Nick Pierce Breaks Silence on As I Lay Dying: “We Gave Tim the Second Chance and He Fu*king Blew It”

More than a year after his exit from embattled metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying, drummer Nick Pierce addressed what went down and his reason for bailing in an interview with Metal Drummers United (as transcribed by ThePRP).

You may recall the epic cratering of As I Lay Dying that went down last year when Pierce joined bassist and vocalist Ryan Neff and guitarist Ken Susi in leaving the band before guitarist Phil Sgrosso ultimately followed suit. This was the second time a lineup abandoned convicted felon and overall shitbag Tim Lambesis — you know, the guy that got arrested for trying to hire a hitman to kill his ex-wife.

At that time, the band began imploding over what the exiting bandmates claimed was a toxic environment created by Lambesis’ behavior. Though they claimed they left the band because of situations that challenged their integrity and health, only Susi ever really opened up about what went down. In an interview with the BREWtally Speaking Podcast, he outlined several incidents that happened between Lambesis and Ciara.

The band’s implosion did, however, take place shortly before leaked video footage of Lambesis being a shitbag to his now ex-wife Dany Ciara and potentially abusing his dog surfaced online. This all allowed the public to put two and two together: Lambesis was at the center of the band’s unraveling.

Fast forward to this past Monday and Pierce’s interview with Metal Drummer United dropped, effectively spilling the tea on what went down. And from his statement below, nearly all of the responsibility rests at Lambesis’ feet. You can read his entire statement below:

“We were all pretty stoked. Like we partially knew some of the predicaments that we were getting into with the pretense of Tim’s past [Lambesis was sentenced to prison in 2014 for a charge of solicitation of another to commit murder] and we were willing to give him that second — or second and a half chance — or whatever you want to call it. It was like we didn’t hear what had happened with Jordan [Mancino, ex-As I Lay Dying drummer] or with Josh [Gilbert, ex-As I Lay Dying bassist/vocalist] there was no talks about any of that.

“So we kind of blindly went into it hoping for the best and hoping that Tim had changed, and had changed for the better, and realized that he had lost members in the band after going through all of this other stuff he had in his life.

“And we were going in there to help support that band and help support the legacy and metalcore and and all the things related, you know? And so we wanted to be part of something that could be something great. Because after playing that first song together [in rehearsals] and realizing what we could all do as a group, we were like, ‘Holy fuck this is sick.’ Like I’ve never been in a position where a band jams and has in-ears in and you can hear every nuance of everything and it sounds fucking on point.

“Of course I’ve jammed with Ken [Susi, ex-As I Lay Dying guitarist] before and it’s never been with having his guitar pumped into my ears, and I’ve never jammed with Ryan [Neff, ex-As I Lay Dying bassist/vocalist] or Phil [Sgrosso, ex-As I Lay Dying guitarist/vocalist], but everybody collaboratively like fucking crushed. It was a cool beginning to jamming with all of those dudes and being in a new position after being in a band for 10 years. You know, for Ken Susi being in a band for 20-25 years and then moving into a new gig.

“Like it was all very kind of fresh for all of us. Ryan was in Miss May I for years and had this opportunity. It was a cool awakening. It was something definitely fresh and kind of uplifting for all of us because we it was all new. It was different, and taking that risk and taking, you know, whatever associated person that we knew were involved at the time, we didn’t realize, you know? Like I know I’m going to catch shit for this online, so I have to pretense it that we knew Tim had a past. Like don’t get us wrong. I have other friends that have fucked up in their lifetime and made mistakes, right? Everybody gets a second chance.

“We gave Tim that second chance. That was my second chance to Tim. He fucking blew it. Completely fucking blew it. So, just like any of my other friends, who am I to say that I could judge one character against another by not giving somebody a second chance, just like I’ve given somebody who’s a drug addict, somebody who’ been put up in the pen before? Like, I’ll treat him all the same as them because everybody gets that second chance in life, right? Well, he blew his fucking second chance. He made some really stupid fucking decisions. He blew it in the endgame, you know? So, I wish Tim would get the help that he needs, but he’s not. He’s going to keep on his path. I hope the rest of the guys in his new formula don’t find out like we did.

“Um, I wish him the best of luck, but I really wish he would go get some fucking help. Um, beyond that, I really don’t want to say much because the internet and everybody else knows what the fuck happened.

“We’ve all been predicaments or associated ourselves with some individual whether it be a girlfriend or a family member or whoever in our lifetime that has had a rough history, that has had a rough past. That may have suffered from mental disabilities, or may have suffered from injuries, or whatever it may be, right? And over the course of your lifetime, you meet those people, you befriend those people.

“One of my best friends, Chris, I worked with him for over 10 years now. When the dude first came into the shop that I was managing, he had drug addiction problems — or had had — he was coming off of some bad shit. He had a bad history, right? But individuals like that, we became friends, and over the course of the years, I saw an individual improve and become a very good friend, and become one of the most reliable and trustworthy people that I’ve ever known. And he’s an ex-addict. He’s an ex-felon. Like he’s got shit going on his life, right?

“But I gave him that chance, and he was one of the best examples of giving somebody a second chance and finding the benefits of having a really good friend, you know? So that’s one example, right? And I’ve done that with numerous people in my lifetime and more of them than less of them have worked out. In this As I Lay Dying situation, not at all the fucking case. It’s a special exception and it definitely went south, and fuck me, you know? Like and fuck Ken and fuck Ryan. Like we all got shit on.

“I found out the band was breaking up on my birthday. It was a shit fucking predicament. And within 24 or 48 hours time, I went from thinking that I was going on tour in Europe like two weeks later to finding out that the band was falling apart, all because of the shit that Tim had done, right? And so, like I said, my bad. I trusted the wrong fucking guy his time and so did everybody else. So, fuck us, you know, it fucking happens.”