Alabama sisters The Pierces have branded our own Guy Berryman "Jesus" for resurrecting their music career, according to The Sun this morning. The girls - Catherine and Allison - had decided to call it a day after a frustrating nine-year slog that spawned three albums, beginning with their eponymously-titled 2000 debut.
But the Parable of the Good Samaritan took a modern twist a mere 24 hours later when their pal Guy called offering to produce their next record, prompting the siblings to reunite. The siblings joined Guy and their bandmates for a stellar Biz Session, performing two original tracks - We Are Stars and new single You'll Be Mine - and an ace cover of Lady Gaga hit Alejandro.
Allison recalled: "We broke up as a band. We felt like there was no more energy left in The Pierces. We couldn't get out of our record deal. We had a kind of tyrant head of the record label. I remember we were on the phone and we said, 'This is over. This is done.' We wanted to do solo projects. And then the very next day Guy called us and changed our lives for ever."
After Guy's 2009 divine intervention, the trio - along with Coldplay producer Rik Simpson - spent the next year "chipping away" at sessions for The Pierces' 2010 EP Love You More and upcoming collection You & I around the bass player's day job. Guy said: "Myself, Rik and the girls formed a little gang of four and we just beavered away in the Coldplay studio and Electric Lady Studios in New York. I haven't really made records with anyone on this level before. I had to learn a whole bunch of new skill sets - about how to speak to the girls as a producer, rather than speaking to one of my bandmembers. I definitely feel that the process has made me better and what I do and what I know."
The singers describe Guy as a taskmaster with set ideas in the studio. Catherine said: "Guy is very organised, has a clear vision of what needs to be done. If there's something he wants done, he'll push for it until he breaks us down."
"He's not stubborn about it," Allison added. "He's open to our ideas even though he has his own very strong ideas. The most apparent thing to me was - apart from his work ethic - his love of music. That's what he lives and breathes."
Despite Guy's assistance and a fine set of new tunes, The Pierces are under no illusions about what the future holds in this notoriously cutthroat industry. Allison: "When we were younger and starting, fame and success was something we needed to have. Now I just feel like this is what we do and we'll continue to do it until we don't want to do it anymore."
The Pierces' new EP You'll Be Mine is out March 7. Their album follows on May 23.
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