The Pierce Brothers are returning to WA for the first time in three years this week for a headline show at Milk Bar this Friday, November 11 and two shows at Blues at Bridgetown, which runs from Friday, November 11 to Sunday, November 13. BOB GORDON spoke to Pat Pierce to find out why the visit will bring back special memories for the duo, and why after several years interrupted by COVID, they’re as excited as ever to take their new music on the road.
For Pat Pierce beloved festival Blues at Bridgetown brings back a great memory of finding a sense of belonging in the music scene.
“It was back in 2015,” he recalls. “Carus Thompson, Ash Grunwald, Shaun Kirk, myself and my brother, Jack. I remember we were all just standing around – and these are all people who we’d grown up listening to and chatting to as fans sort of knowing them. It was definitely just one of those moments… standing around like a bit of a brain trust, just chatting about music and touring.
“I remember it being a moment of feeling like a real peer of some of these people that I’d grown up listening to. So yeah, that was very cool. It was one of the first times I’ve felt that in my career.”
As a predominantly blues and roots-based outfit, the Pierce Brothers are regulars on the regional festival circuit across Australia. The festival experience, Patricks says, suits them down to the ground.
“I would say that for our style of music, all we need is a built-in crowd. We sort of came up from busking where people weren’t even interested in seeing any live music, they just wanted to get to get their lunch on their lunch break.
“So we would we sort of tailor this act around just getting some attention and getting them to stop for five minutes and listen to a song. So having a festival crowd already built-in and ready to hear some music and dance? Well, that just makes our life easier and it’s a lot easier to get to the electric vibe. You know, when you’re at a show and you just feel that absolute electricity in the crowd where everyone’s just on the same wavelength and you’re just jumping around.
“When you achieve it and when you get it everyone knows.
That’s what exciting and that’s sort of the best thing about playing festivals, is that everyone’s already ready and almost already there, you’ve just got to go out and take advantage of it.”
The Pierce Brothers have a new album in the works and are looking forward to actually being to tour in support of it in 2023, now that a new normal seems to have arrived for the post-border-restricted live music industry.
“Our last full-length record (Into The Great Unknown) came out in the middle of COVID,” Pat says. “To me, it was the best music we’ve ever released but we weren’t really able to tour it. We couldn’t really leave the state. We couldn’t even leave our houses at one point.
“So we didn’t really get a chance to take it around and show everyone, but we had so much time in the studio perfecting and getting it right and making it this fully realised piece of work. So with the next album we’re doing my brother Jack has built the studio out at his place and there’s gonna be a lot more time spent developing, getting everything right and then just recording everything out there when it’s ready to go.
“I think we’ll have more production and pre-production on this next record than we’ve had in any other thing that we’ve released. Which to me sort of makes me think that all the ideas that we’re going to have will be fully realised and ready to go. So yeah, I think it’s gonna be a good album, and a good year for it next year.”
