For those who don't know Pierce The Veil's first album A Flair For The Dramatic only has two of the members on the album, brothers, Vic and Mike Fuentes. Tony Perry (lead guitar) and Jaime Preciado (bass/backing vocals & screams/programming) didn't join the band until after the first album was completed and when Vic and Mike needed the two other members to play live shows with. So Selfish Machines is the first album that includes the whole band on it. However, all the lyrics are written by Vic.
1. Besitos
This song is a fast paced Latin influenced song(music wise), which is definitely heard in the beginning more and then accented through out the rest of the song. Lyrically this song is just as good as too. I love the drum work on this song, it's purely amazing. I've heard this song live and it's really amazing. It's been their opening song the previous tour they did, and it's a perfect way to start off their set. Each song on this album has it's own special amazingness to it so it's hard to pick a favorite honestly.
"This song very openly features the Spanish side of Pierce The Veil's music. We always try to incorporate at least a hint of Latin influence in every song, but with this one, we just went all the way with it. Lyrically, it's about my dysfunctional relationship with a girl I couldn't stop hurting over and over again. It's meant to be her speaking to me, asking me why I'm not satisfied with what we had. I wanted to write it from her perspective to try and understand what she was going through at the time. It ends with her wanting to kill me for all the stuff I've put her through." - Vic
2. Southern Constellations
This track just an intro to the following song "The Boy Who Could Fly". It's just a simple little song, which is cute lyrically. There's not much more to say about it than that.
"This is basically just the intro to "The Boy Who Could Fly." We decided to separate the tracks because otherwise, the song would be around six minutes long. This short, little tune describes my unexplainable and undeniable recent obsession with Southern girls. The clean guitar tone is one of my favorite tones on the entire album. We used a Stratocaster with a custom amp to get the glassy and unique sound we were looking for." - Vic
3. The Boy Who Could Fly
This song is a very fast song and probably one of the fastest on the album. On this song Tony Perry's guitar work is really shown off on it, and it's purely amazing. He's probably one of the best guitarists in the industry right now. Also this song as well show's off how well and fast Mike can hit the kickdrum. I think this song is very relatable for most people since it's talking about a relationship where one would feel as if they would die without the other person.
"We went back to our SoCal punk roots for this song. The entire thing is punk beats and super-fast guitar work. It's almost therapeutic for me to play, because it represents everything that we loved playing as kids. Mike [Fuentes] is the fastest single kick drum player I've ever seen, so this song features him in all his glory. The lyrics talk about an unhealthy co-dependent relationship in which I couldn't live without the other person because if you took her away, I would lose half of myself. It's about obsession and desperation, and the stupid things you do when you're in love. Musically it's the craziest, most intense song we've ever written." - Vic
4. Caraphernelia
This is definitely one of my favorite songs on the album. Also, this song happens to be the song they chose to do their music video for. Jeremy Mckinnon does on the screaming on the chorus. I think this one of the best songs ever written by a band. The whole song is just about not really wanting to move on from someone because "What's so good about picking up the pieces?"(Caraphernelia). Even my mom likes this song, and she's not a huge fan of the whole screaming part. I definitely see why this song was chosen as their single. It's really good, and I think a lot of people would enjoy it. The music, the lyrics, everything about this song just works.
"The last time I saw my ex-girlfriend, she left all kinds of random things behind at my house: travel shampoo, a razor in the shower, hair clips, etc. It was basically just a bunch of stuff that kept reminding me of her. After a while, it made me miss her, and I wondered why we ever broke up in the first place. When I wrote the music for the chorus, I knew right away that I wanted to ask my friend Jeremy McKinnon [of A Day To Remember] to do the screaming parts on the chorus and bridge. A few weeks after I wrote the song, I approached Jeremy with the idea and he agreed to sing on the album. It turned out to be one of my favorite tracks once we collaborated. One of my favorite things to do is make music with my friends. That collaboration makes the songs very special to me" - Vic
5. Fast Times At Clairemont High
I think this song is really great because it really shows how selfish people can be when they're in love, though may not see it. Vic explains the meaning of the song pretty much the best, but this song I think is very true for some people, maybe even a lot of people. What I like about this song and the whole album is that it's very relatable and it will make people question, "geez I am selfish?".
"This is a very selfish song that basically says, “If I can't have you, then no one can.” I think this has gone through everyone's head at least a couple times in their life. The theme of this album talks about these natural thoughts and feelings to want and take--the desire to be in love and the desperation for someone else to love you. This song deals with human nature and our selfish tendencies. I like the music because it has a hint of Michael Jackson influence." - Vic
6. The New National Anthem
For some reason this is my least favorite song on the album. It's a good song, but I don't think it holds up to the rest of the songs. There's good lyrics in this song, but I don't know it lacks something. It's a good song, but not great like the others.
