Greater than a 12 months after his exit from the deeply troubled metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying, drummer Nick Pierce has lastly addressed what occurred — and why he walked away — in a brand new interview with Metal Drummers United.
Pierce‘s departure got here throughout the now-infamous collapse of As I Lay Dying in 2024, when bassist/vocalist Ryan Neff and guitarist Ken Susi exited the band, adopted quickly after by guitarist Phil Sgrosso. The mass exodus marked the second time a lineup had deserted vocalist Tim Lambesis, whose previous features a 2014 jail sentence for trying to rent a hitman to homicide his then-wife.
On the time, the departing members cited a poisonous setting tied to Lambesis‘ habits. Whereas Susi beforehand went into element on the state of affairs, Pierce had largely stayed silent — till now. Which is nice timing too, contemplating Lambesis’ ex-wife is also out there having some words about the man too.
In his interview, Pierce made it clear that the band knowingly gave Lambesis one other likelihood, however finally got here to remorse it. His feedback go away little ambiguity about the place he locations accountability for the band’s implosion.
“We have been all fairly stoked. Like we partially knew among the predicaments that we have been moving into with the pretense of Tim‘s previous… and we have been keen to provide him that second — or second and a half likelihood — or no matter you wish to name it. So we type of blindly went into it hoping for the very best and hoping that Tim had modified, and had modified for the higher.”
Pierce described the early rehearsals as inspiring and creatively energizing, praising the chemistry between himself, Susi, Neff, and Sgrosso: “After enjoying that first music collectively and realizing what we may all do as a bunch, we have been like, ‘Holy fuck, that is sick.’ … Everyone collaboratively fucking crushed.”
However that optimism did not final. Pierce defined that whereas he believes strongly in second possibilities — citing friendships with recovering addicts and former felons — Lambesis finally squandered the chance: “We gave Tim that second likelihood. That was my second likelihood to Tim. He fucking blew it. Utterly fucking blew it. He made some actually silly fucking choices. He blew it within the endgame.”
Pierce added that the fallout was sudden and brutal, hitting him personally on the worst attainable second: “I came upon the band was breaking apart on my birthday. It was a shit fucking predicament. Inside 24 or 48 hours, I went from considering I used to be happening tour in Europe to discovering out the band was falling aside — all due to the shit that Tim had achieved.”
Whereas Pierce mentioned he would not wish to endlessly rehash the state of affairs, he did not cover his frustration or remorse: “My dangerous. I trusted the unsuitable fucking man this time and so did everyone else. So, fuck us — it fucking occurs.”
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