Jack and Patrick are the Pierce Brothers, an indie-folk duo known for their high energy live performance and their ability to create authentic, heartfelt music that speaks to the soul. The Melbourne boys recently unveiled their latest single, ‘In The Water’, a soulful and uplifting track that highlights the band's unique sound and musical style. Pierce Brothers will be headlining the Seabreeze Hotel in August to celebrate, so Sam had a chat with Jack ahead of the show.
What role did music play in the Pierce family and how did that translate into playing music with your twin brother?
We were always fairly musical, singing a lot when we were younger. Mum used to sing to us a lot and our older brothers played guitar, so we just wanted to be cool like them and just copied them. We had a real knack for performing and it just took off from there. The avenues just presented themselves to us the more interested we were, and things just started moving.
What were you listening to growing up and what’s influenced the music of the Pierce Brothers?
A lot of Neil Young and Simon and Garfunkel from my folks, we had a lot of Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers from our older brothers and sister and then a lot of things came through. There was a lot of Jack Johnson going on, so we wanted to do that surf folk vibe and that’s what we did.
What’s it like to be in a band with a sibling?
It can certainly be challenging (laughs). We’re best mates, but we can bicker and argue a lot more freely with a sibling rather than a bandmate.
‘In The Water’ is the latest single that you’ll be touring up here, tell me about it.
That one was written with Dara Munnis, who we met on the Tash Sultana tour, he was the photographer, and he is an incredible pianist, so he jumped on the road with us a couple of years ago now to do a few shows and we’ve been best mates for a while. Now he’s pretty much one of the Pierce Brothers. We decided to write that song together, the three of us. It was an idea that Pat had years ago that we were playing around with. We actually had a full song, and it just sounded too poppy, and we didn’t like leaning into that pop. We wanted to go down a melancholy dark route, so it just sat in a draw until after doing all this writing we explored it and having Dara come in and put some keys down and put his spin on it, it really opened it up to be able to talk about finding a place of calm and relaxation in amongst the turmoil which is going out into the water.
What can Mackay audiences expect from your show at the Seabreeze next month?
We’re really looking forward to going a bit nuts up there. This will be our first headline show in Mackay and we’re really excited to put on a decent show and have a bit of a party. A lot of jumping around, a lot of excitable Melbourne boys making a lot of noise.
WHAT: Pierce Brothers ‘In The Water’ Tour
WHEN: Friday, August 11 from 8:00pm
WHERE: Seabreeze Hotel
TICKETS: Oztix
