RUMOR OF THE DAY: JESSE LEACH TO REUNITE WITH KILLSWITCH ENGAGE FOR NYC SHOWS?
Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 10:40am by Axl RosenbergEarlier this week Howard Jones had to drop off of Killswitch Engage’s current headlining tour, apparently due to illness. All That Remains’ Phil LaBonte has been filling in for Jones – The PRP has been referring to this incarnation of the band as “Philswitch Engage” (cute) – but now MS Suckalo has done some investigative reporting and it seems that original KSE front man Jesse Leach may be returning to the band for their NYC shows next month. Have a look at this recent Facebook exchange (Yes, Facebook. I know, we’re not exactly Woodward and Bernstein.):
Now, Leach obviously isn’t confirming anything here, but if he’s not doing these shows in some capacity, well… he’s kind of a cock tease who’s clearly leading some fans on. So for now I’m gonna give the benefit of the doubt and say Leach seems to most likely be making plans to do these gigs.
Leach and KSE parted on good terms so this isn’t a shocker; still, given how popular the band has become since the release of their second and final record with Leach, the already-legendary Alive or Just Breathing, I’d wager this will be the first chance many fans have had to see the band live with Leach.
(I’d also like to take this moment to stress that if you think this is the beginning of Leach’s full-time return to the band, well, you’re dreaming. I don’t see KSE repeating Anthrax’s mistake anytime soon.)
It will also be fun to see what the band decides to play for these shows, assuming Leach is in fact doing them. I’d love to see AOJB played in its entirety, but who knows? Maybe the band will also break-out some material for their (original) self-titled album, or even have Leach do some songs from latter-day KSE recordings (He already did a guest spot on End of Heartache’s “Take This Oath” and “Irreversal”). Or maybe Leach is only doing part of the set, with LaBonte filling in the rest – although I can’t imagine LaBonte, or anyone else, being anything but anti-climactic at a show with Jesse Leach on vocals.
The shows take place March 18 and 19 at The Fillmore. I guess we’ll see what happens then…
-AR
35 COMMENTS on “RUMOR OF THE DAY: JESSE LEACH TO REUNITE WITH KILLSWITCH ENGAGE FOR NYC SHOWS?”
Jesse Leach won’t be coming back to KSE to stay. I think everyone needs to get over it and just move on, man.
But the one off show thing is cool.
Dream Theater did it with Charlie Dominici, I believe. It would kick ass.
if he is doin these 2 one off shows amazing
haaaaaaaa holy fuck if he played the fillmore…oh man, i think i just came a little
holy shit… that would be spectacular. (damnit, I still live in MI)
I would go see them if he did.
“Irreversal” was a re-recording of a song from their debut, and it was only on the bonus version of “The End of Heartache.” Not really “latter-day KsE material” at all.
To those living in New York – so, so lucky – goes to show, Europe doesn’t always get the best shows. I’m still gutted that Only Living Witness only played a show in the Netherlands & didn’t hit the UK.
underrated band
I saw them probably 8-10 years back with Leach when he still had his long dreads. They opened for Boysetsfire in Albany, and they aboslutely killed it. Jones is good, but everything he does sound the same nowadays. KSE needs to get some edge back, and I think Leach could help them out.
KSE have still yet to prove Max Cavalera wrong. Last time I saw them, between songs the guitarist would chase his bandmates on stage with a pink dildo.
For fucks sake! Fucking New York always getting these awesome shows.. That tour comes to Utah that same month… I would KILL to see Jesse fronting instead of Phil. No disrespect to Phil (who I think is doing a great job of helping out and keeping everything rolling), but it would just be a really special thing to see…
GODDAMMIT!
Would love to see this!
I was THINKING about going to one of the Irving shows, I may be PLANNING on going with this info.
If this also means that they are going to be playing a set heavy with material from the first self-titled, and “Alive or Just Breathing,” that would be even better. I recently checked out Leach’s new project (The Empire Shall Fall), and think they are pretty decent, btw.
there’s no ill will between them, so it’d be a cool thing to do, but for KSE it’s just gonna mean a whole lot more of ‘when is Jesse coming back…’ from early fans, and as a poster above said, I don’t think he is, so do they want to open that can of worms? they can say it’s a one-off all they want, but some people won’t believe them. that said, it would be pretty freaking cool if he came on and they played the whole ‘Alive…’ album!
We must admit that Jesse Leach is a hard worker cause once he was out of KSE started seemless who sounded good to me then Empire Shall Fall, I know the dude is not comming back to the bad however is a good opporTunity for him to show he is got the skills still in that way once The Empire Shall Fall album is out there would be a bigger fan base for the band, I havent dig the latest shit KSE has come out with cause it just sounds so repetitive to me, Jones shold avoid the melodic voice for a while and focus on the gutural voices and kinda mix it with a hardcore voice so it does sound repetitive either,, and as I said before maybe he needs some time out and bring a nw album from Blood has been Shed, just my $50 bucks where is the bill?
What the fuck is that??
i’d probably go if this was true
fuck man i love to see kse with jesse alive or just breathing is my favorite album of all time
my bands actually playin at least one show at the moment with The Empire Shall Fall on the 27th. Stoked to get to meet Jesse and the other guys, pretty solid band with a pretty solid message. David Icke FTW!
I will start walking tomorrow.
I interviewed Mike D’Antonio right before this tour kicked off (visit Clevescene.com to read the story) and he said that in the two cities where they’re doing two-night stands, NYC and Chicago, they’re planning on playing deep catalog stuff the second night, really doing an obsessives-only type of show…so if you’re planning on hitting the NYC gig(s), night #2 is probably gonna be the way to go.
Alive or Just Breathing was the shit, id be so down to see a KSE show with leach
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG V
Chris Steeves needs to learn English.
Dude Go fuck yourself, its facebook, i wasnt handing in an essay to my college professor, really get a fucking life.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…followed by a massive heart attack.The rabid fanboy in me cannot be contained!!!! I offer my entire family and neighbourhood as sacrifice for this to happen.
Meh. The people who hope for this are the same folks that say ‘Oh i wish lamb of God would play stuff from Burn the Priest!!’
Its over he left for a reason get over it.
I think the main two reasons were he wanted to try something else and be in a less active band.
Though I don’t he realized that KSE would be as big as Burger King, and that he would have been able to swim in a pile of gold like Scrooge McDuck if he would have stuck with the band.
What I would give to see that show, fuck! I hope some good footage makes its way onto Youtube.
yet again, atl is denied the platinium treatment over nyc, just saw it was phil and he did like mostly alive or just breathing shit, FUCKING AWESOME but that shit with FUCKING JESSiE??? I cant even grasp how cool that would be. well gladd phil sang and they didnt have to cancel, plus DT :)
I wish I lived in NYC while this happens.
Jesse’s new band, The Empire Shall Fall, are playing a string of dates next month:
Feb 26: Endicott, NY / The Downtown Quarterback
Feb 27: Worcester, MA / Ralph’s Diner / Rock Your Face Off (festival), with Ravage, Widow Sunday, Acaro, etc
Mar 5: Philly, PA / Mill Creek Tavern / with Hull and We Thieves
Mar 6: Staten Island, NY / Dock St w/ TBA