Pierce the Veil

There are bands that are five guys who got together, and there are bands that are, underneath it all, one person's head surrounded by exactly the right people. Pierce the Veil, from San Diego, is the second kind. And their story makes far more sense when you stop looking at who appears in the press photo and start looking at who actually made the songs sound. They are almost never the same. That is not a flaw: it is the method.

It all comes from Vic Fuentes, a man who sings, writes and plays practically whatever is needed so long as the song gets to exist.

Two people recorded the founding album

"A Flair for the Dramatic" came out in 2007 and fans treat it as the band's cornerstone. Two brothers recorded it: Vic did the vocals, all the guitars, the bass, the keyboards and the piano; Mike, the drums. The other two everyone assumes were on that record joined after it had already been recorded and released.

And there is the first clue to what kind of band this is. The record does not wait for the line-up to be complete. If the songs are ready, they get recorded with whatever hands are there. The photo is assembled afterwards.

King for a Day, or how a collaboration was made in 2012

The band's most famous song is "King for a Day", from 2012: Vic Fuentes and Kellin Quinn, of Sleeping with Sirens, answering one another as if they were in the same room. They were not. They had never even met. The band approached Quinn because fans were shouting for it, Vic wrote to him on Twitter, and Quinn recorded his vocal on his own. The most shouted-back collaboration in that decade's post-hardcore was put together by email, eleven years before recording that way was normal.

The song was never a chart hit at the time: its best placing was a modest thirty-seven. Thirteen years later it was certified triple platinum. It was not a peak; it was a trickle that never stopped. This band's songs age upward.

The friend from kindergarten

Here is a character who deserves his own paragraph, even though he appears in none of the band's photos. Curtis Peoples has known Vic since kindergarten. He was never a member of Pierce the Veil. And he co-wrote "King for a Day", and he co-wrote the only two songs the band ever took to number one on American alternative radio.

It is one of those lovely truths about music: the highest the group ever reached is partly signed by someone who stayed out of the photo by his own choice and out of friendship. The band is not the poster. The band is the network of people Vic has been gathering since childhood.

The seat that was left empty

We have to explain why, on the 2023 comeback record, the drums are played by neither Fuentes brother.

In November 2017, accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors were made publicly on social media against Mike Fuentes, relating to events years earlier. It is worth saying precisely, without leaning either way: the accusations were made on social media, there was no legal complaint, no charges were filed and no criminal investigation is on record. Mike denied the events in a statement, announced that he was stepping away from the band, and the band did not release another album until 2023.

There is not much more that Rebobinados can honestly assert about that, so it will not stretch it. What is part of the musical story is what the band did with the empty seat.

A borrowed drummer, and from their favourite band

For "The Jaws of Life", the 2023 comeback record, Vic went looking for someone to sit at the drums. He ended up asking Brad Hargreaves, the drummer from Third Eye Blind. He said afterwards that it was one of the most terrifying moments of his life, because Third Eye Blind are his favourite band of all time.

Think about that for a second. The fan asking his hero to save his record. It worked: Hargreaves plays on every track with drums. The band turned its worst moment into the excuse to work with the hero of its adolescence.

The number one arrived with a dance, eighteen years late

And here is the ending no screenwriter would have dared to write. "So Far So Fake" was an album track that in 2023 amounted to nothing. In July 2025, someone built a TikTok dance challenge around an instrumental passage of the song — not even around the chorus. Within days it exploded.

On 13 August 2025, eighteen years after their first album, Pierce the Veil entered the main American singles chart for the first time, with a song two and a half years old. And the whole catalogue followed: in 2016 the band had a single certification at home; today it has fifteen, nearly all from the last two years, for songs released more than a decade ago. Three of those gold records, in 2026, come from the debut. The one two people made in 2007.

The world took eighteen years to get to where the fans had been from the start. An internet dance pulled the curtain back, but the songs were already there, waiting, holding on till May.

What to remember

Pierce the Veil is not the line-up in the photo: it is Vic Fuentes's obsession with the song existing, whatever it costs and whoever plays it. A founding album recorded by two brothers. A legendary collaboration made by email. The number ones co-signed by a friend from kindergarten. The comeback saved by the drummer of his favourite band. And an entry into mass stardom almost two decades late, pushed there by a dance.

Remember it this way: in Pierce the Veil, the greatness never fitted in the photo. It lived, always, in the songs, which turned out to be more patient than all of us.

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This text mentions public accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors. If you or someone you know has been through something like this, you are not alone and help is available. In Chile, the SernamEG Gender Violence Helpline is 1455, from 08:00 to 00:00 every day, with a silent WhatsApp service at +56 9 9700 7000. For emergencies during the night there are Carabineros' 149, plus 133 and 134. In the case of a recent sexual assault you can go directly to any emergency service, without needing to have filed a report; care is guaranteed within the first 72 hours.

Sources

Pierce the Veil, an American band formed in San Diego, California, in 2006 by brothers Vic Fuentes (vocals, guitar, keyboards; b. 10 February 1983) and Mike Fuentes (drums; b. 14 December 1984). Tony Perry (lead guitar) and Jaime Preciado (bass) joined in 2007, after the debut album had been recorded and released. No member, past or present, has died. "A Flair for the Dramatic" (26 June 2007, Equal Vision) was recorded in early 2007 with Vic Fuentes credited with vocals, all guitars, bass, keyboards and piano, and Mike Fuentes with drums. In November 2017, two women publicly made accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors against Mike Fuentes on Twitter, relating to events around 2008; one remained anonymous and the second, Shannon Bray, identified herself by name. The accusations did not lead to a legal complaint; there is no record of charges being filed or of a criminal investigation. Mike Fuentes denied the events in a statement on 16 December 2017 and announced his departure from the band; the group cancelled its March 2018 British tour with All Time Low. Loniel Robinson has performed live with the band since 2022 as a touring musician. The drums on "The Jaws of Life" (10 February 2023, Fearless) are played by Brad Hargreaves, of Third Eye Blind. Curtis Peoples, a friend of Vic Fuentes since childhood and never a member of the line-up, is credited as co-writer of "King for a Day", "The Divine Zero", "Emergency Contact" and "So Far So Fake"; the last two reached number 1 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart (5 August 2023 and 15 November 2025). "So Far So Fake", recorded in 2021 and released in 2023, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 13 August 2025 at number 88 — the band's first entry on that chart — and rose to 64, following a dance challenge that spread on TikTok from July that year. "King for a Day" (2012), with guest vocals by Kellin Quinn (Sleeping with Sirens), never entered the Hot 100 (peak: number 37 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs) and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA on 22 August 2025; Mike Fuentes is among its credited writers. The RIAA certified "Yeah Boy and Doll Face", "Besitos" and "Disasterology" gold in 2026, all from the debut album. A Rebobinados rewrite of previously verified research; interpretations of the meaning of their work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from the RIAA certification database, Billboard, Wikipedia, Loudwire, Kerrang!, The Line of Best Fit, Alternative Press and other coverage.