Meet Black Veil Brides' New Bassist, Lonny Eagleton

Following on from the recent unveiling of Black Veil Brides' line-up change, in which Lonny Eagleton replaced the departed Ashley Purdy, frontman Andy Biersack has spoken to Kerrang! about the band's newest member.

And not only has Lonny actually played live with the singer before as part of his Andy Black solo project, he's also an absolutely massive fan of his new band – having gotten tattoos dedicated to BVB long before ever joining their ranks.

“Having Lonny with us has been so much fun," Andy enthuses in this week's issue of Kerrang!, which is out now. "This is somebody who is a real fan – he’s got Black Veil Brides tattoos on his arm, he’s been to a million BVB shows, and he even used to daydream about playing in the band! It’s weird how the world works; I wound up meeting him through a friend, and was unaware he was such a fan of ours. I then hired him to play with me on the Andy Black Ghost Of Ohio tour [earlier this year], and I came to realise just how wonderful and talented he is.

“When it came time to find a replacement for Ashley, I spoke to the rest of the band, we agreed on Lonny, and then when he was round at my house with my wife and I, I told him we wanted him to be the new Black Veil Brides bassist. He literally teared up when I asked – it was amazing to see someone who is so talented and kind be inspired so much by our art. It’s made me really proud of what we’ve created with Black Veil Brides, and it’s so rare that you get to see that direct effect your music has on someone like it has with Lonny. He’s reminded all of us what the band was, and he’s helped us return to form in that way because it’s like having someone in the band who is also an objective fan.”

Lonny himself posted on Twitter at the time of the announcement: “Thrilled to announce that I am joining Black Veil Brides as their new bassist. Having been a longtime dedicated fan of this band, I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this new era. Before I had any affiliation with the members, I used to fantasize about playing in this band, playing the music, wearing the make-up and stage outfits, so for that to now become my reality is completely surreal.

“It was only a couple years ago that I was standing in the audience at their concerts, singing along, trying to catch guitar picks. To now see myself in the videos, and hear myself on the recordings is a feeling I can’t even begin to explain. I look forward to this new beginning as the newest member of Black Veil Brides.”

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Our huge new chat with Andy about all things BVB is available to read in the new issue of Kerrang!, which looks like this.

You can get it anywhere in the world through Kerrang.Newsstand.co.uk. Or, for UK residents, it's out now in all good newsagents.

Black Veil Brides are playing Download Festival at Donington Park, UK, on June 12-14 2020. Get your tickets here.