Recorded by Jan Skubiszewski (Dan Sultan, John Butler Trio, Bonjah) at his Way of the Eagle studios in Melbourne earlier this year, the Into The Dirt EP finds Jack and Pat Pierce ready to become Australia’s next big folk-pop band. Jack Pierce chats to Beat about the transition from street performer to world touring artist, and gives us insight into their latest release.
Stepping beyond last year’s The Night Tree, Into The Dirt sees the twins experimenting with new sounds and styles, hinting at what we can expect from them in the future. “Because we only had four tracks to record, due to the fact that we have been touring so much, we really wanted to get out a couple of songs just before we do an album,” says Jack. “We tried to produce a really diverse range of songs in the studio. With Monsters, we decided to do a bit more of a rock thing. When we created the riff, it had like a Powderfinger vibe, which we loved. Then we changed it up and did something we really haven’t done before with Mama Please. That was a song that was really different for us with the electrics; it has this Kings Of Leon Milk style to it. We are really happy with the EP. It has a bit more of an edgier sound than previous releases, but this is the direction I feel that we are going to go in.”
What makes the Pierce Brothers particularly irresistible is the upbeat atmosphere of their live shows. Forget all your presuppositions about folk duos; the Pierce Brothers know how to get a crowd moving.
“Busking has really shaped our stage presence when playing live,” says Jack. “When we were busking on the streets, we felt like we really had to jump around, do summersaults or play drumsticks on a bin to make people stop and look at us. If we got them to stop and look, then that was great because they would then get to enjoy the music we were playing. This experience has translated to our live performance in terms of the energy we tend to deliver on stage. That whole idea of us having to earn the crowd’s respect and enjoyment hasn’t left us from the streets. Whether we are playing festivals or are a support act, we have worked really hard to give it our all to give these crowds an exciting show. I think this could be a factor as to why we have had these opportunities to play overseas so much in the last few years, and play pretty big festivals. We try and make it all about the live show and go crazy for all of our fans.”
The band’s pop-infused folk music features flawless vocal harmonies that can only be described as mesmerising. “Because we are identical twins, we have the same voice box,” Jack laughs.
The brothers’ intrinsic unity has also been of assistance during the writing of their forthcoming album. “We chop and change a lot with our musical tastes. For our debut album, we have all of these really different ideas. One song we are working on at the moment has this Killers-style anthem, yet we aren’t sure how we are going to pull this off. We have all of these ideas from country to folk, even some big old rock songs.”
BY MICHAEL EDNEY
