2013 has been a great year for brothers Jack and Pat Pierce as they have played sell-out venues across Australia, toured successfully overseas, sold over 12,000 EPs from busking alone, released the astonishingly catchy single Tallest Teepee In Town and are about to embark on a four-date Aussie tour in December.
Chatting to the twin brothers over the phone was an entertaining experience as they traded humorous quips, indulged in lively banter and exuded plenty of enthusiasm while speaking about their music. As it was impossible to decipher who was saying what (yes, they sound alike!) we decided that their juicy quotes would be attributed to the collective entity known as the Pierce Brothers (or PB as short-hand).
I was interested to discover the impact that being brothers has on the musical relationship. “We’re best friends…but the fact we work together, tour together and up until a little while ago we lived together as well…that started to get challenging because you are always in each other’s face,” PB explained. “As twins we bicker all the time anyway but at the same time we know each other better than anyone else so we know how to get each other into the zone before a show and when we are on stage we have a sort of twin weirdness thing where we just pull something out of nowhere and start improvising and the other one will just get it!”
The Pierce Brothers are certainly adept at bringing a refreshing looseness and unpredictability to live performances without ever losing control of the song. “One of our strong points is the fact that we can make it different; the fact that we can jump around and on the fly add a chorus…it feels like a big jam or an improvisation but it’s still as tight as it can be.”
This organic approach to making music is a natural by-product of the band’s prodigious busking experience. “The secret to busking success is understanding your audience and being malleable,” PB explained. “You read the audience…and try different things. [While busking] we never pushed to sell CDs and we never asked for a donation. We’re just doing our thing…we’re just here for enjoyment rather for money – to be a successful busker [you need to] focus on what you’re best at and that’s playing music and entertaining people. Energy is the key. Lots and lots of energy and being excited to be there.”
The band’s energy has proven to be a potent contagion capable of exciting audiences both here and overseas. “The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!” PB exclaimed. “We had a ball doing that! Playing the Water Rats [theatre bar] in London was our first UK show. It was a packed out audience which was amazing; it completely went off! It was one of the best shows we have done!”
To pique your interest about the upcoming Aussie gigs, here’s what PB had to say about what you can expect from the show. “A lot of energy and interaction between two people on stage and I don’t mean that in a creepy way! It’s just fun folk songs put together in the most interesting way we can and the most energetic show we can. It definitely sounds like more than two people on stage. We have been surprised by how full a sound we can get.
“We have been pretty lucky with that…with the kick-drum and the stomp-box that we use as a dynamic we actually get a really thick sound. On the shows coming up we will introduce a couple of little different flavours [such as] different percussive stuff. We will find different things I can hit sticks on. We might find a cowbell somewhere on an iron rod or a cymbal. We can make the experience as interesting as we can.”
BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY
