Pernice Brothers

After the Scud Mountain Boys disbanded in 1997, singer/songwriter Joe Pernice assembled the Pernice Brothers and pivoted sharply from the economical yet polished country textures of the group’s swan-song album Massachusetts. The new project unveiled a richly textured, string-laden pop approach on its 1998 debut Overcome by Happiness. Country elements largely vanished, supplanted by the melodic and production sensibilities of Brian Wilson, the Left Banke, and Todd Rundgren. The second album, 2001’s The World Won’t End, deepened this pop immersion and earned widespread acclaim; throughout the rest of the decade the band sustained that level with further releases, among them 2006’s Live a Little and 2010’s Goodbye, Killer, both of which favored a more direct, less stylized presentation. Following an extended pause devoted to separate endeavors, the Pernice Brothers resurfaced strongly with 2019’s Spread the Feeling. Their 2024 album Who Will You Believe proved especially introspective and emotionally precise, shaped by a series of sudden losses among friends and relatives.

Sub Pop, the label that had issued the final Scud Mountain Boys album, also handled Overcome by Happiness. The initial roster featured Joe alongside his brother Bob—the only remaining link to the Scuds—guitarist Peyton Pinkerton of the New Radiant Storm Kings, bassist/producer Thom Monahan, drummer Aaron Sperske, and pianist/producer Mike Deming. The twelve-track collection dazzled admirers of sophisticated, elaborately arranged contemporary pop and drew glowing notices. After the debut the band entered a self-declared hiatus, during which Joe issued the early-2000 Sub Pop album Chappaquiddick Skyline. That set drew on the Pernice Brothers touring unit—Monahan, Pinkerton, newly added keyboardist Laura Stein, and drummer Mike Belitsky, both of the Nova Scotia band Jale—and adopted a leaner, more somber tone than the group’s first record. Joe’s late-2000 solo outing Big Tobacco, again featuring Monahan, Pinkerton, and Stein, shared a similar restraint; Pernice later noted that both projects contained material he had judged insufficiently strong for release under the Pernice Brothers name.

By 2001 he had accumulated enough songs he considered worthy, resulting in the comparatively streamlined yet still compelling The World Won’t End, which received enthusiastic critical endorsement. The core lineup of both Pernice brothers, Pinkerton, Monahan, Stein, and Belitsky appeared on the Ashmont Records release; Pernice and business partner Joyce Linehan had established the imprint after an acrimonious split from Sub Pop and unsuccessful searches for another suitable label. The band embarked on an international tour before reconvening in 2002. The ensuing 2003 album Yours, Mine & Ours trimmed the orchestral density of prior efforts yet maintained artistic quality through another collection of incisive pop songs from one of the era’s strongest acts. After its appearance Belitsky and Stein departed, yielding to drummer Pat Berkery of the Bigger Lovers and keyboardist James Walbourne, formerly of Peter Bruntnell. The 2004 tour yielded the early-2005 live album/DVD set Nobody’s Watching/Nobody’s Listening.

At that juncture the lineup—Pernice, Monahan, Pinkerton, Berkery, and Walbourne—tracked its fifth album across Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Discover a Lovelier You appeared in June 2005 on Ashmont. 2006’s Live a Little marked the first return of producer Mike Deming since Overcome by Happiness, restoring that album’s horn and string arrangements and fusing ornate and direct pop-rock elements. On 2010’s Goodbye, Killer the reduced core of Pernice, Walbourne, and drummer Ric Menck, aided by the returning Bob Pernice, balanced both approaches. Following that release the Pernice Brothers again paused while Joe explored other outlets. He contributed a 2003 novella to Continuum Publishing’s 33⅓ series, a reflective meditation on youth framed by the Smiths’ Meat Is Murder, and published the 2009 novel It Feels So Good When I Stop alongside a concurrent album of new material, spoken excerpts, and referenced covers. The Scud Mountain Boys reconvened in 2012, issuing the 2014 album Do You Love the Sun. Pernice also formed the New Mendicants with Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub and Mike Belitsky, releasing Into the Lime the same year. Producer Budo, known for hip-hop and electronic work, approached Pernice about remixing a Scud Mountain Boys track; their exchanges produced the 2015 Roger Lion collaboration. While intermittently adapting the Meat Is Murder novella into a screenplay, Pernice joined the writing staff of the Canadian series The Detail, relocating to Toronto after marrying former bandmate Laura Stein. The Pernice Brothers returned in 2019 with Spread the Feeling, recorded in Boston, Toronto, and the American Pacific Northwest and featuring contributions from Peyton Pinkerton, James Walbourne, Patrick Berkery, Bob Pernice, Ric Menck, and Neko Case.

After that album’s release Pernice endured successive losses of two close friends and a family member within six months. The experience prompted deep reflection, surfacing in the largely solo-acoustic 2020 album Richard and the stark 2020 covers collection Could It Be Magic, which revisited eight Barry Manilow songs. Following Ashmont’s 2021 remastered vinyl reissue of The World Won’t End, Pernice explored a similar treatment for Overcome by Happiness. New West Records coordinated with Sub Pop on the reissue and expressed interest in future projects. In April 2024 New West released Who Will You Believe, containing twelve new Pernice Brothers songs. Sessions reunited Joe with Bob Pernice and Peyton Pinkerton on guitars, Patrick Berkery and Michael Belitsky on drums and percussion, and Michael McKenzie and Liam Jaeger on guitars, bass, keyboards, and percussion; Neko Case duetted with Pernice on “I Don’t Need That Anymore.”