Selfish machines

Selfish machines
Pierce the Veil studio album
Publication (s)	June 22, 2010 via Equal Vision Records (worldwide)
admission	December 9, 2009 to February 25, 2010
Label (s)	Equal Vision Records , Fearless Records (new edition)
Format (s)	CD , vinyl , download
Genre (s)	Post-hardcore Progressive rock
Title (number)	12
running time	47 min 6 s
occupation	Vocals , keyboard , electric guitar : Vic Fuentes Electric guitar : Tony Perry Drums : Mike Fuentes Electric bass : Jaime Preciado Guest musicians: Jeremy McKinnon - Singing in Caraphernelia
production	Vic Fuentes , Mike Green
Studio (s)	Ocean Studios , Burbank , California The Green Room , Hollywood , California
chronology A Flair for the Dramatic (2007) Selfish machines Collide with the Sky (2012)

Selfish Machines is the second studio album by the US post-hardcore band Pierce the Veil . It is the last album the group released through Equal Vision Records . Selfish Machines, which has twelve songs, was released worldwide on June 22, 2011. It rose to number 106 on the US charts and stayed there for two weeks.

Selfish Machines was re-released on September 17, 2013 with a bonus title.

Production and publication

The musicians started working on the album in 2009. So after the end of the Taste of Chaos Tour in 2009 they recorded their first demos and wrote new material. In a report from their label at the time, Equal Vision Records , it was announced that Mike Green , who had already worked with Paramore and The Matches , had been hired to produce the album.

The group flew to Los Angeles and recorded the footage with Green between December 2009 and January 2010. It was planned to bring the album on the market in 2010. On December 27, 2009, the group announced that drummer Mike Fuentes had recorded all of the tracks for the album in a single day. On January 11, 2010, the musicians announced that only the keyboards and vocals had to be played. On February 19, 2010 it was reported in a studio diary that the group would only spend eight more days in the studio to record the vocal parts. Vic Fuentes would later say in an interview that he no longer plans to record an album in Los Angeles in the future.

Shortly after the recordings, the group released a cover of the Blue Öyster Cult song (Don't Fear) The Reaper , which later appeared on Punk Goes Classic Rock . On May 10, 2010 the musicians released the song The Boy Who Could Fly on Myspace and PureVolume . On the latter portal it was possible to download the song for free.

Already on April 29, 2010, Equal Vision announced that Selfish Machines would come onto the market on June 22, 2010. At the same time, the album cover was revealed and the pre-order phase opened. On June 8, 2010, the label released a commercial for the album. On June 15, 2010, the group put the album as a stream on Myspace . The iTunes edition includes a bonus track that the group recorded with Jonny Craig in 2007. This track is called She Makes Dirty Words Sound Pretty . A deluxe version of the album with an additional DVD was also released. Selfish Machines was released on June 22, 2010.

A music video was shot for Caraphernelia , which was released as a single on July 7, 2010 and premiered on September 28, 2010. A music video was also made for Bulletproof Love , another song from the album. It was shot in Los Angeles in May and released on July 7, 2011.

On May 24, 2013 appeared selfish machines together with a flair for the dramatic as a record . The album was reissued on September 24, 2013. The new version of the album was remixed by Dan Korneff , who worked with the band on Collide with the Sky . This edition also features Kissing in Cars as a bonus track. Previously, the song was only found on the Japanese edition.

Concerning the album title and concept of the album, Fuentes said in an interview that every human being is in some way an "egoistic machine", which is by no means to be understood negatively, that it is in the nature of human beings to be a little selfish. Let it be the evil in us, however it is not the evil in general, but it is simply there and it will always be in us.

"We are all in one way or another selfish machines. In no way is this a negative thing, it's human nature. We all have natural tendencies to want, love, and take. It's about that 'evil' thing inside of us that is really not evil at all, it's just there and always will be inside all of us. "

- Vic Fuentes on Selfish Machines

Music and lyrics

Playlist Selfish Machines
Besitos - 4:22 Southern Constellations - 1:05 The Boy Who Could Fly 5:08 Caraphernelia (feat. Jeremy McKinnon ) 4:28 Fast Times at Clairemont High 4:01 The New National Anthem 4:00 Bulletproof Love - 3:57 Stay Away from My Friends - 4:41 am I Don't Care If You're Contagious - 3:24 Disasterology - 3:26 Million Dollar Houses (The Painter) - 4:01 The Sky Under the Sea - 4:33

music

A majority of the pieces on selfish machines was developed by Vic Fuentes and the former A-Day-to-Remember - guitarist Tom Denney wrote. They also contributed to the music for the songs Disasterology , The Boy Who Could Fly and The Sky Under the Sea .

