In November, they’ll play Queenscliff Festival alongside artists like Paul Kelly, Killing Heidi, and Peter Garrett. “It means that we really need to get better,” Jack Pierce says as he reflects on the band’s place among these musicians.
“It means that we’re very self critical. If we’re going to be playing alongside this calibre of people, then we can’t fuck this up, we’ve got to do this right.”
His commitment to avoid complacency and self-awareness is refreshing. Despite the duo’s swift rise to fame, Jack has no sense of entitlement.
The Pierce Brothers began their journey busking on the streets of Melbourne. On the crowded stage that is Melbourne’s CBD, their energetic performances earned them a swell of buzz and a word-of-mouth following.
“Our managers at the time who are in Bonjah, obviously really famous for busking, said ‘Listen, this is really good, but you’ve got to start busking,’ and who were we to argue?
“The first day we were there we sold 60 CDs, and at $10 a pop, we were all ‘Holy shit, this is awesome.’ After that we started playing as much as we could, before we knew it people started to come to shows, and ask when we were going to play next, find us on social media, and things just rolled away from there.”
The talented multi-instrumentalists captivated audience with their live shows, selling over 50,000 EPs independently, before taking their music to the world stage, and signing with Warner.
In 2014 they played on a lineup alongside Queens of the Stone Age, The National and Snoop Dogg, on the same stage as First Aid Kit, and other Australian acts like The Cat Empire, Chet Faker, and Vance Joy.
“It was right at the peak of Riptide, and we couldn’t believe it, we didn’t feel like we belonged there. But at the end of that festival, we were the highest selling act in merch. Because we were right at the start of the tour process, and people wanted our music, but couldn’t get it on iTunes.”
Currently having some rare time off from live shows, (Jack was recently hospitalised for a nasty bout of pneumonia) the brothers are in the studio writing and recording their debut album.
“We’ve never done a full album before, let alone one with a major label, there’s a whole machine behind it,” he says.
“It’s challenging because with a sibling, you can say whatever you want and the cat fights can get personal pretty quickly, but at the same time, I don’t think I’d be able to do it with anyone else. We’ve tried playing with a drummer before, and it just didn’t work. We couldn’t tap into that rhythm. It’s much easier to be in tune with each other.
“The album is closer to what we do live. Every other release we’ve used a backing band, but they just don’t give the energetic vibe and rolling along of what we do live. What we’re doing now sounds bigger, but we’ve played all the instruments ourselves. We want to make it as close to a live show as we can.”
BY CLAIRE VARLEY
