In a new interview with SPIN.com, BUTCHER BABIES frontwoman Heidi Shepherd spoke about what it was like becoming the sole singer of the band following the 2024 departure of Carla Harvey.

Although Harvey initially stepped away from BUTCHER BABIES to recover from a “serious eye injury”, she later told AL.com that she felt “kind of squeezed out” of the band when “they went and did a tour without me.” Harvey has since formed a new band called THE VIOLENT HOUR, in which she collaborates with her now-husband, ANTHRAX and PANTERA drummer Charlie Benante.

“I think the hardest part about it all was really just the loss of a best friend of 20-something years, you know?” Heidi told SPIN.com. “I didn’t know it was going to be so hard.

“I had this link on my arm, a BFF right here with me for 20 years,” she continued. “And now it’s, like, where do I stand as an individual not attached to that? It’s still something that I have to look at and think, will I ever get to that friendship again with someone else? Or is that friendship gone forever?”

Referencing BUTCHER BABIES guitarist Henry Flury, with whom she has been in a relationship for more than a decade, and how the creative process has changed for the band’s latest album, “Nightbloom”, Heidi said: “Henry and I have been together for 15 years, we’re each other’s creative partner, so that part was the same.

“When somebody decides that all the years and all the work and stuff that you put into something, that they’re finished with it, that’s fine,” Shepherd explained. “And I have had to keep telling myself, that’s okay. I respect it. But my journey is not done. Henry‘s journey is not done. And I feel like I have a duty, not just to myself, but to our fans, to our managers, to our agents, to our lawyer, people that have been with us for almost 20 years.”

Heidi added: “This is so much bigger than two people. This is so much bigger than five people. This is so much bigger than a band. I had to look at it and say, all right, we need to keep this going. And honestly, I feel stronger than ever.”

In October 2024, Harvey told “The Ward Bond Show” about her exit from BUTCHER BABIES: “So there’s so much that goes into being in a band, especially as you get older and your life changes, you have relationships, you have a partner. I have a stepdaughter, and the idea, all of a sudden, of being on the road 10, 12 months out of the year became just a lot to handle. And in a band there’s five people, and half of those people may feel like they want to be on the road constantly all the time and then some people are, like, ‘Maybe it’s halftime.’ So it doesn’t always work out for the greater good of everybody.”

Last month, BUTCHER BABIES released their single and official music video, “Leaving California”, available now via Judge & Jury Records, a record label and production company founded by multi-platinum producer Howard Benson (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, SEETHER, SKILLET, OF MICE & MEN) and Neil Sanderson of THREE DAYS GRACE. Produced by Benson, the track marks the fifth single from BUTCHER BABIES‘ new album, “Nightbloom”, due out October 2.