In the final instalment of our 3 part special, we sat down for a chat with Vic Fuentes and Jaime Preciado of Pierce The Veil. The San Diego quartet are currently storming the UK on their first headline tour and with every date selling out it has been a whirlwind week for the guys.
Est.1987 caught up with them backstage at Manchester Moho to chat about the vision for the latest record, Spanish guitar solos and the screaming female fans.
Heya guys! So, this is your first UK Leeds . Have
all the other shows been as crazy as in Leeds ?
JAIME [Preciado, bass]- It’s been wild, really crazy! I think this is just a
week straight of all the shows being jam packed, sold out. Crazy kids;
yesterday I was terrified when we were trying to leave the venue. There was
still a ton of kids…
VIC [Fuentes, vocals]- …chasing our van, hitting the windows and stuff. It
was crazy.
So after seeing you at Leeds we figured out you have a lot of female fans! Do you ever get used to the screaming?
V- SO many!
J- We’re just starting to figure that out too! If we could pick then we’d
probably make it more [laughing].
V- The screaming’s all good.
How is it being out on the road with
Crown The Empire and The Getaway Plan?
J- Awful, awful dudes [laughing].
V- No, it’s been great. Both the bands are super nice and their music’s
awesome. It’s also a cool mix of different styles of music; Crown The Empire is
super heavy and The Getaway Plan is more rock n roll and I love the mix.
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| Vic Fuentes on stage at Leeds Cockpit |
We spoke to the guys in Leeds and they
said they love the UK
J- Yeah, this is our fourth time here and it’s been a lot of fun. It’s
really cool starting from the bottom up; it’s our first headline tour playing
these small shows because when we were supporting we were playing different
rooms. So, we’re starting playing these cool little clubs.
Do you like the intimacy and smaller,
sweatier shows?
V- It’s pretty awesome. We got spoiled with bigger stages though, because
now we’re literally just butting heads and running into each other on stage.
But, I think that’s the only problem. Other than that I love the shows; they’re
so loud and just insane.
J- The kids are in your face so you can actually see every single person.
Your latest record- “Collide With The
Sky”- you worked with producers Dan Korneff and Kato Khandwala on it. How was
that experience and why did you decide to work with them?
V- It was amazing; I think we finally found a producer that we really
connect with. All the other guys that we’ve worked with have been cool, but
there’s always been something missing. But these dudes were kind of on the same
page as us, as far as their work habits and creative minds; we clicked. So yeah,
I think we found a cool connection with those guys and think it definitely
helped shape the record. Dan Korneff is insane at what he does; he’s so
talented and it was the right mix.
J- We love them!
You’ve spoken in the past about your lyrics being extremely personal; is that a cathartic experience, or at times quite hard and emotionally draining?
V- I think you have to make them personal or otherwise when you play them there’s going to be no real feeling behind what you’re doing. I like to make them as personal as possible. The thing is I just write as I go; I’ll probably write a couple of things today and then when it comes time to make some songs I’ll have the thoughts and experiences and stuff.
J- I think the thing is just to take risks, be bold and don’t be afraid to
do something weird, like put in a Spanish guitar solo.
V- That’s what we told Dan. When we met up with him we said if there’s
anything he ever wanted to do on an album he should do it on this album;
experimental, weird things, we’ll try it.
J- I think for us it’s always about taking the last record and trying to
push ourselves as far as we can go; all that random stuff and adding pedals or
trying different things. Those guys have so many toys to play with it was
insane. It was awesome.
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| Pierce The Veils Jaime on stage in Leeds |
People have said that this album is
heavier, more aggressive than your previous; do you agree?
J- It definitely didn’t mean to be the heaviest.
V- I actually think that a lot of it has to do with the guitar tones on the
record; they’re a lot heavier than on any other. It had to do with ours and
Dan’s vision of what the songs should sound like. We’re all on the same page
and we’d get a guitar tone and spend hours just on one little sound, so yeah a lot
of them just came out heavier.
What’s next for you guys? You’re touring
America
J- Yeah, we finish this UK headliner and then we fly back to the States and
do a US headliner with Sleeping With Sirens, Hands Like Houses and Tonight
Alive, and we’re really excited for that. And then early next year we get to go
to Soundwave in Australia
V- And then after that hopefully we’ll get to come back here.
If you missed Part 1 & 2 click below to catch up...
Part 1- Interview with The Getaway Plan and Crown The Empire HERE
Part 2- Live show review HERE
www.piercetheveil.net/
