Almost 20 years ago, Pierce The Veil were struggling to break out of their local San Diego scene. Now, they’re certified arena superstars. Vic Fuentes looks at all the stops – the good, the bad and the sweaty – along the way…
From playing a gig in an empty café to selling out New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, Pierce The Veil have seen it all in their near two decades of existence. With Wembley on the horizon, frontman Vic Fuentes casts an eye back over the gigs that helped the band become who they are today.
“We were unable to break out of San Diego for a number of reasons, mostly because we were young and didn’t know anybody. We didn’t have a record deal and we didn’t have a record in stores, and no radio. We’d burn hundreds of CDs of our demo and pass them to every kid we could at every show. Everything was built in our hometown, and we built it as high as we could get it, to the point where we were selling out every local show we played. This one show was super-hyped-up with tons of crowdsurfing and kids falling on the stage and me getting headbutted by the mic. It was total chaos. The label owner of Equal Vision Records came to the show, took us out to dinner after and was like, ‘Would you like to have a record deal with us?’ It was actually before Pierce The Veil – me and my brother had a band called Before Today, and that’s who got signed. Then we broke up and started Pierce The Veil.”
“On one of our first tours, we played this bar-café venue. We always talk about the show because it was so funny. They had a curtain that came down on this tiny stage in this probably 100-cap space, and they would lower it while you set up your gear. I’ll never forget when they started the show and opened the curtain, there was no-one there. It was just us and the bartender. You’ve heard this story a thousand times from bands of playing to no-one, but it’s really important for any band to have that moment. And I think it’s a testament to how much you love what you do and how dedicated you are to it, because at that time we really didn’t care that no-one was there.”
“I know a lot of bands who hated doing Warped Tour. I always loved it. I enjoyed the hard work, I liked the opportunity that it gave us, and I enjoyed the whole experience. I thought it was so fun, with the BBQs and the whole culture in front and behind the stage. I was hooked on it. I liked unloading the truck in the morning, even though it sucked waking up. I was the small guy who would climb up into the pile of gear and throw guitars down to everybody and get a crazy tan from all that. The shows in the beginning were small. And then they just kept building every time we did it. There’s a photo of us popping champagne in front of our tour bus the day that Collide With The Sky came out because we had sold something like 10,000 or 20,000 units. At the time, we’d been playing shows and selling five CDs a show. The stars all aligned for that moment because we’d recorded King For A Day with Kellin Quinn, and Sleeping With Sirens were on Warped Tour as well. They arranged it so that our bands didn’t play at the same time, so we could have this moment with Kellin onstage every day playing that song. It was incredible.”
“We played KOKO around the time Collide With The Sky came out, and that was when our band first caught fire – especially in the UK, where it seemed to hit the same way it did in America for us. I was determined to break through in the UK. I knew we could do it, but I didn’t know how it was going to happen. I’d seen our peers do it, like A Day To Remember. We’d even supported them over there and got booed! We just couldn’t figure it out. But then when that record dropped, it all came together. I remember seeing a line down the street outside KOKO, and it was one of the most electric shows we’ve ever played in our career. The whole club was screaming, and it was sweaty, and it felt like we were home – even though we weren’t. We were a long way from home.”
“It was always explained to us that the UK was about stepping stones and milestones, and earning your way up the totem pole. So Brixton was the next one to try to figure out, and it was a lot of hard work to get there. We put everything on the line. We had a saying of, ‘If not now, when?’ you know? ‘Let’s take the risk and give it a shot and see if we can do this.’ That attitude is how we treated Brixton – and also how we treated Ally Pally. Because we’re not from there, we don’t get a ton of tours over there, so it felt like a big step.”
“We went into this gig very nervous and scared that nobody cared about our band anymore. We had no idea. We had seen a lot of support online from just comments. That was literally all we had to go off. But nothing was going to prepare us for the welcome back that we had. It was so warm and big and electric, and gave us that confidence as soon as we stepped on the stage. It’s not even that big of a venue – it’s probably a couple of thousand – but it showed us that the songs were what carried us through everything. And also how we had these connections to our fans and it was all still there. But it wasn’t just there, it had grown.”
“We supported blink recently and we got to play some shows that were beyond what we ever thought our band could play. I guess probably the most meaningful show on that tour would be our local stadium, Petco Park in San Diego, because it was a monumental moment to play our hometown. To step out onto a stage with a single microphone there and a stadium arranged around you was just crazy. It’s one of those things that I don’t think the brain can wrap its head around properly – you just kind of do it and you’re like, ‘That looks like a lot of people.’ It’s too much to think about.”
“This was another milestone moment that proved to everyone – to ourselves, to the industry, to the world – that the band could play not just Warped Tour, but branch out and hit these other types of crowds. It kind of represents what the next era is, and what the next 10 years could look like. It’s not leaving behind Warped, it’s just expanding and opening up more doors. I think it’s important to chase the feeling that you’re challenging yourself and you’re in waters you’re not used to. That’s the feeling we always want to chase now. It was so crazy. I’d never heard a roar of a crowd like that backstage. We were on tour with blink at the time, so they were side stage and messing with us because they knew we were nervous, but they all came to support us. There were probably 80,000 people there, and we were mind-blown that the emo world was showing up in that big of a way. It proved that the genre is bigger than anyone ever thought it was, that it got into people’s souls deeply and grew and grew and grew and never stopped growing. It showed what this genre is actually capable of doing.”
“This was a pinnacle moment for us as far as where the band is at right now, and the biggest moment for this record. Like I say, it feels like we’re starting off the new era of maybe whatever the next 10 years of the band looks like. And this Madison Square Garden show represented a lot for where things are heading and what is actually possible for the band. It opened up a whole world that we didn’t know was even possible. When we were told that we were booking Madison Square Garden, we couldn’t believe that we could do that – we weren’t quite sure if it was even possible for a band like us to play, let alone sell out, the most famous arena in America. So it represented all the hard work that everyone has put into the band over the years – not just people who are on our team right now, but everyone from the past. It was an incredible show. But the other part of it is that our agent of 20 years, Dave Shapiro, got us there and then didn’t make it home on his plane. So from here on, all the shows are dedicated to Dave and our friends who passed, so it gave a lot of deeper meaning and symbolism to the tour and to that show.”
“We had a lot of big moments on this tour that was dream-come-true, bucket-list stuff. I used to think bands like us weren’t allowed to play Red Rocks. I thought it was more like a Lumineers and Mumford & Sons-type venue, but as we kept progressing, I realised that it really works for us because our band is based on singing along and being loud together. So then Red Rocks became super-obtainable and my number one bucket-list place to play. I’ve always seen pictures of it. It just looked so beautiful and I always wanted to be a part of it and thought maybe we would never be able to. When we finally got the opportunity, it was everything we thought it would be. It was like we were playing in a national park or something, and it was once considered one of the wonders of the world. It was incredible. My parents came, and a ton of our friends and family. Everybody wanted to see that show, and it was one of the most amazing experiences. It’s definitely in my top three venues, if not my favourite venue of all time, to play.”
This interview originally appeared in the autumn 2025 issue of the magazine.
Catch the band live in the coming days:
Pierce The Veil 2025 UK tour dates
September
20 Dublin 3Arena
23 London OVO Arena Wembley
25 Manchester Co-op Live
26 Glasgow OVO Hydro
27 Birmingham Utilita Arena
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