San Diego-based emo-metallists, Pierce The Veil, are back with their fourth full-length overall, Misadventures, which drops on May 13th (via Fearless Records). Despite hailing from the west coast, the band found themselves on the opposite coast to record the eleven-song set, with producer Dan Korneff (whose past credits include The Devil Wears Prada, Lamb Of God, and Breaking Benjamin) overseeing the sessions. PtV's bassist, Jaime Preciado, spoke with BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato a week before the album's release.

BraveWords: How is the new album, Misadventures, different from previous Pierce The Veil albums?

Jaime Preciado: "I think with every time we make a record, we go in thinking about the last record in the back of our heads, and what we did, what we liked about the record, what we didn't like about the record. Try and improve on that. I think every time we go into the studio, we try to make essentially the best record we can, and almost like, top the last record. I like to think a record as almost like time capsules for us - what we were thinking, what we were doing when we were making the record. This record, Misadventures, going into it, we had this mindset of we're at a point in the band's career where we can start expanding on things that we might not have been able to do on our second record or third record. So we went back with Dan Korneff, who was the producer on our last record, Collide with the Sky. I think all of us were really comfortable with him. We started working right away - there wasn't that weird, 'get to know you period.' This record, I definitely think we figured out what we can do as far as sonically and musically. The other records, we were kind of trying to figure out who we were. This record, I think shows us a little bit of what we do, and it's a lot of fun."

BraveWords: What did producer Dan Korneff bring to the table?

Jaime Preciado: "Originally, we were drawn to him by the way he was actually labeled as an engineer. He worked right next to David Bendeth in New Jersey, and David Bendeth's name has been everywhere - on huge records. But we started hearing around the business area that Dan Korneff was a huge part of those records - he was the one who mixed the records, he was the one who engineered the records. So me, coming from a studio background, that's huge - having somebody who made those iconic records like Paramore's Riot! record, that sounds amazing. We heard his records and thought, 'His records sound so good.' So that was the first thing that drew us to him. And after that, just his work ethic. We've worked with plenty of producers who were kind of in that realm where it was like, 'I'm the producer, so you guys do what you have to do, and then I'll just do the bare minimum to make you guys sound good.' There have been producers like that, that we've worked with, and that doesn't fly. We like to have somebody as stoked on a song or album as we are, and put in as much effort. And his work ethic is insane. He takes it like it's his baby, as well as ours. The guy loves what he does, and that was contagious. It made us work harder, it made us do everything full-bore."

BraveWords: I heard that Misadventure was recorded on Long Island.

Jaime Preciado: "The last record we recorded in New Jersey, where his old studio was. But soon after, he branched out and started his own studio [Sonic Debris Recording Studio]. Another testament to his work ethic - every day to the studio, when we made Collide, he would drive an hour and a half to get to the studio, because he lived on Long Island. So every day, he would show up in the morning and leave late at night - he would be the first one there and the last one to leave. And still with that drive. So what he did was build a studio on Long Island, close to where he lives - just to be close to home. He pretty much gutted a warehouse and built it from the ground up. This particular studio has living quarters, so for us, that was the first time actually living in the studio. So we would literally record until we got too tired, and then we'd go to bed in the studio. It was definitely an all-day and night kind of thing. We never really left - unless we had to eat or something. We were in there for quite some time."

BraveWords: Does the album title have any special meaning?

Jaime Preciado: "We went in the studio thinking that we had three months to record this record. Plenty of time. We're going to go in, we have this plan, we have this goal, we can see it - let's go there. Let's do it. And as we were making the record, things started taking turns and twists to get to where we wanted to go - a perfect example is we came in with I think eleven songs to record, and we ended up cutting two in the pre-pro session. Which meant we listened to the whole album with demos, and realized that the two songs we cut weren't going to make the record - they didn't feel right on the record. So that meant we had to start writing from scratch in the studio. That's something we've never ever done. Once we got everything dialed in music-wise, three months had gone by, so then our singer, Vic, was in the studio another couple of months, and he needed to get out of there. We were in that studio for so long, you need to just come up for air. So we booked a tour right in the middle of that session - just to get us back on the road. That was probably the best thing that could have happened, because we realized why we actually make these songs and write this music - because it's fun to play live. You kind of lose sight of that sometimes when you're in the studio. That I think saved us. Touring, traveling to different places, and then our singer went on a little trip all over the place, just trying to find inspiration for the vocals and lyrics. We had this plan, and it just didn't go as planned…hence the name, Misadventures."

BraveWords: Favorite tracks?

Jaime Preciado: "Every track has its own vibe. Every song has its own place in the record. Right now, one of my favorite songs on the record is a surprising song - it was a fun song to play, just because it's not really 'in our zone.' It's called 'Floral & Fading' - it's almost in the pop realm. It's a very pop/'80s vibe kind of song, and it's very bass and drum heavy. It's got this groove that is not normally our style - normally, the guitars are pretty hot in the mix and they're shredding the whole time. With this song, it kind of chills out, and it's just one of those kind of songs we took a chance with, and we wanted to put it early in the tracklisting, to see what fans thought. That one really surprised me - how great it turned out."

BraveWords: Touring plans?

Jaime Preciado: "Right now, we just got back from the UK. We did some press out there. And then we are on our way to doing a CD release show in Mexico City - it's been kind of a dream for us to do, for a long time. So we get to release the record May 13th in Mexico City, and then shortly after that, we start the Misadventures tour in June. That tour, we're going to be playing the entire record, front to back, in its entirety. And that will be a small US run, in smaller venues. And we have our UK and Europe tour dates all posted. There's going to be a ton of touring."

(Photos by: Jonathan Weiner)