By: Sindy
The Veronicas hail from the land down under, and they're about to rock your world! With edgy attitudes and looks to kill, Jess and Lisa Origliasso have released their first single, 4ever, a cool track you'll be singing forever. Check out my interview with these twin sisters and stay tuned for the release of their debut album, The Secret Life of The Veronicas, cuz it's sure to be off the hook!
Sindy: Congrats on your upcoming CD! I can't WAIT to pick up a copy!
The Veronicas: Thank you! Aww you're so sweet!
Sindy: I really like your first single, 4ever, but what's your fave song on the album?
The Veronicas: (Jess) I've got two favorites. It would have to be Nobody Wins and Math Shop. (Lisa) Our favorites are exactly the same!
Sindy: Have you always wanted to sing?
The Veronicas: Yeah, I mean as far as we can remember, music has always been a part of our lives, it's sort of what we've grown up doing and loving. We started performing at the age of five. Our dad was in a band when he was younger and mom grew up loving music, so it's just always been there for us. It's natural.
Sindy: How'd you get started in the music biz?
The Veronicas: We started at a very young age. We used to dance around the house and stuff, so mom and dad put us in a theater company when we were five, which was an after-school fun thing, singing, dancing and acting that encouraged what was naturally there. If we wanted to keep doing it, we would keep going and if not, we would've dropped out, but we loved it and we kept doing it. Then when we were about 16, we started experimenting with co-writing with other people and when we were 18, I got a guitar for Christmas and that's when we started writing in the acoustic rock pop vibe and that's when we knew that that's the kind of musical style we wanted to do. We wrote 20 songs under a publishing deal in Brisbane and then a recording deal with an Australian independent company and they took us on a big overseas, songwriting trip that went for almost a year. And we went to London, Sweden, America and Canada and co-wrote with all sorts of people, like A-list songwriters. Then we signed with Warner Brothers at the end of last year and it was really great cuz at the point when we signed with them, we had like 50-60 songs written to choose from for the album, so we didn't have to start from nothing.
Sindy: How would you describe your style of music?
The Veronicas: Well I guess it's rock pop, but we really like to get in on the songwriting side of things so our songwriting style is us. We get influences from everywhere, but we co-wrote pretty much the whole album with different people. It's rock pop, but it's got a bit of a different edge to it because of where we come from. Some of the songs are a little bit more dark and moody, some of the songs are more pop, but it's got a lot of attitude in it.
Sindy: So which musical acts were you influenced by?
The Veronicas: We had lots. Michael Jackson was definitely a main one. We listened to a lot of Australian rock, AC/DC, INXS. Nowadays, it's bands like The Youth, My Chemical Romance and a band called Buchanan. But a lot of pop stuff too, like we were always into Top 40 pop, whatever was happening at the time. Mid-90s pop was awesome, I love mid-90s pop, I think it was great!
Sindy: Some peeps compare you to Avril Lavigne. Do you agree with that comparison?
The Veronicas: I love that comparison! It's cool. We grew up listening to Avril, we loved Avril and we actually got a chance to write a couple of songs with a guy named Clif Magness who worked on Avril's first album, who we absolutely adored. It's cool when people say that. Ultimately, when they hear the album, people are going to compare us to people cuz that's just what people do. But our album is a little bit unique and if people want to make comparisons, they can do that. Everyone gets compared to someone. Avril got compared to Alanis Morissette. If we get compared to Avril, I think that's awesome.
Sindy: How'd you come up with the name, The Veronicas?
The Veronicas: We came up with that name for a few different reasons. We were looking for something that kind of represented us in a name, but definitely not something that pushed the fact that we were sisters or twins cuz we think that's kind of tacky. And we didn't want to be The Lisas or The Jesses cuz the other one would get jealous. We wanted a chick's name that had attitude, that really represented us and what we would be in that image, and Veronica did that for us.
Sindy: Do you guys like being twins?
The Veronicas: We don't know any different. We're very fortunate because we're getting to do this with each other and experience this with each other and we wouldn't want it any other way. But I mean, let's face it - we're living together, we're working together. Every now and then, we are going to have our differences for sure, like any family. And I think it would be freaking weird if we got along all the time, but I guess it's easy for us to fight and scream at each other and have a punchout and get over it. It's kind of like unconditional love and I think that's one of the great points about being in a band together. We both want to do this forever and it's not like one of us is going to get up and leave this.
Sindy: So who's older?
The Veronicas: Jess! I'm one minute older.
Sindy: Who's bossier?
The Veronicas: I wouldn't say one's bossier than the other, but we both have our moments!
Sindy: Who's messier?
The Veronicas: Jess! I'm so messy.
Check out The Veronicas' video for their first single, 4ever!
