There is a laundry list of examples of bands and musicians that experienced a true “breakout” moment. There’s no set date for this moment to arrive, either – sometimes it happens on a debut album, or sometimes it happens multiple records and many years into a band’s established career.
For Pierce The Veil, that moment arrived in 2012 with the release of their third album, Collide With The Sky. The band’s previous full-length, 2010’s Selfish Machines, increased the post-hardcore band’s fanbase by an impressive amount. But it was Collide With The Sky that was poised to become a scene classic, and for good reason – “Bulls In The Bronx”, “King For A Day”, and “Tangled In The Great Escape” benefited from Kellin Quinn + Jason Aalon Butler features (#2/#3), and the hooks are as massive as you can imagine.
Peaking at #12 on the Billboard 200, the record’s success was a staggering achievement for all involved. Especially when you consider that even standing out in San Diego is not easy – Blink-182, Switchfoot, P.O.D., and dozens of other bands and musicians call the area home.
What’s even more wild about the record is that it spawned a double Platinum single (“King For A Day”), a Platinum single (“A Match Into Water”), and a Gold single (“Bulls In The Bronx”). That kind of success for any rock band post-2010 is almost unheard of, to say the least.
