With Sixx:A.M. going on hiatus, singer James Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba have decided to move forward with a new project called Pyromantic. During a Facebook live session the duo revealed that their debut album should be released this year, and that a video for the first single will soon be filmed in Las Vegas.

Michael commented on the group’s musical and lyrical direction:

“Lyrically, it is very deep, but it’s different from SIXX:A.M. in the sense that I think that we are choosing different subject matter to talk about. Sonically speaking, it’s heavy as fuck, but it’s also got these really, really pop melodies. So all I can say is I know you’re gonna dig it. It’s some of the most special stuff I’ve ever heard. We’ve been in this business a long time, and we’re very excited about that.”

Ashba added:

“When we sat down to do PYROMANTIC, the one big thing [we said to ourselves] was, ‘Let’s create something so new and fresh and create a sound for PYROMANTIC,’ so when you PYROMANTIC, it has a very distinct sound. And it’s pretty much… What we went after is a great blend of dance, rock and pop, and you kind of throw that in a blender, and I would say that’s pretty much what PYROMANTIC sounds like.”

Michael continued:

“It’s definitely very, very song driven. As artists, we’ve been driven by songs.”

Michael also discussed their touring plans:

“The neat thing about this music is that it’s not going to be limited to just a rock audience, so there is a much broader spectrum of audiences that we can play for and a much broader spectrum of bands that we can actually tour with. That’s very exciting to us.”

He also added the following about their touring lineup:

“That’s funny. Even with SIXX:A.M., we were kind of always undefined. We never had a drummer in that band until the very end. And I like that, because I think that as soon as you start establishing those things, you can get locked in very easily.” Ashba added: “Put it this way, we have a touring band already pretty much locked in, but we won’t announce that yet till we have a tour.”

As for Sixx:A.M., Ashba had the following to say:

“We’re basically on an indefinite hiatus. SIXX:A.M. has always been from day one — it’s been no secret — it’s always been a side project for all three of us. We did an extensive amount of touring and when we got off, we all felt like, ‘You know what? Let’s take a good break here and it gave everybody time to kind of go do their things, the separate things that we wanted to do.”

“It took a lot out of us making a double album. That was a lot of work, so we were pretty much drained from that. I mean, we had a lot of fun making those albums, but it was a ton of work. So, yeah, we just kind of decided, ‘Let’s take a little break,’ and blah blah blah, and kind of all went our own ways.”

[via Blabbermouth]