Nick Pierce reflects on As I Lay Dying’s 2024 lineup collapse

Drummer Nick Pierce has now returned to the surface regarding the 2024 very public As I Lay Dying lineup collapse. In a recent interview with Metal Drummers United, Pierce detailed his initial optimism, growing concerns, and eventual disillusionment with frontman Tim Lambesis. Pierce joined the band in 2022 alongside guitarist Ken Susi, becoming part of a rebuilt lineup following an earlier wave of departures. He was the third member to exit during the 2024 collapse, following Ryan Neff and Susi. Since then, Lambesis has once again assembled a new lineup and resumed releasing music, and just completed a European tour.

According to Pierce, the group entered the project aware of Lambesis’ turbulent past, including pleading guilty in 2014, facing a prison sentence for hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife at the time. Pierce, however, was hopeful that real change had occurred.

Pierce explained:

“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 all the things related. We wanted to be part of something that could be something great. Because after playing that first song together and realizing what we could all do as a group.”

Early rehearsals reinforced that optimism, with Pierce describing the musical chemistry as immediate and powerful. However, he said that confidence eroded as underlying issues resurfaced. Pierce emphasized that he believes in second chances, citing personal experiences with friends who had overcome serious struggles, but said this situation proved different. Overall, Pierce placed responsibility for the band’s implosion on Lambesis’ actions, describing the fallout as sudden and devastating, including learning the band was effectively over on his birthday, just weeks before a planned European tour.

While Pierce expressed frustration and regret, he stopped short of revisiting specifics, noting that much of what happened is already publicly known. He concluded by saying he hopes Lambesis seeks help, and that the new lineup does not experience what he and others did.

He expressed:

“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. 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’s 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. 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.”