"I never want to live as if the simple act of being myself is burdensome to me."

I'm going to kick off this review by saying that I'm not anywhere close to the target demographic for this book. I don't listen to Black Veil Brides, I have only a passing familiarity with their music, and I think I watched about half of the video companion to Wretched and Divine (which I do remember being very cool). I am familiar with Andy Biersack for one reason only, and that reason is Joe Flanders.

Joe's YouTube series (Average Joe) became a huge hit among my roommates and I during my freshman year of college, and "rock and roll pneuMONia!" became a meme that could send any of us into uncontrollable laughter. So, Joe brought Andy onto my radar and there he stayed in the periphery. I've kept very small tabs on his career over the years in the way any of us in the rock, metal, or punk scenes keep track of people, but I wouldn't position myself as a fan.

A post about this book wandered across my Instagram feed, and I have a job that enables me to listen to a lot of audiobooks during my shift, so I checked it out. It's narrated by Andy himself, which is great because I genuinely don't think anyone else could do it justice (and he does have, as they say, a voice for radio).

I found his book insightful and interesting. Some of it is charming and easy to identify with, and some of it is an unflinching look at things that Andy said or did that alienated and/or offended people (and that were generally uncool things to do). It's the good and the bad, and he has the grace and the awareness to look back on some of these things and to say, "I was wrong, here's why." I think that's very valuable for someone who is positioned as a role model for so many people.

Overall, this book is about 75% memoir, and 25% self-help advice by the way of life experience. It was very interesting, and a pleasure to listen to. He comes from a place of not assuming that his audience is familiar with... well, anything, which is an unexpected place for a rock star to come from. It's interesting to have someone explain who Gene Simmons is, or the various awards their band received, in the context of what is essentially a rock-n-roll memoir (though he does state in the opening paragraphs that he's entirely too young for this to truly be a memoir). I appreciated that. Though I was familiar with all the Gods of Rock referenced throughout the book, I appreciate how... accessible the book is. I think someone could pick up this book without having any idea who Andy Biersack is at ALL, without ever having heard of Dee Snyder or Alkaline Trio, and still find entertainment and value in the experience with a very minimal amount of Googling (if any).

Did I listen to this merely because I love Andy and his voice, big yes. I usually listen to audios super fast to keep up with my racing mind, this, I had at normal speed just to enjoy his story and voice. Could I read the physical book, yes, but it had Andy on audiobook, BIG YES.
I have been a BVB fan since I watched knives and pens on YouTube over and over again whilst struggling through my emo high school years. When it came out I instantly fell for Andy and has been a love affair since.
I love when he talked about soundwave I grew up on soundwave. Miss SW!

Raw, honest, funny and real, I loved how he talked about sobriety and how alcohol influenced him. As someone who has struggled it really made me feel less alone. Him also talking about being different and how it affects us. The whole mental health and alcohol side was beautifully done.
Shadow side highly impacted on my life and now I can see why.

I’ve been meaning to read this forever and it was a fantastic book. Even better that he did audiobook version with his own voice. I loved every single second of this.

Menuda sorpresa, de verdad.

Si no sabéis quién es Andy Biersack, él es el cantante del grupo Black Veil Brides. Este libro lo ha escrito, con ayuda de otra persona, y nos cuenta desde su infancia hasta prácticamente, la actualidad.
Nos habla sobre sus padres, sus grandes apoyos, los años que sufrió bullying por ser diferente, el inicio de la banda, su mujer Juliet (que a mí, personalmente, no me cae bien), The Andy Show (que os lo recomiendo MUCHÍSIMO), y su viaje de desintoxicación.

Aunque el libro me ha gustado mucho, me esperaba mucho más. Creo que mi yo cotilla quería conocer algunas cosas más salseantes de su vida y que han trascendido a los medios, pero aquí no están. También hay alguna que otra parte que me aburrió un poco, y en otras que creo que podría haber profundizado un poco más, porque seguro que se quedaron cosas en el tintero.

Lo cuenta todo en primera persona, y parece que es él el que te está contando todo esto mientras estáis tomándoos un café. Creo que a principios de febrero sale el audiolibro, así que lo escucharé para ver qué tal es (y si lo narra Andy, porque ya entonces sí que sería un puntazo).

Ahora, en marzo Amazon Prime (que no sé si llegará a España, aunque creo que si), se estrenará Paradise City, la serie en la que Andy participa. Antes de ver esta serie (que seguro que verá mucha gente porque fue el penúltimo trabajo de Cameron Boyce antes de morir), os recomiendo mucho ver American Satan, que también protagoniza Andy. ¿Por qué? Porque Paradise City es la secuela de esta película.

it was pretty much what i expected in terms of a short and sweet, but not particularly well written, rockstar bio. there's a lot of reflection, but it's very clearly told to a co-writer than someone truly writing about their lives. also, way too much of it was #lifelessons. worth a listen tho.

3.5/5