Greater than a yr 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 Metallic Drummers United.
Pierce‘s departure got here in the course of 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 making an attempt to rent a hitman to homicide his then-wife.
On the time, the departing members cited a poisonous setting tied to Lambesis‘ conduct. 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 can also be on the market having some phrases in regards to the man too.
In his interview, Pierce made it clear that the band knowingly gave Lambesis one other probability, however in the end got here to remorse it. His feedback depart little ambiguity about the place he locations accountability for the band’s implosion.
“We had been all fairly stoked. Like we partially knew among the predicaments that we had been entering into with the pretense of Tim‘s previous… and we had been prepared to provide him that second — or second and a half probability — or no matter you wish to name it. So we form 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 gaggle, we had been like, ‘Holy fuck, that is sick.’ … All people collaboratively fucking crushed.”
However that optimism did not final. Pierce defined that whereas he believes strongly in second probabilities — citing friendships with recovering addicts and former felons — Lambesis in the end squandered the chance: “We gave Tim that second probability. That was my second probability to Tim. He fucking blew it. Fully fucking blew it. He made some actually silly fucking selections. He blew it within the endgame.”
Pierce added that the fallout was sudden and brutal, hitting him personally on the worst doable second: “I discovered the band was breaking apart on my birthday. It was a shit fucking predicament. Inside 24 or 48 hours, I went from pondering I used to be happening tour in Europe to discovering out the band was falling aside — all due to the shit that Tim had executed.”
Whereas Pierce mentioned he would not wish to endlessly rehash the state of affairs, he did not conceal his frustration or remorse: “My unhealthy. I trusted the improper fucking man this time and so did all people else. So, fuck us — it fucking occurs.”
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