Mike Fuentes, also known as MIkeyWhiskeyHands, is a founding member of the American rock band called ‘Pierce the Veil’. His brother, Vic Fuentes, is the lead singer and guitarist, while Mike plays the drums and does some solo rapping. Both boys were influenced by their father, an American-Mexican jazz musician and painter by profession. His first album called ‘Celebration of an Ending’ was released with the band ‘Before Today’, after which it changed its name to ‘Pierce the Veil’. Today, the band is one of the top rock bands in the US and has four albums to its credit. It had also won a number of awards, including their latest ‘iHeartRadio Music Award’ in 2017. Mike is active on social media and has a large following on Instagram and Facebook. He has appeared in various music festivals and has undertaken a world tour that has been made into a documentary video to popularise his music.
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Childhood & Early Life
Michael Christopher Fuentes was born on 14 December 1984 in San Diego, California, USA. His parents, Vivian and Victor Gamboa Fuentes are middle class American-Mexicans. His father was a former Jazz musician, who worked as a painter.
He was brought-up with his elder brother, Vic Fuentes. Both brothers studied at the Mission Bay High School from where he graduated in 2003. He also has two half-brothers and a half-sister. He is related to the musician, Nick Martin, who plays the guitar for the band ‘Sleeping With Sirens’.
Both the boys were influenced by their father and got interested in music. While Vic sang and learnt to play the guitar, Mike took up the drums. Soon they formed their own band called ‘Early Times’ and started performing at local venues in their hometown. After releasing three EPs, the band was renamed ‘Before Today’ due to copyright issues. As they grew up they founded the American hardcore rock band called ‘Pierce the Veil’ in 2006.
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Career
Mike Fuentes made his debut with an independent album with the band, ‘Before Today’ in 2004. The album titled ‘Celebration of an Ending’ was released after signing a contract with Equal Vision Records. However, the band got disbanded and he continued with his role as the drummer of their new band, ‘Pierce the Veil’.
While he played the drums and took care of the percussion, his brother Vic took on the mantle of lead vocal and played the rhythm guitar and keyboards. Tony Perry joined them as the lead guitarist while Jaime Preciado played the bass guitar and accompanied with backing vocals.
The brothers wrote songs together and released the album ‘Flair for the Dramatic’ under the label of ‘Equal Vision Records’ in June 2007. The following year he released the EP titled ‘The Hearts of Lonely People’ with the band, ‘Supergroup Isles & Glaciers’.
His band released their next album titled ‘Selfish Machines’ under ‘Equal Vision Records’ in 2010. The theme of the album is centred on the animal instinct in human beings. The album was a great success and reached the number one position on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. To support the album, the band played in a number of festivals and took part in the ‘Vans Wraped Tour’ of rock music in the USA.
In 2012, ‘Pierce the Veil’ went into a contract with ‘Fearless Records’ and released their album ‘Collide with the Sky’. They did their first tour of UK to coincide with the release of the album and appeared in the ‘Rock Sound’ magazine as the best album of the year.
Their latest album ‘Misadventures’ was released in 2016, preceded by the singles ‘The Divine Zero’ and ‘Texas is Forever’ from the album. Their music received favourable reviews and maintained their position as one of America’s top rock bands.
Mike Fuentes also started a solo hip-hop project where he was nicknamed ‘MikeyWhiskeyHands’. He signed a recording deal with Velocity Records in March 2012 and released a number of his own singles that feature him rapping on the music of Pierce and Jaime.
In order to popularise his music and reach out to his fans he took on a world tour in two legs where he was featured with the band ‘Sleeping With Sirens’, ‘The Devil Wears’, ‘Mayday Parade’ and ‘Chiodos’. He even features in a documentary video that covers the world tour of his band, which contained clipping of their live performance.
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Major Works
Mike released his debut album ‘A Celebration of an Ending’ with the band ‘Before Today’ in 2004.
He has four albums with the band ‘Pierce the Veil’ titled ‘A Flair for the Dramatic’ (2007), ‘Selfish Machines’ (2010), ‘Collide with the Sky’ (2012) and ‘Misadventure’ (2016).
He also played the drums for the EP titled ‘The Hearts of Lonely People’ of the band ‘Supergroup Isles and Glaciers’.
In addition to his albums and EPs, Mike has released a number of hip-hop singles under the stage name of ‘MikeyWhiskeyHands’.
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Awards & Achievements
Mike’s band ‘Pierce the Veil’ has made its mark as one of the top rock bands in the USA. They have won a number of awards including the ‘PETA2 Liberation Award’ in 2010, ‘Kerrang! Award’ and ‘Rock Sound Readers Poll Award’ in 2013, two ‘Revolver Golden Gods Awards’ and three ‘Alternative Press Music Awards’ in 2014 and the ‘iHeartRadio Music Award’ in 2017.
Personal Life
Mike has been in a number of relationships including Amor Hilton, Danky Frenchi and Melissa Marr. His current girlfriend is the model, Alysha Nett, whom he started dating in 2013.
Trivia
Mike loves Harry Potter and Mexican food. He even has a tattoo of Harry Potter on his arm.
He is a bit of a physical fitness freak and does warming up exercises for 45 to 60 minutes before a show.
