies with little-to-no promotion.)

The song would normally be considered typical alt-rock fare — what with Bhattacharya's spiky lead guitar and Seals' thundering bottom end — but "So Sick" manages to separate itself from the pack thanks to Mosley's lyrical tightrope act, in which she carefully balances between brutal self evisceration and wide-eyed, unabashed spirituality.

It's a common theme throughout Flyleaf's debut album, because like Mewithoutyou (see "Mewithoutyou: Not Your Average Christian, Vegetable-Oil-Fueled, Flower-Flinging Rockers") and Relient K (see "Relient K Kind Of Like Getting Flipped The Bird") before them, Flyleaf are a tattooed, loud, deceptively Christian rock band. But they're not ashamed to admit it.

"We all share the same faith. And so when we deal with the whole 'Christian band thing,' we kind of think about something P.O.D. says, like, 'If you're a Christian, it affects everything in your life. So if you're a plumber, does that make you a Christian plumber?' " Mosley said. "I don't know the answer. We're a band, it's part of who we are, so it comes out in our music, and it's the fuel for what we do. And finding faith saved my life. So I'm not ashamed of it at all. And most of our album reflects that.

"Like 'I'm So Sick,' it's about how we live in a messed-up world and how we're a product of our surroundings to some extent, and you grow up and you feel messed up," she continued. "There are parts of me that I hate so much, that I wish would just die, but that's just me as a person. And despite all that, and despite how I grew up, I can still look at who I want to be and get strength from that. And despite everything that's going on around me, I can still choose to be the person that I want to be."

And with a summertime slot on the newly resurrected Family Values tour (alongside Korn and Deftones) on the horizon, there's plenty for Flyleaf to be excited about. Just don't expect them to change their thoroughly unsunny dispositions anytime soon. Well, not totally, at least.

"We're excited beyond words for the future. But we're going to keep working hard, keep writing new songs, not stopping," Mosley said. "Of course we're also going to try and enjoy the things in between. Like on the ['I'm So Sick'] video set. They had a chef there, and you'd be like, 'I would like some shrimp, and some scallops and a steak. With some frosted flakes on the side.' And he would make it for you. Which is sort of amazing."

• Family Values: A Look Ahead

• Flyleaf
• P.O.D.

Korn's Jonathan Davis
Photo: Kristina Sisti

LOS ANGELES — Eight years after creating and headlining the inaugural Family Values Tour, Korn are relaunching the traveling festival this summer with co-headliners the Deftones.

"The first [Family Values] with us on it was the best, and we just decided, let's do this again," Korn singer Jonathan Davis said of 1998's outing with Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Rammstein and Orgy. "We're gonna break out the old Family Values stuff we got in storage and really put on a cool show."

Rounding out the mainstage lineup will be Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Dir En Grey, who Davis described as "this crazy Japanese band that are just out of their minds."

For the first time, the trek will also feature a second stage, with acts to be announced soon. "We're gonna have some hip-hop acts and some other variety stuff gong on," Davis said during a recent studio session with Dem Franchize Boyz (see "Are Korn Coming Undone? Rockers Turn To Crunk, Acoustic Songs"). "I think it's gonna be a really cool summer show."

Korn are putting the value in Family Values, offering $9.99 lawn tickets at each stop on the tour, which kicks off July 27 in Virginia Beach.

"No band can go down to $9.99 and do the production and that kind of stuff that we're doing, but the deal we did [becoming equal partners with EMI and promoters Live Nation] allows us to be able to do that, which is really cool," Davis said. "I don't want to slap bands for making their ticket prices so high, 'cause I understand production and that stuff costs a lot. ... But Madonna's are like 300 bucks a ticket. I can't even believe that. Ten bucks for a show is ridiculous, and I think kids that aren't Korn fans will wanna go just to check out other bands or just go to have a good time."

Having a good time will also be a priority for Korn, who will balance their intense sets with a lot of backstage hanging out.

"We haven't toured with [the Deftones] since '97 or '96, and we're really excited," Davis said. "We love those guys. We started out together. Literally it was us and them, and back in the day we used to drive to Sacramento [California] and play at their home clubs. And they would drive to Huntington Beach and play the clubs we'd play, so we've been friends for a long, long time, and it's cool to be back together again and sharing the same stage."

And the feelings are mutual, according to Deftones singer Chino Moreno.

"We've had a crazy relationship because we've always distanced ourselves from Korn so we could be our own band," Moreno said. "Their first record came out before ours, so it was always like we were following in their footsteps. And I think we had to do that, and now it's time to just have fun. We don't care so much about that stuff anymore. We just want to play with friends."

Moreno also confirmed Davis' promise that their bands will be performing their collaboration "Wicked" onstage together. "There's a bunch of cool stuff I want to do," Moreno said.

Korn just finished a headlining arena trek heavy on album tracks (see "Korn Rock Hometown, Have Street Named After Them On 'Official Korn Day'") but are planning a much different show for the summer.

"We're gonna bring in different songs and play for two hours," Davis said. "That's our new thing. We never played for two hours in our whole career. We thought we would die, but now when I get onstage, I want to do more. So it might be more, you never know."

Deftones will be using the tour to debut new material from their fifth studio album, due in September (see "Why Is The New Deftones Album Taking So Long?"). The bandmembers just came off the Taste of Chaos Tour with Thrice and Atreyu but are looking forward to another festival (see "Taste Of Chaos '06 Tour Dates Revealed").

"That was weird because we were the oldest band there. You see a lot of the younger bands, and it's just a reminder of how things are now," Moreno said. "It was a good time, but we felt like grandparents out there sometimes."

After 1998's run, Family Values returned a year later with Limp Bizkit, Filter, the Crystal Method, Primus, Staind, Mobb Deep, Ja Rule, and Method Man and Redman. In 2001, Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park, Staind, Static-X and Deadsy revived the name.

Dates for the 30-city Family Values Tour will be announced later, but organizers released a list of cities:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Alpine Valley, Wisconsin
• Atlanta
• Boston
• Camden, New Jersey
• Cleveland
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dallas
• Darien, Connecticut
• Denver
• Detroit
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Holmdel, New Jersey
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Nashville
• Phoenix
• Pittsburgh
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Sacramento, California
• San Antonio
• San Bernardino, California
• Saratoga, New York
• St. Louis
• Toronto
• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Wantagh, New York
• Washington, D.C.
• West Palm Beach, Florida

• Family Values: A Look Ahead

• Korn
• Deftones
• Stone Sour
• Flyleaf

MTV.com LIVE: Flyleaf Photos

• Flyleaf

MTV.com Exclusive: Flyleaf Photos 04.13.2006

• Flyleaf