The Pierces are an American New York-based band consisting of sisters Allison and Catherine Pierce.
Biography edit:
Early life edit:
Allison Margaret Pierce (born July 23, 1975) and Catherine Eleanor Pierce (born September 11, 1977) were born two years apart in Birmingham, Alabama. 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 children,...read moreThe Pierces are an American New York-based band consisting of sisters Allison and Catherine Pierce.
Biography edit:
Early life edit:
Allison Margaret Pierce (born July 23, 1975) and Catherine Eleanor Pierce (born September 11, 1977) were born two years apart in Birmingham, Alabama. 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 children, 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 edit:
2000-2005: The Pierces and Light of the Moon edit:
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". Allmusic attributes the poor reception to "no label support".
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 Pierce sisters either wrote or co-wrote.
2007-2010: Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge edit:
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 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 had been known as a folk rock band.
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".
On October 24, 2007, The Pierces appeared on the CW television series Gossip Girl, in the episode "The Handmaiden's Tale", playing their songs "Secret" and "Three Wishes". They made another in the episode Hi, Society, playing the same two songs.
On August 21, 2008, "Secret" by The Pierces appeared in a promo for Showtime show Dexter. In May 2009, Dutch TV channel NET 5 used "Secret" in a promo for their fantasy shows Charmed and Ghost Whisperer. It also appears as the theme song for the ABC Family's original TV series, based upon the series of books by Sara Shepard, Pretty Little Liars. Secret was also played over the closing credits in the movie "ExTerminators."
The duo appeared in The All-American Rejects' third album, When The World Comes Down, in the track, "Another Heart Calls". They performed the song live with The All-American Rejects in July 2009 at MySpace's The List in Dallas, Texas.
The single "Secret", is the theme song of the TV-series Pretty Little Liars, it was suggested by one of the stars of the show, Ashley Benson. In 2012, the single "Secret" was featured in a commercial for the Australian Big Brother.
2010-2012: You & I edit:
On October 23, 2010, the group appeared on Later... with Jools Holland. In December 2010, the sisters and their band toured with Lissie as her support act. They also performed live on ITV1 show Lorraine in March 2011 whilst promoting their new single "Glorious".
On May 30, 2011, their fourth and latest album You & I was released featuring their new singles "Love You More", "You'll Be Mine", "Glorious" and "It Will Not Be Forgotten" produced by darktones and released by Polydor Records. However, The Pierces only have a label currently in the UK and are therefore focusing on widening their popularity there, later working on their homeland the US.
They went on their first ever official tour through June 2011, with Delta Maid and Alice Gold as support: 7th June-The Pleasance (Edinburgh), 8th June-Rescue Rooms (Nottingham), 9th June-The Cockpit (Leeds), 11th June-The Ruby Lounge (Manchester), 12th June-HMV Institute (Birmingham), 13th June-Thekla (Bristol), 14th June-Bush Hall (London).
The Pierces played at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2011.
The Pierces supported Coldplay at the iTunes Festival in July 2011, which happened to be on Alison's 36th birthday. A second, much larger UK tour took place through October 2011, with Marcus Foster as support: 7th October-Leadmill (Sheffield), 8th October-02 ABC (Glasgow)(changed from the smaller venue Oran Mor due to high demand), 9th October-Academy 3 (Manchester), 11th October-Condorde 2 (Brighton), 12th October-Glee Club (Birmingham), 13th October-02 Shepherds Bush Empire (London), 15th October-Junction (Cambridge), 16th October-Waterfront (Norwich), 17th October-Glee Club (Cardiff), 19th October-02 Academy2 (Oxford), 20th October-Anson Rooms (Bristol), 21st October-Stanley Theatre (Liverpool). On 11 September, 2011, the duo announced via Twitter that their next UK single from You & I will be "Kissing You Goodbye", due 23 October. The Pierces supported Coldplay once again for their North American tour in April-May 2012. They appeared at the Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, San Jose and Los Angeles shows, as well as supporting them in their Australian tour
2012-present: Fifth studio album edit:
The Pierces confirmed on their Facebook account, that they are in the studio recording new music for their upcoming fifth studio album. On January 3rd 2013, The Pierces tweeted a fan on twitter stating that their fifth studio album should be coming this year. Their song "We are stars" also was featured on CW's Beauty and The Beast in episode 15 starring Jay Bunyan (Jay Ryan) and Kristin Kreuk.
Members edit:
Allison Pierce: Vocals and acoustic guitar,
Catherine Pierce: Vocals and percussionread less
/cover.jpg "Array - Ruby Blue (japaneese Edition)")
/cover.jpg "Array - Things We Do For Love (Instrumentals)")
