I am a firm believer of doing my own thing, not listening to what anyone tells me about anyone unless I meet them personally. Which brings me to this.

Many of you may or may not know Jinx’s he is a personal friend and great human, most people don’t understand that he is very blessed and cursed for being in one of those bands that everyone loves…to hate.

Take your time see a few things though his eyes and maybe understand that hate is the one thing that keeps Jinx and his band going.

Here is Jinx on 5 questions with themerchdude.

1) You are in the band Black Veil Brides, you dress up, wear makeup and have some of the most loyal fans, my question is, Do you feel that having such loyal fans, upset the fact that many people hate your band even before they listen to it?

Sure it does. I always think it’s funny when someone tries to inform me that my band sucks when there’s millions of our fans out there who will vehemently invalidate their statement. I think for many people they are put off by our sudden rise of success because it scares them. Like that it’s due to some sort of black magic or something, that it just couldn’t possibly be because our music is actually good or that we really are a great band. So they write us off before they even actually listen to our music, and in their minds it makes them more ‘cool’ to hate us. Besides, all hate comes from ignorance. The truth is, when you have all the right ingredients for a great band, or have a dream and the balls to actually take it all the way, there’s no limit for how far you will succeed. There’s magic, yes, but not black magic.

2) What is the reaction of people that have never heard or seen your band play live and what is their reaction after they listen and watch?

That’s the fun part. There will be those people who have never actually heard our music, only ‘heard of’ us, that are at the show to see another band on the bill. They boo us, throw bottles at us and flip us off when we enter the stage; then we start playing… I’ve seen people do complete 180’s at our shows and it’s awesome. We saw this a lot on our recent arena tour with Avenged Sevenfold. People would be there to see Avenged, and of course never heard our music only ‘of’ us, and already hated us. But then after our set would go out and buy our cd because they realized our music is very complimentary to that of Avenged’s. Winning over new fans will never get old.

3) What brand of makeup do you wear and would you ever consider to do a cover girl commercial or be the spokesman for a tanning salon?

We have an endorsement with MAC and they make all of our eye makeup and “warpaint” that we wear on stage. Haha I wouldn’t be opposed to doing a cover girl commercial if they gave me a truckload of money, but I’m doing just fine right now so I don’t see that happening anytime soon! The tanning salon sure, because I am constantly tanning, you know.

4) You have met many bands guys of the 80’s (Skidrow, Mötley Cru, Twisted Sister) and they all talk highly of your playing and band, How sweet does that feel having guys like those supporting you and your band?

I think it’s fucking awesome. What better way to fight off the attacks of our haters than the endorsement and approval of the very bands that inspired us to do what we do? But even more than that, these guys have become great friends and like big brothers and mentors to us. Nikki Sixx is constantly helping us out and giving us advice on songwriting and the life in general, Sebastian Bach even stayed at my house for a while this summer. These guys are more than rockstars to us, they are family.

5) What are 5 things you can tell us that your fans have no clue about you? (I won’t tell anyone)

1. In High School I was tan, worked out, and had long blond hair past my ass. I still wore eyeliner though!

2. I grew up very poor and had to work my ass off to get to where I am today. Some people will never comprehend that.

3. I am NOT rich. Though sometimes it’s fun to perpetuate the myth that I am :)

4. I am an atheist. I don’t go around trashing other peoples’ beliefs though so you would probably never notice.

5. I am NOT a robot. I am a living, breathing, caring human being that eats, poops, and enjoys having a personal life just like anyone else. It would be nice if some people respected this.

I met themerchdude back when I was a poor chimney sweep working off the docks of New Jersey. I was bathing in the ocean to get the soot off (because I had no place to shower of my own) when I found myself being attacked by a great white shark. Themerchdude came along with his huge yacht (because he is very, very rich) and harpooned the beast and rescued me. He then offered me a job in his sweat shop making t shirts for rock bands by hand at gunpoint. It was through this that I discovered music and all these great bands, and I knew what I wanted to do and that my t shirt making days were numbered. But if not for themerchdude, I would have never known a life outside of chimney sweeping. And probably would’ve been eaten by that damned shark.

So now that you know a little more about Jinx’s and the Black Veil Brides you can follow him or even have fun watching them play live on tour.

Twitter: @JinxxBVB
Facebook: www.facebook.com/blackveilbrides
Official website: www.BVBarmy.com