The musicians try to show their "Spanish side" in most of the songs. The track on the album where the group succeeds most is the first song, Besitos . In The Boy Who Could Fly Pierce the Veil shows that the band's musical roots lie in punk . According to Vic Fuentes, the song Fast Times at Clairemont High shows slight influences from Michael Jackson . In some songs, the group used a Stratocaster ( The Boy Who Could Fly ) to create the most recognizable sound possible, or a piano ( The New National Anthem ). Fuentes recorded the piano intro in The New National Anthem in his apartment. The piano parts in Stay Away from My Friends were also composed by Fuentes. However, Dave Yaden, a friend of the singer, played the parts. In Million Dollar Houses (The Painter) , the group also worked with automatic pitch correction .

Lyrics

The lyrics on Selfish Machines are mainly about human needs and the desire to have things and treat them as their property:

• In Besitos , Fuentes describes his dysfunctional relationship with his girlfriend. However, he only gives the perspective of his former girlfriend in the song. He wanted to understand her point of view and what she went through. The song ends with her wanting to kill him for everything he did to her.
• Southern Constellations was originally the intro for The Boy Who Could Fly . However, the musicians decided to shorten the piece and put the intro on the album as a separate song, as The Boy Who Could Fly would otherwise have reached a playing time of almost six minutes. Southern Constellations describes Vic Fuentes obsession Southern Girls ( Engl. Southern girls ).
• The Boy Who Could Fly describes an "unhealthy" relationship. This piece was also born from the singer's world of experience. Among other things, the song is about all the mistakes a person makes when he is in love. He describes The Boy Who Could Fly as a kind of "self-therapy".
• The song Caraphernelia is addressed to Vic Fuentes' former girlfriend. The song describes his amazement at being abandoned. When he wrote the chorus, he already had a guest singer in mind. A few weeks after the lyrics were completed, Fuentes asked Jeremy McKinnon ( A Day to Remember ) if he would be interested in participating in the piece. McKinnon agreed to work together. Fuentes says it was one of his favorite songs on the album as this collaboration was very important to him.
• Vic Fuentes describes Fast Times at Clairemont High as a "very selfish" song that says "if I can't have you, nobody should have you." He justifies the creation of the piece with the fact that almost everyone should have had this feeling in their life. However, according to Fuentes, this album mainly describes such feelings. According to him, the song describes human nature and his selfish tendencies.
• The song The New National Anthem describes a night Vic Fuentes spent seeing a girl he was very fond of. He drove six hours to pick her up from her apartment. However, upon arrival he found out that she was already moving into a new apartment. Fuentes says much of the lyrics are about this situation.
• Bulletproof Love is, according to Vic Fuentus, the darkest song he has ever written. He describes the situation of being obsessed with someone you love until you start hurting yourself . The lyrics is similar to a suicide note written that is found by the said person. Fuentes admits that it is "crazy" and "extreme", but the piece is also comforting.
• Stay Away from My Friends is about Fuente's ex-girlfriend who tries to keep in touch with his friends even after the relationship is over.
• I Don't Care If You're Contagious was inspired by a female fan of the band after they told him that her boyfriend was killed in a car accident. She said that it was the first time they met at a concert by the band and thanked him for making the group a part of her life. Fuentes wrote the song as a gift for her.
• Disasterology describes every boy's dream: having girls , drinking and having the best time in life. The chorus describes that you build something “wonderful” only to destroy it again afterwards. Fuentes said that he had been playing with this idea for a long time and that he had a special philosophical basis.
• The song Million Dollar Houses is, according to singer Vic Fuentes, a gift to his parents. His father, who works as a painter and fought for enough money to support his family, comes into focus . Million Dollar Houses is about the fact that money didn't tear his parents apart, no matter how bad they were. In the play he also describes his hatred for the means of payment.
• The Sky Under the Sea is about admitting that "I am the selfish machine". It's about being selfish and taking without consideration.

reception

Commercial win

Selfish Machines, which was released on June 22, 2010, is the group's first album to make it onto the official US album charts. It entered the US charts at number 106 and stayed there for a total of two weeks. In the rock charts , it positioned itself at number 31. Selfish Machines achieved a better position in the alternative (17) and independent charts (16). The work achieved a top ten placement in the Hard Rock Charts (9) and in the Heatseekers Charts (all determined by Billboard ). In the latter ranking, Selfish Machines even reached number one. The album received mixed reviews.

