Pierce The Veil: The Rewarding Part
Just a few days before the release of their fifth studio album The Jaws Of Life, PIERCE THE VEIL can feel the excitement building. After a long break they’re back, much to the delight of their dedicated fanbase. As the band always prove with a new release, this album is changing things up, and the anticipation is growing. We sit down with bassist Jaime Preciado to hear about everything the band is feeling right before the album is released to the world.
“We’re super excited, but super nervous. It’s an exciting time in our lives, a lot of hard work. This is the rewarding part of all the work we’ve done.”
Something their fans are very aware of is the time that PIERCE THE VEIL took out, with a seven-year break since their last album. While this seems like entirely too long when you’re desperate for new music, for the members of the band, it was more than necessary. While they are known for taking breaks between albums, it was the pandemic that really put a spanner in the works as Jaime explains. “We were stuck at home and not able to see each other and hang out. We really thrive together as friends. That was a really hard time for us, and very uninspiring.”
While they were desperate to write again, it was clear it couldn’t be forced. It soon became obvious that a break was needed, and Jaime says, “you know, we were touring since I was nineteen. It was a nice step back to realise what’s really important. When you take care of yourself, you take care of the people you love, and all of a sudden it falls into place. This record brought us a lot closer than we’ve ever been as humans, as friends, as band mates.”
Of course, when the time was right, the band were able to come together again to start writing. “We got together and just started flying, working our buns off as much as possible. We weren’t trying to make the same album twice. We’re trying to take chances, and because we’ve been in a band for so long and built what we’ve built, the team we have support us, they trust us. They let us go in there and do what we do.”
It might be obvious when listening to their discography that, at the beginning of each album cycle, the band pledge to not make the same sounding album twice, and are always pushing themselves to do something different. Jaime explains, “the goal is to be as happy as possible, and really work for it. We’re always trying to push, be exciting, be bold. We put songs on the album that might not have made sense on any other album, but we felt strong enough to put them on, because we love those songs.”
Despite The Jaws Of Life being their fifth studio album, recording isn’t an easy process, and the band had to fight against expectations. “Our producer Paul [Meany] said, ‘these are your songs and you’re the ones who have to play them live and mean it.’ That stuck in my head, because a lot of the time we forget how much experience we have as individuals, as writers, as musicians. A lot of it is trusting your gut and connecting with the song live first, because that’s what we’re going to do eventually, and that’s the most rewarding part.” Although PIERCE THE VEIL have earned respect from their fanbase and the wider world, they’re definitely not complacent, and Jaime drills in that they’re always trying to improve and learn from any mistakes.
PIERCE THE VEIL are very aware that their fans are a huge reason for their success, and Jaime explains how grateful they are for being able to take a long break and have such a strong welcome back. “Stuck around is an understatement. Not a lot of bands can do that, you know? Not a lot of artists can just go away for as long as we did and expect them to stick around, so we’re very thankful and lucky to have the fans that we have.”
Not only are their fans as excited for new music as ever, but there definitely seems to be a recent resurgence of alternative music, with bands such as PARAMORE, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE and BLINK 182 making a comeback. Jaime says, “that was a big part for us starting [the album], having this gift of being almost able to feel like a new band again. Festivals like When We Were Young and the success they had really solidified how strong this scene is. That was really special, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere for a long time.”
As The Jaws Of Life is almost out to the world, Jaime explains exactly why the band are so proud of it. “Every record that we do is like a snapshot of the time we were making it. We wanted to make a couple songs that were more peeled back and a little bit more impactful. There’s always that soul-searching vibe, where you have to take a step back and see the whole picture.” While it’s sometimes difficult to adjust to change, there’s absolutely no doubt that this change is for the better, and is exactly what was needed for PIERCE THE VEIL at this point in time. “This album is probably the most daring we’ve ever been, so there’s going to be some fear. But we’re still super excited and super proud of what we did and hopefully our fans can go on that journey with us. It’s going to be fun.”
The Jaws Of Life is out now via Fearless Records.
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