Pierce Brothers’ ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Delivers as ‘Everything Is Bigger Than Me’ Cracks ARIA Top 20

With a top 20 debut for Everything Is Bigger Than Me, Pierce Brothers have boldly gone where few Australian acts have gone in recent months.

Everything Is Bigger Than Me (via Ditto Music), the Melbourne folk act’s fifth studio album, opened at No. 14 on the all-genres, all-formats ARIA Albums Chart, published last Friday, April 5, and bagged top spots on both the national physical tally and the Australian albums survey.

A top 20 berth on a chart that, week after week, is dominated by major-label signed acts from the U.S. and U.K., will be cause for quiet celebration for the twins and their support cast, which includes Lemon Tree Music, the management business behind Tones And I, Tash Sultana; the affiliated Lonely Lands Agency; Music Music Publishing; On The Map PR, and others (Pierce Brothers was the first signing to LTM, back in 2013).

Everything Is Bigger Than Me is the only Australian recording in the current ARIA Top 40; the next-up LP from the these parts is the soundtrack to Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story (at No. 46 via Bloodlines/UMA).

Homegrown acts were largely absent from the national year-end charts. Just four Australian albums appeared in the ARIA Top 100 for 2023, none of which were released during the reporting period. Context is everything. Less than a decade ago, Aussies typically accounted for at least ten of the top 100 albums in any year, or 10% of the total.

It’s a festering problem without any obvious, single solution — other than intervention from above. The streaming problem is one for another day, an issue a cadre of music industry leaders took to parliament last month, with a united call for help.

In a digital world, sometimes an old-school touch is the ticket.

Everything Is Bigger Than Me is the subject of a back-to-basics rollout, a blend of live performance, fan meet-and-greets, vinyl sales, critical plaudits and a small busking run, marking a return to their origins.

“As an independent act in Australia, we’ve definitely had to work so hard to get our numbers over the line,” say the brothers Jack and Pat Pierce in an email to The Music Network.

“This last week has been so busy, we’ve been exhausted moving our way down the coast in an attempt to get our music in front of as many people as possible at the grassroots level.”

The brothers “crushed their sets” March 30 and March 31 at Byron Bay Bluesfest, says LTM co-founder Regan Lethbridge, the launch-pad for a national tour which runs deep into August, and they’re coming off their most-extensive tour yet of Europe.

For ARIA’s reporting week, the album clocked more than 1,100 sales with fans in NSW and the ACT nabbing more than half the copies. Vinyl is the most popular piece of merch sold at the shows, the siblings tell TMN.

Everything Is Bigger Than Me was recorded at Jack’s home studio, with the lads stepping in as producers for the first time, working alongside Phil Threlfall.

A string of single releases help spread the word, including “Hollow,” the music video for which captures highlights from their European visit, as did a four-star review in Rolling Stone AU/NZ and support from a raft of music titles.

It’s been a long winding path to the big stage. In the early 2010s, the pair cut their teeth busking on Bourke Street. Today, the act boasts 40 million global stream. Everything Is Bigger Than Me is the act’s sixth title to impact the ARIA Albums Chart, a career tally that includes top 10s with 2015’s Into The Dirt (No. 10) and 2017’s The Records Were Ours (No. 9).

Next up, a growing national tour, the itinerary for which includes regional shows and several sellouts. More dates are yet to be added, the brothers enthuse.

The wait for a follow-up could be less painful than expected.

“With Jack’s new studio,” says Patrick, “we’re already at work on the next record.”