German speaking media

Sebastian Berning from Powermetal.de credits the group with an improvement over the debut album A Flair for the Dramatic , even if it comes across as more poppy and melodic. The critic says that the album often reminds of The Bird and the Worm by The Used over the course of the album . He also compares the band in phases with Chiodos and Emarosa .

English language media

Chelsea Pickett of Under the Gun Review predicted the group could gain a larger fan base with the album of "new listeners." Pickett praised the fact that the group's sound on Selfish Machines was original. There is also enough time to mosh and “mic sharing”. She particularly highlighted the song I Don't Care If You're Contagious , which makes the album an "epic, emotional and down-to-earth" work due to its instrumentalization and lyrics. However, the critic describes the use of automatic pitch correction as a little provocative.

Amy Bangs of British Rock Sound describes the song Fast Times at Clairemont High comparing too much with Sunburn Versus the Rhinovirus by The Matches . She also criticized that the album was overproduced and that the use of autotune gave the impression that the musicians were trying to hide something. Drew Beringer from the online portal AbsolutePunk is of the opinion that the first four songs on the album display an "on-the-face" attitude, but that the band then loses their focus and lets go a little. He also criticized the use of autotune in the piece Million Dollar Houses and described it as the ugly head of the album's music. The British DeadPress included the album in the top 15 best albums of 2010. There the album landed in third place.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jon Ableson: Alter the Press! : Pierce The Veil Reissuing 'Selfish Machines' album
2. ↑ ^{a b} Equal Vision Records : Pierce The Veil To Record New Album This Winter ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Sean Reid: Alter the Press! : Pierce The Veil Set To Record New Album
4. ↑ piercetheveil.net : STUDIO UPDATE ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ piercetheveil.net : STUDIO UPDATE II ( Memento of the original from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ piercetheveil.net : STUDIO UPDATE III ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Dave Schwartz: DaBelly Magazine : Pierce the Veil
8. ↑ Blake Solomon: AbsolutePunk : Pierce the Veil for Free
9. ↑ Sean Reid: Alter the Press! : Free Pierce The Veil Song
10. ↑ Grant Trimboli: Under the Gun Review : PIERCE THE VEIL PREORDERS AND ART ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Grant Timboli: Under the Gun Review : PIERCE THE VEIL COMMERCIAL FOR “SELFISH MACHINES” ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Brandon Allin: AbsolutePunk : Pierce the Veil, Dance Gavin Dance Post Collaboration
13. ↑ Equal Vision Records : Pierce The Veil To Release "Selfish Machines" June 22 ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ Equal Vision Records : Pierce The Veil "Selfish Machines" Debuts At # 1! ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ↑ James Shotwell: Under the Gun Review : PIERCE THE VEIL RELEASE “CARAPHERNELIA” MUSIC VIDEO ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ Amy Sciarretto: Artistdirect : Pierce The Veil Debut "Bulletproof Love" Music Video on ARTISTdirect.com!
17. ↑ Equal Vision Records : ["Pierce The Veil release" The Making of Bulletproof Love "video: Equal Vision Records"]
18. ↑ Equal Vision Records : Pierce the Veil - Selfish Machines (Reissue) ( Memento of the original from November 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
19. ↑ ^{a b} Equal Vision Records : Pierce The Veil To Release "Selfish Machines" June 22 ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s} Alternative Press : Track-By-Track: Pierce The Veil ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ↑ Karen Cotton: Wyoming Tribune-Eagle : "Pierce the Veil" sings need and desire, p. 4: "" Selfish Machines "is about the internal human need and desire to take things and have them be your own."
22. ↑ Chart positions: US
23. ↑ Sebastian Berning: Powermetal.de : Pierce the Veil - Selfish Machines review (8 | 10)
24. ↑ Chelsea Pickett: Under the Gun Review : Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ Amy Bangs: Rock Sound : Pierce the Veil - Selfish Machines review (6)
26. ↑ Drew Beringer: AbsolutePunk : Pierce the Veil - Selfish Machines review (78/100)
27. ↑ DeadPress : DEADPRESS Best 15 Albums of 2010