Imagine living out of a suitcase and a bus for the last five years. Imagine being in a different city almost every day. All of this is not a dream but a reality for Jackopierce.

Jackopierce started its formation back in 1987 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas where Jack O’Neill and Cary Pierce met in an orientation session of the theater department.

What began as a “bar cover duo” has grown into a four piece entity that demands attention when on stage.

With constant touring, catchy music that bounces through the soul and lyrics that tiptoe on the edge of poetry, Jackopierce has built themselves a name in the music industry with good old-fashioned hard work.

Where most bands grind out a CD then support the album with a large tour, Jackopierce has been on a non-stop tour that every now and again spits out a CD that is devoured by the band’s huge underground following.

Jackopierce’s newest release Finest Hour is a follow-up to their A&M debut Bringing On The Weather which has already sold over 100,000 copies.

Cary Pierce, one of the band’s two lead singers, said the band began working on the album over a year ago.

Pierce said the additions of Clay Pendergrass (bass) and Earl Darling (drums) in early 1995 really helped pull together many of the things Pierce and O’Neill were already working on.

“Now we have Clay, he wrote a lot of stuff on the album,” Pierce said. “We feel more comfortable as a band. We like to do the whole rock show.”

O’Neill, the band’s other front man, said in a press release that the goal on this album was to capture the “spirit of our live shows.”

“I think it is a good representation of what the band sounds like,” Pierce said.

It’s not the albums that have given Jackopierce such a large following. It is the incredible amount of time that they have spent on the road performing live, impressing old fans while recruiting new ones.

“I really like our live show,” Pierce said. “I’m very proud of it.”

Since the beginning, Jackopierce has prided themselves on performing live.

“Right now it’s about playing,” Pierce said. “I love playing live.”

For most bands it would be hard to play almost every night. But for Jackopierce, it has become their calling card.

Even without a great deal of radio air play the band has been able to gather a large fan base.

“It’s a word of mouth thing,” Pierce said. “Iowa didn’t have a chance to get the grass roots thing going.”

He continued saying he was glad to see all the fan support from an area of the country that they don’t often get to perform in.

The last time Jackopierce played in Ames, they sold out the show and thought about staying around to do another show the following night.

“It’s nice to see all the effort is paying off,” Pierce said.

It does seem that the effort is paying off.

The group originally starting touring in a beat- up VW bus. They now cruise to each show in a luxury tour bus.

Pierce said when the band is on the bus they do a lot of writing and just thinking up songs.

“When you’re on the road, you forget what’s going on,” Pierce said.

He went on to say that the road has had a fairly major role in their song writing.

“Every song Jack wrote was about the road,” Pierce said referring to Bringing On The Weather. “Jack’s an amazing lyricist. He’s a poet,” Pierce said.

The band will bring its energetic stage show to People’s Bar and Grill tonight at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $14 at the door and remember you’re legal I.D.