Knives and Pens

The lyrics were written by Black Veil Brides vocalist Andy around the title "Knives and Pens" which, according to him describes a choice: Knives — destruction (as in harming yourself), and Pens — creation (as in the choice he decided to make to begin writing music and make something of their life). Black Veil Brides is saying in this song that if you make good choices in life, you can rise above and conquer whatever troubles you may come across.[3]

The clip at the beginning of the original version of the song is from the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. It was taken from a recording of one of the West Memphis Three trials. The transcription of the clip is as follows:

Prosecutor - "In looking at young people involved in the occult, do you see any particular type of dress?" Witness - "I have personally observed people wearing black fingernails, having their hair painted black, wearing black t-shirts... Sometimes they will tattoo themselves."

The song is in the key of D minor and the guitars are tuned to Drop D. The song slowly builds around a piano's sustained D note, until the introductory clip ends, and then the band begins to play.

The music video depicts a scenario similar to Andy's years in school, where he was bullied for the way he dressed, looked and the music he listened to.

A boy walks to his school locker and sees papers taped to it that have hurtful messages written on them, such as "emo", "fag", and "kill yourself". He rips them down and throws them to the ground in anger. Even his brother bullies him, stealing his notebook that he writes lyrics inspired by his feelings of anger in. He goes home angry, but his brother eventually comes in and returns his notebook. He then proceeds to begin writing the lyrics to "Knives and Pens". He also is seen watching the video of Black Veil Brides playing the song and there are clips of the band playing with occasionally dressing in white and occasionally dressing in black.[7][8]

Black Veil Brides released a lyric video for the acoustic version of "Knives and Pens" on March 20, 2013 through StandBy Records[9]