Flyleaf singer Lacey discusses "Letters to Lacey," the meaning of "Unite and Fight," the band's new EP and so much more with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino in this exclusive interview...

Flyleaf continue to constantly give back. 

Last year, they bared their souls like never before on their sophomore masterpiece, Memento Mori. Since the album dropped, they've been pouring blood, sweat and tears into every show supporting it, making for some of the most powerful performances of their career. Their "Unite and Fight" tour, starting last spring, has been a banner jaunt for the band. This particular run was so special that they had to extend it with a second leg featuring Story of the Year as support, and they'll be entrancing audiences until the end of October.

In addition to "Unite and Fight," Flyleaf is in the midst of recording a very special EP, which will tide fans over until their next full-length. Also, Flyleaf frontwoman Lacey recently launched her very own column on ARTISTdirect.com called "Letters to Lacey" where fans can ask her anything. Check it out here!

Flyleaf vocalist sat down with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino for an exclusive interview about "Unite and Fight," her collaboration with Orianthi, "Courage", "Letters to Lacey" and so much more.

It feels like we're just comfortable in that place together on stage. That's where we connect more than anything. Obviously, music is something that we all have shared since day one. Sameer [Bhattacharya, guitar] and Jared [Hartmann, guitar] grew up playing together, and we can really encourage each other just by little things. Like you said, it is tighter in a relational way on stage for sure.

Yeah, I love it! Memento Mori sounds so much more frantic and chaotic on stage. There's definitely more urgency and craziness when we perform it than the first record.

I think that's really important, if art is connecting. You can scream and get on people's nerves—and that's just how you feel at the moment—but I think bringing it back around and making it enjoyable and relatable is important too! 

Yeah, we went through a lot of stuff. That was five years in the making so there's are a lot of really strong emotions that we went through during that time. A lot of songs came out of that, and those were really important to us individually so it was hard to pick. Then, we had played so many of those songs live that fans ended up knowing a lot of them. When we put the tracklisting out, they were like, "Why didn't you put this song on there? What about this other song?" Thus, the extended version! We're really happy that fans requested those songs. It's similar to what we're doing now. We're recording an EP, while we're doing this tour, to go along with it. We're putting out some really old songs that a lot of the Passerby fans knew. That will come out at the end of October right around the end of this tour.

[Laughs] I love that song too! It is fun whenever it clicks. Sometimes, it won't come together. We really tried to do The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today." We all love that song, but it didn't work out. Sometimes it comes together, and sometimes it doesn't. The voices are definitely different. We do "Something I Can Never Have" by Nine Inch Nails, and Johnny Cash did "Hurt." I'm not a fan of everything Nine Inch Nails does, but I really connected with those songs. We just connected with that particular message. Doing a cover supports the artist, and I'd love to support John Mark McMillan.

It's definitely different from our style. Howard Benson produced our record and Orianthi's record. He suggested that I sing on that song because we've hung out so much for so long that he knows my heart and my personality. He knew that I'd love the message of "Courage." It was such a crazy thing for that song to come along when it did because we had done some mission trip work for Samaritan's Purse—which is a charitable organization that Billy Graham supports. They help people around the world. They were in this one very small community that has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation—especially among teens. There's this weird philosophy going around there where if somebody commits suicide, you'll hear someone say, "I wish I was brave enough to do that." How can you say you want to give up on life in a simple way though? Everyone deals with depression and feeling like they want to give up. It's about being brave enough to live though. When "Courage" came via email to me, I was thinking about this. The lyrics of the song straight-up said, "Courage is when you're in pain and you keep on living anyway." I was like, "This is important to do." So I did it.

Your voices meld together seamlessly. It shows some real diversity.

It was fun working with Orianthi. She's a really cool girl, and she has a great voice. When we were in between takes, she was sitting there with her guitar shredding for fun and talking to me at the same time [Laughs]. She's really talented!

"Unite and Fight" is taken from the lyrics of "Beautiful Bride." The whole idea is in order to truly fight things that are really decaying the world, we have to be united. We highlighted this cause—World Vision—because it deals with such a terrible thing that affects whole generations of potentially amazing people. Sex trafficking and human slavery steals lives from them. You fight hate with love. You fight violence with peace. You fight thieves who steal children to sell them into slavery with generosity. If it's so simple that we can just text the word "Unite" to 20222. Then $10 is added to your phone bill. They made it so easy for people to help immediately. We wanted to give people an opportunity to easily give what they want.

That's what makes it worth doing in the way that we do it. We're out there really trying. It costs a lot to do what we do, but if it helps people it's worth it.

That's actually the example we threw around when we talked about doing this EP. It's similar to that idea—or Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York. I think that's what I was wanting, but I always want something and then in the end it comes out way different [Laughs]. You never know what's going to happen.

I'm very excited about it. Having an outlet so I can talk to kids that way is really important for me. It's huge, and there's a great purpose behind it. 

by Amy Sciarretto

Flyleaf are set to kick off the second leg of the Unite & Fight Tour in support of their second album, 'Memento Mori.' The female-fronted rock band -- known for their massive single 'I'm So Sick' a few years back -- will be supported by Story of the Year on all dates. 

However, Unite & Fight isn't just another tour for Flyleaf. The band is launching a text campaign to support World Vision's fight against human trafficking of children. When fans text 'UNITE' to 20222, $10 will be added to their cell phone bill and a donation will be made to World Vision's effort to rescue the children who are victims of human trafficking.

Besides the text campaign, Flyleaf urge fans to submit photos of groups holding hands in a human chain of solidarity. The person who submits the longest chain in each city included in the Flyleaf tour dates will receive tickets and a special meet and greet with the band at the show. The person who submits the largest chain over the course of the tour will receive a guitar signed by the band.

Frontwoman Lacey Mosley told Noisecreep where the idea to support efforts to end human trafficking came from, saying, "When we were recording the song 'Set Apart This Dream' for our new CD, 'Memento Mori,' I was thinking about the innocence that is so easily and often stolen from so many kids. Today there are two million children around the world who are victims of sex slavery. We named this tour 'Unite & Fight' because sometimes we have to fight violence with peace, and that takes unity." 

The petite singer is big on this cause, further saying, "We have to fight thieves who steal children and sell them with generosity. This also takes unity. It's our way of bringing a bit of attention to a grave matter. All of us who are in a safer place have the ability to help lift some of the burden of such a heavy and disgusting injustice."

That text shouldn't make too much of a dent in your wallet. It's for a good cause, so be sure and text to support something that Flyleaf have so valiantly taken up. 

Flyleaf got its start and recognition at Ozzfest and on the Family Values Tour. 

Now the band's sophomore album, "Momento Mori," brings them Tuesday to the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, N.J. 

Songs such as "I'm So Sick," "All Around Me" and "Fully Alive," from their first self-titled debut album, feature lead singer Lacey Mosley's growling vocals. But it was the heartfelt messages that put the Christian rock band on the map. 

Guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya says it's hard for some audiences to open their minds to the notion that metal can have a positive message. 

"There are people out there who only hear screaming, the loud chaotic guitars, and they hear that and think of unbridled rage," he explains. "But there was a lot of thought put into those songs." 

Bhattacharya says he doesn't truly understand the association, but can understand where people may make a judgment mistake. "There is some metal that is completely negative and hopeless, but even that is few and far between," he says. 

"Memento Mori," which translates into "remember your mortality," includes songs such as "Again," "Beautiful Bride" and "Missing." Their messages: No one lives forever, so live each day to the fullest. 

Bhattacharya says he does that by "putting into perspective what's important in life." He says getting married a year ago has helped him with that. 

Bhattacharya says what's important now is "having that connection with people and being selfless." The hardest thing to do, he says, is "battle against your default setting yourself. It takes an extra effort to step outside of that." 

The guitarist acknowledges he's been given a louder voice than others because of his rock star status, especially among other Christians. 

"There's a fine balance between understanding you are an influence and influencing in a way where you're directing it with yourself and you're not stifling where you are trying to save (somebody)," he says.