Jackopierce - Acoustic Duo
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
Jackopierce answers the questions, 'Why Acoustic?'.
DM) What is the songwriting process you two go through?
CP) Well, we both read a lot, and I think that influences our writing the
most. I know Jack often writes late at night. He'll take the wheel while
driving and will drive at night until sunrise. A lot of my stuff comes from
reading a lot, taking notes, and keeping a journal. We do a lot of messing
around during sound check. We very rarely sit down and rehearse, so most of
our stuff just comes up naturally.
DM) Is that where the song "Iron John" came from?
CP) No, that's a kind of autobiographical thing for Jack. He was born in
Pittsburgh and lots of his family lives there, so there's a lot of that
influence over there.
DM) On the whole CD, what track would you consider your favorite?
CP) I really enjoy "Get to Know Me Better", which is the most for fun me.
DM) Who would you consider your major influences?
CP) I come from a lot of early Police, Phish, Cure, and various alternative
stuff in the early '80's. Jack comes from the Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni
Mitchell kind of school.
DM) The whole album is all acoustic, and the big question is, "Why acoustic? "
CP) We were theater majors together in school . We found out, you know, "You
play guitar... cool." I had a little studio set up in my room. We'd seen
some other guys around town playing acoustic, and we thought, "Wow, that was
just dreamy." You know, go out, play, have fun, drink beer, and that just
seemed like a great fun thing to do. Being theater majors, we love to
perform. I played in bands throughout high school. I never really liked
being in bands, but... bands are really kind of a pain in the ass for me, I
guess. None of us seemed to click.
DM) Is there any band you see yourself trying to emulate?
CP) No, not at all. We've never been formulaic about anything. We've always
decided that this is how we're going to do it. Maybe from some other band on
the road, we see how they set up things, how they will play acoustically and
stylistically; but we never say, "We want be like this." Never.
DM) Are there any particular musicians that you looked up to as a kid and
always wanted to be like?
CP) I always looked up to Brian Ferry and Sting. They were a big deal to
me.
DM) What would you say are the major differences between you and Jack?
CP) We're opposites, way opposite. He's dark, I'm light. I have blonde
hair, he has black hair.
DM) ... besides physical aspects.
CP) We're really complete opposites. I'm very animated and talkative; he's
very quiet and shy. It's probably weird, because we're best friends and we're
so different. The kinds of people we hang out with are different, too, like
when you see people in the audience gravitate towards his side of the stage
and my side of the stage.
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