Riley Pearce
Image: Photo: Claire Borrello
From a very early age traveling has been in the blood of young gun Riley Pearce, which he believes is one of the key factors that has since gone on to help shape and develop him both as a person and as a musician.
Pearce’s love of travelling was instilled in him during his childhood, he spent much of his upbringing sharing time between Australia and Europe, which he said “made me fall in love with the whole idea of travelling, seeing new places, experiencing new things and different cultures.” This passion for travel has since manifested itself in his music and how he has gone about the entire creative proces,s with the most recent example being a six month journey to Montana seeking inspiration.
“When I went across I didn’t have it in my head already that I was going to release an EP, I just wanted to go across to see how that would affect my writing and just let the creative juices get flowing,” said Pearce. He then went on to explain why he specifically chose Montana of all places: “I didn’t want to go the LA, New York, Austin or any of those bustling music places or crowded cities, I wanted to go somewhere I could experience the real America and also take time to relax, enjoy it and want to write, rather than be in a place where there is so much going on. I liked the fact that it was a nice picturesque place which was great for inspiration.”
Since returning from the journey to Montana, Pearce has since released a seven track EP of songs written during his trip that has been receiving both commercial and critical success. One of the biggest draw cards for his style of music is that it’s such an easy listening genre that it appeals to such a wide spectrum of listeners from all different age brackets, which Pearce sometimes notices in the audiences for his shows.
“It all depends where and when I’m playing if the audiences has a wide range of ages, my mum complains about this sometimes because I won’t get on stage until 10:30pm sometimes, so she doesn’t want to come because it’s too late for her.”
Ahead of his show at The Newsagency tomorrow night, Pearce is “really excited” because he has heard that “it’s such an intimate little venue”, which are just the types of shows he “likes a lot more than the bigger ones, because you can feed off the energy of the audience”. Also gracing the stage during the evening is Jacob Pearson, who Pearce said is “an awesome musician, so you should definitely come along for his stuff as well”. (JA)
Apr 1. The Newsagency, 375 Enmore Rd, Marrickville. $15+b.f. Tickets & info: rileypearce.com.au