"I used to drive six hours just to see this girl that I liked. She was beautiful, but didn't know it because she was from a small town. I went to her place once and it was completely empty because she was in the process of moving into another apartment. I remember making out with her in the dark in the middle of her empty carpeted floor. A lot of the lyrics are about that night. I recorded the intro to this song in our apartment in L.A. We used a lot of the original sounds from my ghetto little recording on the album." - Vic
7. Bulletproof Love
I absolutely love this song. In a way I can really relate to the lyrics. I love how music wise this song sounds really happy, but lyrically this song is so depressing. If one just looks at the line "My love for you was bulletproof, but you're the one who shot me", I think a lot of people can relate to this. I know can, and that's why I love this song so much.
"I've always been obsessed with happy songs that have morbid lyrics. Lyrically, this song is one of the darkest I've ever written. It's about being obsessed with someone to the point where you're hurting yourself. A lot of it is written almost like a suicide note meant to be found by the one you love. It's completely crazy and extreme, but it's also comforting to say out loud the things you’re thinking sometimes." - Vic
8. Stay Away From My Friends
My favorite part of this song is the vocals. Vic sounds really good on this song , well he sounds really good on any song but on this song, it just seems more renounced that he's a great singer. This is a slow song, more like a ballad, but I love it. And the piano on this song is just great.
"This is about my ex-girlfriend trying to stay in close contact with my friends even after we had broken up. We all need our friends to be there for us and help us out during hard times. I wrote the piano parts in my living room at home in San Diego. We wanted to challenge ourselves with this song and make it as different as possible from the rest of the album. We threw it right in the middle of the album as a sort of a breath of fresh air. My friend Dave Yaden played all the keys on this record, as well as on [2007’s A Flair For The Dramatic], and that took everything to the next level." - Vic
9. I Don't Care If You're Contagious
This is song is up on my favorites from this album. It's probably one of the sweetest songs ever written. I decided that this song was my favorite before I read Vic's explanation of this song, but when I read his explanation of it, it just made me love the song so much. It's a really sweet and sad song all at the same time, but it's very beautiful. Vocally, this song is just amazing. I don't know how Vic out does himself vocally on every song, but he does. I really think this song is probably one of the best from both of their albums. My favorite line from this song is "live in love and die" I would actually get that as tattoo, cause I think everyone should live in love. I really like the bass on this song too. There's great bass bars on here and the drum work is very smooth.
" I wrote a great deal of these lyrics after a young fan had explained to me that her boyfriend had just recently died in a car accident. She told me that he held her hand for the first time at our one of our shows. She told me that she just wanted to thank us for being a part of their lives. This was one of the most shocking and heartbreaking things I’d ever heard. I wrote the song as a gift to her. It's meant to be her boyfriend speaking to her, telling her that he is still watching over her and that he will love her forever." - Vic
10. Disasterology
I like how fun this song sounds. Everything that's talked about in the song sounds fun and then you go to the chorus and it's taking about something that doesn't sound so found. The song is really great and I just love the title of it. And I think some Donnie Darko fans would appreciate this song.
"This song is basically about a typical guy's dream. It talks about girls, drinking and having the time of your life. It's very poetic and drifts around just like a person's mind would inside of a dream. I purposely just wrote down the first things that popped into my head. The chorus talks about building something beautiful only to destroy it. This is a very philosophical idea that I've played around with for a long time. I wrote most of the music in Florida with my good friend [former ADTR guitarist] Tom Denney. He and I worked on the music for this song, "The Boy Who Could Fly" and "The Sky Under The Sea." Love you, Tom!" - Vic
11. Million Dollar Houses (The Painter)
This is also another rather sweet song. Vic wrote to his parents, taking about how his parents never let money get in the way of their love. It's just such a sweet song. And I agree with Vic "Fuck money, we just want love". I think more people should think like this. Money isn't everything. Without love , there is nothing.
"I wrote this song as a gift to my parents. It's meant to be my dad talking to my mom. My dad has worked very hard his entire life as a painting contractor, struggling and fighting to make enough money to keep us going. We recently had to sell our house because things were just getting too expensive to afford anymore. This song is about how through all the years, my mom and dad have never let money tear them apart, and no matter how bad things got, they’ve always had each other. I strongly express my hatred for money and the way it sometimes fucks with people's lives and families. All you need is love. The Beatles were right all along. Go figure." - Vic
12. The Sky Under The Sea
This is the final track on the album and it's just as amazing as the other songs. It's the perfect way to end the album. This song is where the title of the album comes from. I love how this song basically wants one to admit and to realize that they are selfish. I have a bracelet that says "selfish" on it, because I do agree that everyone is selfish no matter how good of person they maybe. This whole album has amazing guitar work, drum work, bass work, vocal work, and lyrics. And I think this song was the best way to end the album.
"This song is about admitting, "I am the selfish machine." It's about being selfish with love and taking what you want without regret. The selfish machine refers to the animal inside all of us that no one ever wants to admit is there. I consider all of our evil thoughts and desires that we are ashamed of to be perfectly natural. We are all humans and no one is perfect, despite how morally good someone may think he or she is." - Vic
If you haven't listened to this album, you need too. It's really good, I love it. It's probably one of my favorite albums that a band has released. It's up with A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At The Disco.
Pierce The Veil is definitely an amazing band and I'm glad that this album really showcases it.
No comments:
Post a Comment