Drummer Nick Pierce has spoken out publicly about the 2024 mass exodus of members from As I Lay Dying of which he participated in. In a new interview with METAL DRUMMERS UNITED, Pierce spoke at length about his decision to exit the metalcore band, while also briefly touching upon the circumstances that led to it.

Pierce came to As I Lay Dying back in 2022, following his former Unearth bandmate Ken Susi over to the roster in June of that year. As far as the ultimate timeline went, Pierce was the third member to publicly exit As I Lay Dying, following bassist/vocalist Ryan Neff and guitarist Ken Susi. All of the above members were recruited after the previous As I Lay Dying roster had quit.

In his October 2024 exit statement, Pierce in part offered, “I feel I need to distance myself from the band in an effort to retain my personal health and integrity.” Allegations of troubling behavior would eventually be leveled against the band’s Tim Lambesis in the fall of 2024, with footage leaking showing himself and his then wife Dany Ciara in concerning situations. Tim would come forward with allegations of abuse and more against Dany in November of last year. Dany would later issue a statement of her own this past January in which she disputed many of Tim‘s claims, while also making allegations of abuse against him.

Susi himself would partake in an interview with the BREWtally Speaking Podcast in April of this year, outlining a series of troubling events he claimed to have taken place involving the couple that led to this second mass exodus of members from the group.

Those allegations surrounded the now divorced couple have flared back up again in the public in recent days, with Dany expanding upon her allegations of abuse against Tim in this new tell-all interview that was published on December 28th. Tim responded to her claims made in that interview with this statement, while Dany fired back at Tim with a statement of her own hours later.

Speaking in this new interview mentioned above, Pierce opened up on his decision to leave As I Lay Dying, telling his side of what led him leave the band, largely placing the blame upon Tim. Speaking of initially joining the group and the circumstances that led to his exit, Pierce stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:

“…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 f*ck 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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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 sh*t 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 f*cked 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 f*cking blew it. Completely f*cking 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 f*cking second chance. He made some really stupid f*cking 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 f*cking help. Um, beyond that, I really don’t want to say much because the internet and everybody else knows what the f*ck happened.”

He later continued:

“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 sh*t. 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 sh*t 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 f*cking case. It’s a special exception and it definitely went south, and f*ck me, you know? Like and f*ck Ken and f*ck Ryan. Like we all got sh*t on.

I found out the band was breaking up on my birthday. It was a sh*t f*cking 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 sh*t that Tim had done, right? And so, like I said, my bad. I trusted the wrong f*cking guy his time and so did everybody else. So, f*ck us, you know, it f*cking happens.”

Since last year’s mass exodus of bandmates, Tim Lambesis has once again rebuilt the As I Lay Dying roster, this time with an entirely new group of musicians backing him. This fall has seen that version of the group release new music, while also embark on their first European tour together.