In a new conversation with Metal Hammer, Jesse Leach explained how Killswitch Engage’s success caused him to leave.
Leach was part of their first two albums before stepping away, with Howard Jones replacing him. Leach returned in 2012. He shared what made him leave during the 2002 tour for ‘Alive Or Just Breathing,’ “The moment we got signed [to Roadrunner Records] and things started to happen, that’s when people wanted my autograph.”
The frontman continued, “People wanted to grab a picture with me and it was like, ‘What? That’s wild.’ It started to build social anxiety within me. I started to dread it. Back then, I was a very insecure, social anxiety-ridden kid, who didn’t have a total handle on my art.”
“I started to get depressed. My anxiety was crippling me,” Leach further shared about his state of mind at the time. “I would hide out before the show, play the set, hide out after, not be sociable, not have fun, and that just started wearing thin on me.”
The singer concluded, “I felt very alone, I was having a rough time with my voice and my mental health. I became pretty much suicidal. I had the wherewithal at least to bail and get out of there.”
In a 2019 interview with NME, Leach was asked when he was diagnosed with depression. He revealed, “Officially it was only five or six years ago, I finally saw a therapist around then. I realised that anxiety and depression kind of come hand-in-hand with me. I’ll get unbelievably anxious and then, from trying to suppress that I’ll get anxiety attacks, and then after that, I want to sleep for days. I was like that for years.”
“I either wanted to sleep or disappear. But when you have a language to put to it — like the doctor did with their diagnosis of me — you start to gain tools and methods in how to deal with it. Before that, I just thought I was nuts. Now I’ve started to accept that it’s part of who I am and like every facet of me, I need to learn to manage it,” he stated.
In January 2025, the band released the single ‘I Believe’ ahead of their upcoming album ‘This Consequence.’
