The Pierces

The Pierces are a New York-based music band. The principal members are sisters Catherine Pierce and Allison Pierce, who originally hail from Birmingham, Alabama.

Over the years, the girls have been compared to well-known artists like The Roches, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls and Sheryl Crow.^{[citation needed]}

Biography

Childhood

Born two years apart in Birmingham, Alabama, the Pierce sisters grew up in a family of seven. They traveled frequently and received home-schooling from their self-described hippie parents. Their father played the guitar in various bands, while their mother was a painter. Exposed to music and arts at an early age, the Pierce sisters grew up listening to Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel. As kids, they were encouraged to explore their creative side and would perform at parties, weddings and churches. Allison started dancing at age three, and both sisters are accomplished ballerinas.

Musical career

It was while they attended Auburn University, that a friend sent a tape to a record company in Nashville. This eventually resulted in their debut album The Pierces (2000). It featured folk harmonies and adult alternative songs. In a 2004 interview, Allison Pierce commented that the album "sort of got lost in the shuffle".^[1] Allmusic attributes the poor reception to "no label support". ^[2]

On August 10, 2005, their second album Light of the Moon was released through Universal. The album was produced by Brian Sperber and featured 11 tracks that the girls either wrote or co-wrote.^[3]

On March 20, 2007, their third album Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge was released in the U.S. Produced by Roger Greenawalt (Nils Lofgren, Radish, Ben Kweller), the album has been well-reviewed, particularly for the single "Boring", which parodies celebrity socialites. The new album has a darker, edgier style, at times using such diverse instruments as an accordion, a calliope, bassoons, a sitar, violins, an autoharp, and a Hawaiian lap steel. It marks a definitive change in the direction of the band, which hitherto has been known as a folk rock band.^[4]

In an interview with Rolling Stone after they were featured as a Rolling Stone Breaking Artist, they revealed that this album "felt like [their] last chance". As a result, they "just went for it, had fun".^[5]

On December 5, 2007, The Pierces appeared on the CW television series Gossip Girl, playing their songs "Secret" and "Three Wishes".^[6]

On August 21, 2008, "Secret" by The Pierces appeared in a promo for Showtime show Dexter.^[7]

In May 2009, Dutch TV channel NET 5 uses "Secret" in a promo for their fantasy shows "Charmed" and "Ghost Whisperer".

The duo appears in The All-American Rejects' latest album, When The World Comes Down, in the track, "Another Heart Calls".

Members

• Allison Pierce: Vocals and Guitar
• Catherine Pierce: Vocals and Guitar

Discography

Studio albums

"The Pierces"
Released October 24, 2000

"Light of the Moon"
Released January 25, 2005

"Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge"
Released March 20, 2007

Singles

References

1. ^ "Who to know". Portico Birmingham. http://porticomag.com/dec04/whotoknow.html. Retrieved 2007-07-07. 
2. ^ "The Pierces Overview". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kxfrxqqkldde. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 
3. ^ "Pop Matters Short Takes". Pop Matters. http://www.popmatters.com/shorttakes/2005_03_06_archive.shtml. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 
4. ^ "The Pierces: Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge - PopMatters Music Review". Pop Matters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/43771/the-pierces-thirteen-tales-of-love-and-revenge/. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 
5. ^ "VIDEO: Meet Rolling Stone’s New Breaking Artist, the Pierces". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/05/16/video-meet-rolling-stones-new-breaking-artist-the-pierces/. Retrieved 2007-08-24. 
6. ^ "The Pierces on Gossip Girl". The Pierces. http://www.thepiercesmusic.com. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
7. ^ Promo

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Pierces

• Official site
• MySpace URL
• Rolling Stone feature article