Artist Spotlight: A.J. Bartholomew Morphs from Post-Metalcore to Acoustic Charm and Beyond

You may already know A.J. Bartholomew, without actually realizing you do. A.J. has a lengthy music resume dating all the way back to his high school band in the early 2000s. If you attended Warped Tour at any point within the past fifteen years, there’s a decent chance you may have seen him perform with his first band, AllurA, or current post-metalcore band, Eyes Set To Kill.

Based in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, A.J. credits everyone from AFI to The Beatles to Alanis Morissette as influential artists, amongst others. His musical range is virtually infinite – from screamo vocals and heavy guitar riffs to nostalgic covers of 50’s oldies to Blink 182 and more, there is no genre A.J. couldn’t master. Whether mellowing out at a local residency or headbanging on stage across the country, there’s a side of A.J. for whatever you’re in the mood for. I sat down with him to discuss his current endeavors, some career highlights so far, and what we can expect from him in the future.

A.J. playing with Lose Control in 2019. Photo by Nikki Phillips.

CC: For those who do not know you yet, let’s fill them in. Tell me a little about yourself and what bands and projects are currently on your roster?

AB: I am currently the guitar player and singer and screamer in Eyes Set To Kill for about 6 years. I am also the guitarist and singer in Lose Control. I also have a band with my sister called Rochelle, Rochelle. She’s an actress so we don’t get too much time together, but we play whenever we can. I recently started a solo project this year (under a simplified name, A.J.) and play a lot of solo gigs as well. I am most excited about my newest project, which I haven’t announced yet. Lastly, I play in a cover band called The Wild Stallions. (A.J. insists they’re actually terrible, but I beg to differ.)

CC: Who are some of your earliest influences – and who else did you grow into along the way?

AB: The first thing I ever listened to was The Beatles. They’ve always been the top five for me. They were the first artists I absolutely loved. Going on to middle school… KoRn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock… Nirvana was huge for me. But, I think KoRn was probably my favorite. Since high school, I’ve become increasingly obsessed with AFI. Avenged Sevenfold and Slipknot are also up top for me. In 2009, Alexisonfire was on Warped Tour with my old band (AllurA). That’s where it all began with Alexisonfire and City and Colour and my love for Dallas Greene… We would all go to his set and just stop and gaze like, “How is he so good?” And now I have every vinyl ever put out between both artists.

CC: Do you have any other tour memories that stand out?

AB: The goal was always to be a touring musician, so everything’s on the table trying to play in every city you possibly can. Of all the cities we visited, I never thought Ukraine would be a stop, but that was huge. Eyes Set To Kill played Zaxidfest in 2019. We literally flew in that morning, slept for one hour in the hotel, played a set, then flew back to Germany running on another lone hour of sleep. It was very short-lived and tiring, but a really cool experience.

Mexico is awesome as well. I’ve been there twice. They love metal. I actually felt the most culture shock there both in 2013 and 2017. We normally would go out for tacos before the show, but one of the venues thought they’d order us pizza instead. Except, the pizza didn’t have any sauce on it and they gave us ketchup on the side… I know it sounds weird, but it was still pretty good. Overall, Mexico just has some of the best authentic food I’ve ever had.

(I’m not too sure how I feel about ketchup pizza, but I’ll take his word.)

CC: What can we expect from Eyes Set To Kill in the future?

AB: We will be touring the states for a few weeks in the fall. We are feeling out going back to Europe in early 2022. Lots of touring, always. Still working out the details, but can’t wait to officially announce everything down the road.

CC: Just for fun… an artist or genre you listen to, but most people wouldn’t guess?

AB: I feel like most people view me as a metalhead because that’s mainly what I am involved with. Really, if you look at all my bands, I’ve done pretty much everything so I don’t think it’s that surprising. I mean, I love Alanis Morrisette. Jagged Little Pill is one of the best albums ever. I also really like Savage Garden. It was the first CD I ever asked my parents for in 2nd grade. In 4th grade, I got Smashmouth and Third Eye Blind. In 6th grade, of my volition, I went to Wherehouse… Nirvana and Kid Rock were the first CDs that I truly got myself.

CC: Tell me five of your favorite records… they don’t have to be your top five. Just a handful you really love.

AB: It’s kind of tough since AFI has more records than that…

CC: Okay, okay… maybe omitting AFI…

AB: Okay, well Sing The Sorrow is my number one favorite album of all time. I highly doubt anybody could ever beat that. Help! is my favorite Beatles album. Either Waking The Fallen or self-titled by Avenged Sevenfold… nostalgic purposes, maybe Waking The Fallen, tough call. Nevermind (Nirvana) has to be in there, too. All Hope Is Gone by Slipknot is fucking unbelievable. I love all of the others, to be honest. I love Subliminal Verses. Iowa is absolutely fantastic, but I just feel like all the way through, All Hope Is Gone… every song is a super banger.

CC: If you could put together a dream tour, any artists or genres, with you, who would be on it?

AB: Dallas Greene, either band. I just want to listen to him every night. Same with AFI. I would love to tour with Avenged Sevenfold as well. I have seen them 15 times, but not since The Rev died. My last was ‘08, but I’ve kept up with everything since then.

CC: You’ve been releasing singles here and there as a solo artist. What have you recently been up to and what can we expect in the future?

AB: My most recent solo song is my third single – a cover of Linkin Park’s “Crawling” – which came out on the 25th of June. I have a 2 song EP coming out in the summer, which is both original solo tracks. Eyes Set To Kill has a new EP coming out soon, probably around the fall. And then I have a full album project, super-secret for now. More on that later. Lose Control also has some stuff in the works… just depends on what we can get our hands-on.

If you are in the SoCal area, you can catch an acoustic set by A.J. at one of his upcoming performance dates. Eyes Set To Kill also just announced Texas and west coast tour dates in the fall with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: