Kylesa originally announced their reunion in 2024 and only noted that guitarists and vocalists Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope were part of it. Now in 2025 ahead of their reunion shows, Kylesa is welcoming Nausea‘s rhythm section drummer Roy Mayorga (Ministry, Stone Sour, etc.) and bassist John John Jesse.
So how’d Kylesa‘s new lineup come to be? Pleasants revealed in a new interview with Decibel that the recruitment of Mayorga and Jesse all started when Jesse hit her up on Instagram.
“John John hit me up on IG ‘reporting for duty,’ should we need a bass player. We had already made our first announcement about Roadburn and Inferno, so word was out that we were reforming. Although we were talking about lineup possibilities in the background, we had not yet solidified a band. I was a bit shocked when I heard from John John, so I half-jokingly texted him back saying, ‘Sure! Just hit up Roy and we’ll be off to the races.’ The next day I got a phone call from Roy!
“When I called Phillip about the possibility of jamming with these guys, I could hardly contain myself. I was like, ‘Dude… ok… are you sitting down? I have some news…’ I think it was Phillip who turned me on to Nausea in the first place when I was probably 18. We’re longtime fans and even covered a song of theirs back in the day.”
Elsewhere in the same interview, Cope revealed that he and Pleasants spoke with longtime Kylesa drummer Carl McGinley about the reunion. Cope said McGinley doesn’t play drums anymore “and has wished us his best.” Catch Kylesa at one of their reunion shows this year – now including two US dates in December – and get your tickets here.
4/17 Tilburg, NET Roadburn Festival
4/18 Oslo, NOR Inferno Fest
5/9 Copenhagen, DEN A Colossal Weekend
5/10 Aalborg, DEN 1 Fryd
5/12 Athens, GRA Gagarin 25 Live Music Space
5/31 Toronto, ON Prepare The Ground
6/22 Clisson, FRA Hellfest Open Air
7/30-8/2 Wacken, GER Wacken Open Air
7/31 Berlin, GER Lido
8/13 London, UK Underworld
8/13-17 Bristol, UK ArcTanGent
12/4 Savannah, GA District Live (+ Royal Thunder & The Maxines)
12/6 New York City, NY Le Poisson Rouge (+ pageninetynine)
Source: metalinjection.net
