No time for a swim for Killswitch

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(Special to the Record-Eagle) Killswitch Engage has had five songs peak in the top 40.

July 20, 2012

No time for a swim for Killswitch

Heavy metal act is at Streeters tonight

BY JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Fri Jul 20, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Killswitch Engage singer Jesse Leach is happy to be back in Traverse City.

Only this time, it's actually with Killswitch.

The heavy metal act plays at Ground Zero in the Streeters Center tonight, July 20, in one of the early dates of its first U.S. tour with Leach back at the helm.

Leach departed from the band more nine years ago. During that time he formed another outfit called Seemless that was an opening act for Nonpoint at Ground Zero in 2006.

"It was so much fun," Leach said. "We went swimming in the lake and had a day off beforehand. It was absolutely beautiful up there, so it's great to get back."

There will be no day off for a swim this time, as Killswitch is coming from Milwaukee, Wis., the night before and leaving for Fort Wayne, Ind., the following day.

In the interim, Howard Jones was the band's singer, but he left the band in January.

Enter Leach, who had to audition for his old job back.

"The main issue is how I handle Howard's material," Leach said. "How would I do it, and how would I make it my own. That to me was the big challenge. And I wanted those guys to see it in that kind of a setting."

Killswitch — which has had five songs peak in the top 40 mainstream rock charts, most notably a cover of Dio's "Holy Diver" — did one European festival tour earlier this year, but this one is the first with Leach back at the mic in the U.S.

"I'm happy to be back," Leach said. "I'm looking forward to the tour and feel very fortunate to be doing this for a living as opposed to working behind a bar, which is what I was doing prior to this. It's nice to get back out on the road again."

They are part of the Trespass America tour, along with Five Finger Death Punch, Pop Evil, Trivium, Emmure, God Forbid and Battlecross. They'll bring Trivium and Detroit-based Battlecross with them for tonight's show at Streeters.

"We like playing these one-off shows, especially when you're out on a big tour, because it gets you in front of a smaller audience — a little more intimate," Leach said. "That's always a good thing."

The headlining appearance allows them to expand their show to 1:50, whereas KSE generally gets an hour to 1:15 on the Trespass tour.

Leach said the difference between himself and Jones is noticeable, and both have something to offer.

"He has a naturally stronger voice," Leach said. "He's more of a soul singer. The melodic stuff comes really easy for him. That's something I have to work on. My style tends to be a little grittier. Instead of hitting a note clean, I like to hit it with some grime and pebbles and dirt in it. That's the bluesy part of me. I like that kind of dirty vocals. So it's a balance between those two so I can do his songs justice, but also make them my own."

The band has a new CD expected to be released later this year.

"Now we're working on a new record, so it gives me an opportunity to do another style as well and really push myself as a vocalist once again," Leach said. "It's fun for me keeping it diverse and interesting, while still maintaining the integrity of what the band is built on."

Tickets are $32 the day of the show.