PIERCE THE VEIL
MISADVENTURES
I have been honored to have leading the charge on the Pierce The Veil project since they signed to Fearless and leading the charge of their career trajectory has been humbling. While the music is heavy, it’s also intricate, beautiful with just the right touch of the theatrical which has set them apart from their peers, and created the perfect storm for an unprecedented success story. Debut Fearless release Collide With The Sky became a beloved - and later an RIAA Gold-certified - album and spawned an almost boyband-like devotion in a legion of fans the world over and a Platinum single in “King For A Day”.
When it came to the release of their fourth album, follow-up full-length Misadventures, it was encumbered with all the pressure of a sophomore release. With an album that anticipated the campaign had to match. The challenge here was to grow a band that had already blown through the roof of their compadres without losing the fans that gave them success in the first place. But did it we did. The album became the biggest ever debut for a Fearless release.
Mike Cortada embarked on the painstaking process of cutting / layering / pasting and photographing the distinctive album and single artwork, which became the central visual throughout the campaign. The homemade style echoed the sheer volume of fan art all over the internet, reassuring fans that despite their success they were still first and foremost one of them, that fans were a part of their story. We created an interactive mural in the band’s hometown San Diego where fans could become part of the artwork, and a mobile version to be a traveling photo opportunity at events such as the Alternative Press Awards and Rock On The Range Festival where the band were appearing. On release the band’s website was revamped to the album theme, inviting fans to “choose your own misadventure” and select a site that saw the art come to life animated to the album tracks with anecdotes from singer Vic Fuentes, or a route that gave them a more traditional website.
From a San Diegan punk band in local basements to Gold and Platinum plaques, magazine covers, chart success, arena headline shows, award nominations and wins all over the world, Pierce The Veil became the kind of envious artist development and success story that becomes a template for others, and certainly showed both industry and their peers what was possible.
The “Floral & Fading” music video begged for a creative mid-cycle micro campaign – partnering with Spotify and Alternative Press, we evoked the feeling of the big music video premieres of 80s MTV by creating a fever around its release, and inviting a selected group of lucky fans to its premiere at Paramount Drive-In, CA with a surprise appearance and performance from the band. One of the first activations we’d next-leveled, it was picked up by press and solidified early support from a crucial streaming partner and magazine cover.
