Cary Pierce Interview

INTERVIEW WITH CARY PIERCE FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARHCIVES

DM) Well it's been a few years since I've spoken with you. At the time, you were in Jackopierce. Now the band's split up and you're having a solo career. Since my last two or three interviews with you were a few years ago, I thought it would be best to do a continuation of where we left off. The last time I spoke with you was before the Jackopierce farewell tour. So to start the ball rolling, what happened that broke the two of you up?

CP) (laughs) To be honest, I think it was just that we were together for ten years. Jack came to me one day and said, "Dude, I'm done."

DM) Then he was the one who initiated it?

CP) Oh, yes.

DM) I've heard numerous rumors that you guys have not talked again and that there's hatred.

CP) It's just one of those things. It's like if you date a girl for six years, you live together, you share bank accounts, you share dogs, you share everything; and the second it's over, you could probably leave and not see that person for a couple of years. That's the way I think that kind of went down. I think Jack had really wanted to get out for long time. He was just kind of done with everything for while.

DM) Then there's no hard feelings between the two of you?

CP) There's no hard feelings, it was like a divorce. We were together for ten years. We used to always laugh about it. We were married for all intents and purposes. It was a marriage. We shared bank accounts, money, property, in terms of instruments and just equipment and Jackopierce stuff. It was truly a divorce, and it was the last divorce I'll ever go through.

DM) That must have been pretty tough, emotionally.

CP) It was good, though, because I think Jack had probably wanted to get out for a long time. He had played "Three of Us in a Boat" [one of their first hits] one too many times. And that's just not his scene, you know? We both know that it's something I've always been passionate about, and Jack was always very "Hey, why not?" He openly admitted it. I'm not say anything behind his back. From the beginning, I think in the back his mind he always thought he'd do something else. Then, all of a sudden, thousands of people started coming to see Jackopierce, we started to make a lot of money, we toured the world and we got signed to a major label. Of course, it's hard to leave that. When T-Bone Burnett wanted to produce our record, we thought we must be doing something right. I can't speak for him; it would probably be good to get his perspective. He's got a copy of this record.

DM) And what did he say about your solo record?

CP) I don't know. I really don't know. To me, there's no hatred, there's no...take, for example, now he lives in New York, that's where he should be; but where he likes being in New York, I like being in Los Angeles. We were always that way. If you had to break it all down... Jack's more of a New York cat, and I'm more of an L.A. cat. I like the sunshine and have always been that way. I'm very up and bright, and Jack was kind of the darker one. In all the reviews, Jack was always the darker half, the darker vibe, and I was more of the upper, poppier vibe.

DM) A lot of articles about you both always commented that the differences were what made the band work, that balance between dark and light.

CP) Just like anything, competing forces come together sooner or later...plus, you had two lead forces on stage. It wasn't like one of us was the lead, and the other was backing. There were two lead singers. Both of us at any time could front our own band. Eventually, we ended up doing that. To be honest with you, it's the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It's like, the minute it was over, I felt a complete relief. And I know Jack must have felt a massive relief as well, because it was something that he'd wanted to do for long time. For me, it's been the best thing ever, Dominick, honestly, it was the greatest thing for me, and I know that for Jack to want to do something for so long and then finally get the balls to say it and do it, I credit him. I thank him. I'm the kind of the guy who would have tried to stick it out...to continually bang our heads against the wall until it worked. He just said, "Dude, I'm done." The minute he said that, I thought, "Sweet. Great."--because neither of us was happy at that point. We'd been off the road for about four months of that summer, so I think everyone had a chance to be allowed to see where he was and where he wanted to be.

DM) The thing that shocked me the most about the breakup, though, was that it felt like you're on the cusp of something. The "Bringing on The Weather" album received critical acclaim. It always shocked me more that there was never a "next album" which would go platinum.

CP) Thank you; I appreciate that. The weird thing about it, though, was that we never really worked together. That was something that T. Bone Burnett was always talking about with us. He kind of commented about the bands he'd worked with that might not have succeeded were probably due to the fact that they didn't work together.

DM) When you wrote songs, you wrote them completely independently?

CP) Yes, we never wrote together. We'd always bring something to each other, and edit it and clean it up. There are only a couple of songs that we truly wrote together, "Is It the Sun?" from "The Finest Hour." With that one, it's a classic case which is happening to 90% of bands today. The band goes and makes a record, turns it into the label, label yawns and says, "Eh, we don't hear a single." Band kicks and screams and finally realizes that it might be a good idea to get a songwriter who's written big songs before. Looking back, I should have been co-writing since I was fourteen, when I started this. I've learned so much since the breakup of Jackopierce, and there are so many things. I've come full circle; one of the major things in my life was learning the idea of gratitude. I'd been out there on the road just living my dream, and I really had lost perspective on who was providing me with that dream. The people who provided me with that dream were the thousands of people coming to my show, waiting around afterwards, talking about what it was that affected them.

DM) That actually brings us to the next question. Having been a fan, I noticed lots of people would talk about how they were affected by your music. I've done interviews with The Verve Pipe, your touring buddies, Vertical Horizon, and numerous others who would always mention how much your music affected them. At times it would almost get fanatical.

CP) That's so nice to hear from other bands. That's what everyone dreams of: to have the respect of your peers as well as your fans. That's the greatest thing. Thanks for sharing that with me.

DM) Since then, you released the one single on the "Aware" album and, of course, the newest album, "You are Here." Taking it step by step, how does this newest album compare or contrast to your previous work?

CP) Well, I loved making this record. Getting in tune with gratitude was a huge part of who I've become in the last two years since the break up. Actually, during the breakup of Jackopierce, I changed gears big-time. Some people, when they go through a big break-up like that would go straight to drink or drugs, or whatever. One thing that made it even more difficult was that after we broke up, we still decided to do the farewell tour. So here you are touring with a bunch of guys who you know you are not going to play with anymore, guys who you've already committed to not wanting to play with.

DM) That must have been tough.

CP) It was tough, and what saved me on that was health. I went completely healthy, I quit drinking, I quit smoking, no drugs. I got really healthy on the road. That just became really important to me. There are good addictions and bad addictions, and this became a really good addiction for me. It really saved my life. It kept me sane. It was a very difficult time, touring like that. It was just a weird feeling. Every night Jack and I would warm up like we used to, but every time we'd say, "This is the last time here, in New York" or Birmingham or whatever.

DM) I remember reading that some people took it as one of the best tours in the world. Other people said that they could feel the tension between the two of you.

CP) I don't know. It was just weird because the minute we broke up, I tried to decide what we would be doing next, because there were so many people asking us that question. In deciding this, I took almost a year and a half off. I really needed more time off than I thought.