Alissa White-Gluz has spent a career attaching causes to her microphone, which means she has also spent a career finding out what that costs. Speaking to Viva!, the U.K. vegan campaigning charity, she was asked about the hardening of American political division and about how many people now keep quiet rather than risk the social bill for an unwelcome opinion.
Her answer started with the part of it she has never been able to opt out of. "Even just being a woman in metal is something that already puts a target on my head," she said. "And, of course, being vegan and being — whatever you wanna call political views. I mean, I'm not American — I can't vote either way when it comes to those politics — but I obviously agree with some things from both sides, but more leaning towards progressive and liberal values. And that puts a target on my head, too."
"It's a scary time, for sure," she continued — and then made a point that cut against the tribal arithmetic in both directions. "I have friends that are right-wing. I have friends that are carnivore. I have lots of people in my life that I love, and one aspect of who they are doesn't change the fact that I care about them. I'm not judging their entire personality on one tiny aspect of it. But we live in a society where people do that. They're, like, 'I hate vegans, and you're a vegan, so I hate you.' Or, 'I hate liberals, and you're a liberal, so I hate you.'"
"And it's a shame, because there's so much more to life than that," she said. "And I feel like people are kind of losing that now. They think that they have to hate certain people, and they have to align themselves with a very strict label, and you don't have to do that. You can actually be an individual and be yourself. But I think people are really afraid to be like that now."
The interview lands in the middle of the busiest stretch of her post-ARCH ENEMY life. We covered BLUE MEDUSA's first-ever show on September 4 in Berlin, where she headlined the Corrupted Blood Club Show at Huxleys Neue Welt alongside guitarists Alyssa Day and Dani Sophia, bassist Alicia Vigil and drummer Delaney Jaster. The band has three singles out so far: "Crocodile", "Checkmate" and "Flying Monkey".
She also spent her birthday weekend at Wacken Open Air working three separate stages, including a performance of "Our Kingdom" with Bear McCreary, and has been turning up unannounced with ICE NINE KILLS across Europe and North America. This autumn she fronts DRAGONFORCE again for the "Inhuman Rampage" anniversary tour in North America.
White-Gluz joined ARCH ENEMY in 2014 and made four albums with them, from "War Eternal" to last year's "Blood Dynasty", before playing her final show with the band in Düsseldorf on November 15, 2025.