There's not much to do in Vermont...Though the combination of cold weather and small isolated towns do force an extremely bored kid to get creative. Now it's 1998, picture Pierce at 6 years old, sitting on a tiny guitar amp with similarly tiny guitar in hand, begging his parents and family friends for song requests. Long before his time as a DJ, he was pleasing crowds (though much older) with covers of all 60s-70s era classic rock, having no idea what kind of impact this would have later. Fast forward a few years and those song requests turned suggestions of various genres and eventually different instruments. A quick ear helped him in first picking up the guitar as a child and later moving onto drums, piano, trombone and more. Pierce has always had this fascination for taking a concept from one instrument or genre and applying it to something new, an activity that would later define the core of his music. Now with 15 years of classic rock, reggae, blues and even a bit of metal and classical music under his belt, you can imagine how strange Pierce’s first interaction with electronic music was. Somehow this small high school in Vermont was blessed with an incredible music department entirely run by two teachers, a husband and wife. One semester of Pierce's senior year involved back to back music theory and electronic music production classes and another course in music history. The electronic music course taught students the fundamentals of production programs, basic synthesis/sound design, and sampling in addition to studying the history of iconic electronic music from the likes of Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, Frankie Knuckles, and more. It was a revelation having had no real exposure to this world, growing up in such seclusion, so far away from club culture. Pierce made his first real breakthrough at the age of 18 with his first 3 track EP titled "Pardon My French". You may have seen the "making of" video where some pretty unconventional sounds were sampled and definitely turned some heads. With breakout singles including Where We Were, Runaway, Old Man & The Sea and most recently Kuaga as well as official remixes for artists ranging from The Killers to Above & Beyond, his style continues to evolve and love of experimentations doesn’t diminish. You may have also heard his downtempo and experimental productions such as 10/6 (That Should Do It), West Egg, As You Were, his remix for Mutemath and more recently his live version of Kuaga. Now 22 years old and based in Brooklyn, Pierce is still subject to the habits of his youth; bouncing between genres and instruments while simultaneously bringing all of these influences into the dance music he's known for. When he isn't out on the road, playing shows around the world, not too much has changed about those quiet, cozy nights spent in the studio. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.