Not bad for an upstart band with Central Texas roots.
Flyleaf members vocalist and lyricist Lacey Mosley, guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann, bassist Pat Seals and drummer James Culpepper formed in Belton in 2002 and spent the next few years developing a sound and touring the country.
After a show at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin in 2003, the record label Octone signed them.
A full-length, self-titled debut album followed in 2005 and after years of touring and promotion, the album reached platinum status in February.
“We don’t understand what that really means, that that many people would buy our album,” Bhattacharya said. “It’s really cool and we’re very grateful people have given us a chance.”
Bhattacharya, Temple born and Holland raised, spent his Saturdays in “high school, jamming with my friends. None of us believed this could really happen,” he said.
Sarah Robinson, a freshman at Temple College and one of the more than 1 million people who spent money on Flyleaf’s album, was excited to hear of the band’s success.
“I had no idea they were that popular,” she said. “I discovered their music about a year ago through a friend and we always felt like it was our thing.”
Luckily, their music has more than a two-person fan base and that has allowed them to tour with music giants like Staind, Evanescence and most recently Korn, on a European tour that ended less than two weeks ago.
“We’ve been in Europe for two months,” Bhattacharya said on a call from the United Kingdom, a few days after the end of the tour. “The tour’s been amazing. It was different every night. Some nights were really amazing and then some nights the crowds threw beer at us.”
Those beer cans came from impatient audiences who weren’t as familiar with Flyleaf’s music as they were with the headlining act. The band did not let it stop them from creating new fans and experiencing as much culture as possible. Bhattacharya even found a unique moment of silence during a stopover in Venice, Italy.
“When we got there you realize it’s so quiet,” he said. “There are no cars and you don’t here any engines running. It was something else.”
Flyleaf is known for its hard-edge sound with positive-theme lyrics that come from the group’s life struggles and faith.
“We all try to find hope in our lives and that’s in our music,” Bhattacharya said. “All of us (in the band) are Christians. We’ve been scarred and burned by life but that’s what life is and you can learn from that.”
Their message is not lost on fans who appreciate the band’s approach to the contemporary music scene.
“It is interesting to see a band with local connections and a not-so-mainstream sound make it big,” said Brian Connors, a junior at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
As a Christian, Connors said he was grateful they stick to an uplifting message in their music because “right now it’s hard to find bands that are more into their message than just making money.”
Flyleaf and Bhattacharya are holding up their part of the bargain by acting as a mouthpiece for World Vision’s “Use Your Voice” campaign that focuses on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa and the United States.
Before returning home, the band spent a few days in Rwanda learning more about what their jobs as spokesmen are really about.
“We are going to see the facilities they have over there,” Bhattacharya said prior to the visit. “I wish we had some more time and we could really get our hands dirty. We all feel we’ve been put in an influential place and are doing what we can to help out.”
From doing his part on the world scene to touring with bands he idolized, Bhattacharya maintains that success is something he never expected.
“It really is one of those things I didn’t plan, but at the same time it was deep in my heart and it’s what I longed to do,” he said.
The band returned from Africa just in time to play a show at the SXSW festival on Thursday and begin a tour with Seether that includes a stop at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton on April 25. However, before they get going, Bhattacharya had a list of things to do he’d been planning for around two months.
“When I get back home, I’ve got my first three meals all planned out,” he said with excitement. “For breakfast, it’s a burrito from Ernie’s Fried Chicken, then lunch at Whataburger and dinner at El Taco Jalisco.”
Any guess on the final thing on Bhattacharya’s list of things to do?
“I’m excited to come home and just sit.”
rrenfrow@temple-telegram.com
