I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Post-hardcore band Pierce The Veil stopped off in Toronto on the last leg of the Taste of Chaos Tour. These twenty-something guys consist of two brothers who are both musically talented and business-savvy having formed and cultivated the group themselves. Older brother Mike is a self-taught drummer and younger brother Vic has done most of the writing for the group. With the recent addition of Jaime Preciato on bass and Tony Perry on guitar, Pierce the Veil appear to be on the right track. With the hopes of garnering more exposure in Canada and taking time off to write their third album, these guys are set to explode!

iheartthemusic: Is this your first time in Canada?

Tony: We were here for Warped Tour.

Jaime: On Warped Tour we hit the major cities but we didn’t really get to see them because [the location] was always in a parking lot. This tour is cool because we get to see the actual venues and clubs and people.

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite stop in Canada so far?

Vic: I think Edmonton was amazing, the crowd was nuts.

Mike: The crowd was awesome and it felt like we were at home there for some reason. So much love and it was fun.

Jaime: It was surprising because I don’t think any of us expected it to be the way it was. We were thinking that only 10 kids would know who we were, but it turned out to be the opposite. Very pleasantly surprised!

iheartthemusic: Let’s go back to the beginning. Vic and Mike, you guys started playing together a long time ago, right?

Vic: We didn’t start this band until a few years ago, but Mike and I have been playing since high school.

iheartthemusic: With your last record Tony and Jaime had not joined the band yet, so how has it been playing songs that you weren’t directly involved with?

Tony: At first it was kind of overwhelming. I mean, Vic explained everything that we were going to do and what we were up against, and Jaime and I had done smaller tours together but nothing like this. So Vic tried to explain how to take it seriously, like it was our job. We were practicing everyday and we weren’t used to that.

Jaime: It was definitely a different kind of vibe as far as starting a band, hanging out, writing songs and stuff like that since all of that stuff was already done. It’s cool to look back and see all the fun stuff, what with playing the shows, but now, starting to actually write the next album, which is going to be for Tony and I our first one, it’s kind of all coming back into place.

iheartthemusic: You must be pumped to write the next one then!

Jaime: Absolutely!

iheartthemusic: Vic, you have done most of the writing up to this point right?

Vic: Yeah, me and Mike just kind of jam at home. It’s going to be cool to see everyone contributing and I think it will be a nice change of pace for our band to move from an RV to a regular house again.

iheartthemusic: I know! You guys have been touring for the past few years!

Tony: As much as I stress out and get nervous before the shows, when I finally walk on the stage, that half hour makes everything you do worthwhile. It’s so much fun.

Mike: A lot of our fans have just actually become our friends now. I mean, we had no idea who they were before we started touring, and now we can get into every city and they can actually call us or email us and hang out like normal friends; that’s probably my favourite part.

iheartthemusic: They can call you, eh? Is there a communal phone that everyone uses?

Vic: [laughs] No, that’s a good idea though!

iheartthemusic: What has been highlights and lowlights of Taste of Chaos so far?

Vic: A lowlight was getting snowed in Rhode Island where Thursday was supposed to play. They set that date as the only day they were going to play Full Collapse all the way through and it got snowed in so we couldn’t get to the venue.

Jaime: A highlight was the first Canadian show in Vancouver because we had a signing afterwards and there were only two kids there; we were still stoked though. It was awesome! We thought that was the way Canada was going to be, and then the next day it was like 10 times the opposite.

Vic: Vancouver was a 19 and up show.

Jaime: It was a fun show because not a single person had any idea who we were, so it was awesome because those are the shows that we were used to before this band started.

iheartthemusic: Do you go into those shows with the mentality that you’ve got something to prove?

Jaime: I personally feel more comfortable playing those shows just because there are no expectations whatsoever. I had a lot of fun that show and that’s why it was a highlight, because every person was like “who are you?”

Vic: When the crowd puts out that vibe where it seems like they don’t like you or aren’t interested, then that’s when I feel like I can do whatever I want. You’ve got no one to impress.

Mike: I just kind of get in my own zone and don’t really care what happens.

iheartthemusic: What was a defining moment for you guys as a band?

Vic: I think the first time I saw a kid with a tattoo of our lyrics. No one had ever done that for any band I’ve ever been in. The fact that kids are feeling that connected to the lyrics and gaining a deeper connection to the band is pretty surreal.

Mike: I was super stoked when we were on Warped Tour and Kevin Lyman brought us on his bus to offer us this tour. We were on Warped Tour freaking out already, and then he offers us Taste and we were like shitting out pants.

iheartthemusic: Speaking of shit, I was speaking with Liam from Cancer Bats and apparently Vic and Liam are on the same pooping schedule?

Vic: [laughs] You guys don’t know this, but every time I am walking into the bathroom, Liam is walking in at the same time. It’s been like three times already. We talked about holding hands in stalls next to each other just to say that we did.

Jaime: Not only is that weird but that should never happen… ever.

iheartthemusic: Come on, it’s all about the band-on-band love!

Jaime: If I walked in and saw two guys holding hands, I would walk right out!

iheartthemusic: Vic and Mike have a side project going as well called Isles and Glaciers with members of an assortment of other bands. You just showcased for the first time during SXSW, how did that go?

Mike: Yeah, Vic and I had to ride with Bring Me The Horizon to Austin because we were playing there that same night. So we got to ride with them for 20 hours, which was interesting. Those guys are crazy, but cool guys. We played the AP party, which was outside underneath a huge tent and tons of kids lined up. Some of the songs are actually illegally out, so some of the kids were singing along. It was fun though. It was our first practice ever and it was on stage!

Vic: It went better than we thought it was going to. We thought it was going to be a disaster, but it was fun. We are hoping that the album for that will come out in the next few months so while we’re not touring we have new music with the Isles and Glaciers project. We also have a new video for this band coming out for “Chemical Kids, Mechanical Brides”, which is the first song on the last record.

iheartthemusic: Do you want to tell us about the concept behind that video?

Jaime: It’s an adult film in this RV! [laughs] We shot it in L.A. with the same director as the last video in a house and the house is meant to look like it’s alive. On our first video we had Vic acting and for this one we have two little kids. It was a little boy and a little girl and they were both awesome and trying to escape from the house. It’s a cool vibe, visually stunning.

Mike: It’s kind of creepy.

Vic: I wanted zombies but that got shot down.

iheartthemusic: So when will that be out?

Vic: Soon. It will be on our MySpace.

iheartthemusic: Anything you want to add for your Canadian fans?

Vic: We just want everyone to know that we are really excited about Canada and want to come back. The first thing I am going to do when I go back [home] is tell everyone that I want to book more shows here.

Jaime: I was definitely pleasantly surprised and impressed by the kids here.

The video for “Chemical Kids, Mechanical Brides” is now out on the band’s MySpace. Be sure to check it out!

photography provided by Patrick Moore