Vic: Ahh. Alright, my names Vic, I sing in Pierce the Veil and… I am wearing a Pokémon hat.
Jaime: That’s awesome… My name’s Jaime, I play bass and I do a lot of card tricks. Magic card tricks back in the day.
Mike: I’m Mike, I play the drums and I like Harry Potter.
Vic: He’s actually got a tattoo of him on his leg. Show them.
Chloe: What’s the meaning behind ‘Pierce the Veil’ and how did you choose it?
Vic: Umm, there was this veil in front of us, and we couldn’t walk right through it so we threw knives at it…
Aaron: You know what I actually thought? When I heard Pierce the Veil I thought of Harry Potter where Sirius falls into that veil thing and gets lost forever…
Jaime: That’s it, that’s how we got it! right there!
Vic: Yeah that’s a good one.
Jamie: We’ll go with that, whatever he said is good.
Chloe: You last played the UK back in 2007 with The Blackout, what’s it like to be back?
Vic: It’s actually like starting over, ’cause it was so long ago, four years ago. It’s all new fans and these A Day to Remember shows are just massive, so it’s like a sea of new fans for us, so it’s kinda like we’re being challenged.
Mike: Because everyone wants to hear A Day to Remember, obviously. We were added like a week ago [to the line-up], so yeah, it’s definitely cool to see what we can do with these kids who want to hear breakdowns; I think we’re doing alright.
Chloe: Has there been one outstanding night on the tour?
All: Tonight, London.
Mike: London was insane. London was nuts. Dublin was definitely good, but London was nuts
Jaime: The kids were just ready, like you know for us. We’re just the first band that plays every show, and kids are still coming in and the first band takes a little for everyone to warm up. Like as soon as we hit the first note, it was like go. The kids were like [punches the air].
Mike: You see the pit?
Aaron: Yeah I saw it. People were getting punched in the face and stuff…
Jaime: Yeah I felt like I was getting punched in the face, like a big wind…
Vic: Metaphorically?
Jaime: Yeah, metaphorically. This is like one of the biggest stages we’ve ever played on too, so we like set it up and get everyone pumped.
Chloe: How do the UK crowds vary from the US ones?
Jaime: Yeah, you guys have accents! [laughs]
Aaron: Do you actually notice the difference or…
Jaime: [laughs] No, no, I was just kidding. But there are differences like you guys say “we want more…”
Vic: In Scotland they say “here we, here we, here we fucking go! Here we, here we, here we…” even A Day To Remember were like “what the hell…”
Jaime: In the states it’s just like “one more song, one more song” and you guys go “we want more, we want more.”
Vic: The fans know that A Day To Remember do three encores, so they’re like “three more songs, three more songs.”
Mike: Sometimes when I’m like testing the kick drum, they’ll be going “one, two, three” and stuff.
Jaime: They’re like drunken football fans.
Mike: That’s another thing over here, like the kids are like pre-gaming haaaard here. They’re like downing a bottle of Jager[miester].
Jaime: Yeah like at one of shows…
Vic: these kids at 14 are like ready to go.
Aaron: we do have the highest drinking rate…
All: [laugh]
Jaime: There it is, there it is! [laughs] We’re gonna go back on stage and play new songs and the kids are gonna be like “whaaaat?”
Chloe: what’s your favourite song to play lie and why?
Jaime: Hmmm. On this tour it’s been like the fastest one. The one that gets the kids, like, it’s the icebreaker, it gets kids moving. Gets the kids like “oh they’re playing really fast we should probably run about and punch people”
Vic: I like Cara[phernelia]. This is the first tour we’ve had Jeremy [McKinnon, ADTR] come outand sing his bit.
Jaime: Hey you’re still wearing your hat.
Vic: Oh. Am I?
Jaime: Yeah looks good man.
[Member of Bayside walks in] Oh.
Vic: Oh hey, it’s that guy from Bayside! [laughs]
Chloe: if you could tour with anyone who would it be and why?
Jaime: Bayside and A Day To Remember. Oh wait.
Mike: Dead or alive?
Chloe: Either.
Vic: That changes a lot.
Mike: Hmmmm. I’d go with, Thrice. I love Thrice. I’d love to tour with Thrice someday.
Jaime: and Brand new. I love Brand New. Do you have their agent’s number? It’d be Thrice, Brand New…
Mike: Nicki Minaj.
Jaime: Nicki Minaj [all laugh]. Oh we wouldn’t be opening by the way. Who’d open, who’d open? [pause] Justin Bieber.
Aaron: I wanted to see him at Wembley but they sold out…
All: He’s playing Wembley?
Jaime: Oh. My. God. Whatever. Just whatever.
Chloe: Any plans to do a tour of your own over here soon?
Vic: No, not yet. Not of our own anyway.
Chloe: Any festivals?
Jaime: I think we need to establish ourselves a bit more over here first. This is really our first time over here.
Vic: Yeah, like we came with The Blackout, but that was like what, four years ago now? And we didn’t really follow up. But now we have a new booking agent in Europe and stuff so, they’ll be booking us on many tours now. We hope.
Chloe: What made you decide to start a band?
Vic: Hmmmm…
Jaime: I think going to see other bands and shows and going and just thinking this is awesome. Aha well, my first musical instrument was the trumpet … my uncle came round and was like “dude you can’t pull out a trumpet at a campfire and get any girls with it” [laughs] so he gave me a guitar and I learnt the guitar and it went from pretty much there. I’ve played in other bands and stuff.
Mike: I think just going to local punk shows and I just loved the whole scene, like people coming together to have a good time. I always used to just watch the drummer. I just loved the sound of the drums.
Vic: Do ya?
Mike: [puts on girly voice] I just love it man!
Vic: You ever gonna give it up?
Mike: [girly voice] Nooooooo!
Chloe: What inspires your lyrics?
Vic: Umm…
Jaime: Hats. Pokémon.
Vic: I write the lyrics, as I like, go. Whenever I think of something, I’ll write it down. And after a like year or two, you get tonnes of little things, like real life. I hate it when you can tell a band just like throws everything on the spot and tries to make it all fabricated and making it what people wanna hear, instead of letting it be real life stuff.
Chloe: Have you started writing any new songs?
Vic: Lyrics yes, but uh, we haven’t really had any time to. We’ve been touring pretty much nonstop since the album came out. Probably in the summer, when we have a break, we’ll write some stuff.
Chloe: What inspired the artwork for Selfish Machines?
Vic: The artist had, like, an idea, y’know, like, the cover’s of these two kids holding this box, this lit up box, and that represents the thing they like, want, and they’re both kinda sharing it and throughout the booklet, the guy –boy, is like trying to take it away and hide it. It’s just about how we have like this human, thing of nature, to want things. Like love.
Jaime: Vic’s just being soft. [singing] Love’s a beautiful thing.
All: [laugh]
Chloe: If you could have written one song by another artist what would it be and why?
Jaime: That song Jesus Christ by brand new? Holy moly. That is a song. I wish I had written it, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Mike: I’m gonna say… fuck. I don’t even know man.
Vic: Oh man.
All: [laughs]
Chloe: Any final words?
Jaime: Come back and see us after the summer. We’ll be back in the UK, and um… [pause] we’ve had a great time here with A Day to Remember. So, see you soon!
Vic: Yes, we will be back.
Mike: Dun, dun, dun!
Vic: Arnold Schwarzenegger style!