“I drank cobra blood in Southeast Asia”: 13 Questions with Kellin Quinn

In the first instalment of a new series on Kerrang!, we're putting Sleeping With Sirens vocalist Kellin Quinn through his paces. 13 Questions chosen at random from a much larger set, he has no idea what's coming, and ends up chatting to us about the joy of Nando's, drinking the blood of a venomous snake and perhaps the dullest party trick we've ever heard.

Why should people listen to your new album, How It Feels To Be Lost?
“Why should people listen to my new album? I don’t really know. I’ve never been one to push shit on anybody. Listen to my record, or don’t; I don’t really give a shit.”

What's the best place you've ever been?
“That’s a really hard question. The best place I’ve ever been is probably the United Kingdom. But I’m going to go with Nando’s. Nando’s is the best place I’ve ever been. They’ve got butterfly chicken and halloumi cheese.”

When was the last time you vomited?
“It’s been a long time. Probably the last time that I vomited was the last time I had a drink. So basically I haven’t vomited since the day after Christmas!”

What's the funniest rumour you've heard about yourself?
“Probably that I’m a girl. It was on the internet – people would say that I sing like a girl, and that grew to me actually being a girl. It’s just because I have a high voice.”

What is the most illegal thing you've ever done?
“Me and the guys from Pierce The Veil jumped the fence at this mini golf place in Orlando, Florida, where we’d heard they had alligators in the ponds. Sure enough there were, but then the cops showed up. All of us got away, but it was a close call.”

What is your party trick?
“I tend to corner people and show them stuff that I’ve done musically in the past. So it’d be stuff like me onstage with a band from years ago. It’s a pretty lame party trick.”

What is the last lie you told?
“I told my daughter that I’d give her a toy if she stopped screaming in public, or something like that. I’m not really big on lying, to be honest with you.”

What is your biggest fear?
“I guess my biggest fear is not being around long enough to see my daughter get married, or graduate. That’s why it’s important for me to try to be as healthy as possible and to keep my body as fit as I can. I want to be around and maybe be a grandfather.”

What is your worst habit?
“I’m addicted to ice cream. I try to eat healthy, but if there’s ice cream in my house I’ll definitely dig into it in the middle of night and eat a couple of spoonfuls of that.”

What's the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten?
“It’s more of a drinking thing, but I once drank cobra blood in Southeast Asia. They bring out an actual cobra, they kill the cobra, and then you eat the cobra but you also drink it’s blood. It was pretty intense. And then afterwards we flew to Australia and my ankles swelled up really bad. I was afraid there was some cobra venom in my blood.”

What is the worst job you've ever had?
“Man, I’ve had a lot of jobs but the worst one was working at the airport. I worked in a deli, and when you have to deal with people who are late for flights or who have just flown a long way, they’re really not in the best spirits. So hats off to anyone who works at an airport because you really have to deal with people when they’re at their worst.”

Have you ever been kicked out of a bar?
“Plenty of times. There’s a bar called Losers in Nashville and we went in there one night and there was a band playing. I was standing against a wall on which there was a light switch. I leaned on it and it turned on all the lights in the place. The barman came over and asked me not to do that again, but I did so I got kicked out of the bar.”

Have you ever stolen anything?
“Oh yeah. I don’t want to name names but I used to work at a clothing store that still somewhat funds my life. And if there were any jeans that took my fancy in there, I would put them on under the clothes that I was already wearing and just walk out of there.”

Sleeping With Sirens' new album How It Feels To Be Lost is out now.