Perdita
18-05-2009, 15:20
Hailing from the suburbs of Brisbane and brimming with ambition, twin sisters Jess and Lisa Origliasso first found fame appearing on children's TV in their native Australia. They then went on to launch careers in the music industry, forming The Veronicas and releasing two multi-platinum albums in their homeland. After scoring success stateside with new single 'Untouched', their next target is the UK. Intrigued, we hooked up with Jess and Lisa to find out more.
How would you describe yourselves to someone who's never heard of The Veronicas?
Lisa: "Always late! Besides that, I think we're pop with an edge."
Jess: "We've basically got an electropop sound with really honest lyrics and a fun vibe. I think that's a good way to sum us up."
What's your new single 'Untouched' about?
Lisa: "The song's about being away from home and having to deal with everything that long distances create. We wrote the song with a guy called Toby Gad and it was a really honest stamp lyrically of where we were at the time."
You've already had success in Australia and the US, but how important is breaking the UK to you?
Jess: "I guess it's important because we want to tour and spend more time here. We definitely have a lot of fans from the UK on the net and we get loads of messages asking when we're coming over."
Lisa: "We grew up listening to a lot of British groups like The Clash. We still listen stuff like The Horrors and The Kooks."
Jess: "I love Lily Allen too - she's got such a cool attitude. British TV is great too - we met Russell Brand recently and that was an experience!"
He's got quite a reputation as a womaniser - did he try flirting with you?
Lisa: "He was quite normal - as normal as someone like him can be. I was quite surprised!"
Jess: "He's hilarious, but he did pass on his number to me!"
Which one of you is more likely to fancy him?
Jess: "We both like people who can make us laugh, so therefore he's immediately in with a chance. But with him being a womanizer, we'll leave others to go there! We do think he's a real character though."
Do you always agree on the group's musical direction?
Lisa: "Not always. Sometimes when Jess feels like being a little..."
Jess: "No, for instance when we first started on the new record she wasn't sure about the electro thing."
Lisa: "Actually I was the one that showed all the producers the ideas we had."
Jess: "We weren't creatively on the same page when we first started. We had to talk each other round sometimes."
Lisa: "That statement you said wasn't true at all!"
Jess: "I was saying at the start... you want to have an argument in this interview?"
Not many Australian bands have found success in the US. Were you surprised when 'Untouched' became a big hit there?
Jess: "Yeah, 'Untouched' has already sold over 1.3 million copies. We got a really good kick out of it and hopefully it'll do the same over here. It easily surpassed Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', which charted really well but never really sold that much."
Lisa: "It's a big personal achievement for us. Our name's getting out there more, so we're now feeling we should pave the way in giving Australia a good name there."
A couple of your songs have been compared to Pink. How do you feel about that?
Jess: "Well, we've used the same songwriter at times so I guess that makes sense. If a song like '4Ever' could do as well in the UK as Pink does, that would be just great."
Lisa: "That song was produced by Max Martin, which is why they sound a bit alike. Maybe it's a bit of a shame in how similar they are."
You're based out in LA now - have you been taking in the party lifestyle?
Lisa: "We've been out there for about three years and the novelty wore off pretty quickly. When we first went over we had a bunch of really great friends and we were all living in this big house together. It was nuts as we seemed to have a lot more time to party. Nowadays we're too busy to go off the rails quite that much."
Jess: "There are loads of aspiring singers and actors out there who party really hard - for them it's like a full time job. We've seen Britney out and met Paris Hilton too. She's a really cool chick actually. Oh God, I'm starting to sound like a British girl already!"
The Veronicas release 'Untouched' on May 25.
I heard their single the other day and quite liked it
How would you describe yourselves to someone who's never heard of The Veronicas?
Lisa: "Always late! Besides that, I think we're pop with an edge."
Jess: "We've basically got an electropop sound with really honest lyrics and a fun vibe. I think that's a good way to sum us up."
What's your new single 'Untouched' about?
Lisa: "The song's about being away from home and having to deal with everything that long distances create. We wrote the song with a guy called Toby Gad and it was a really honest stamp lyrically of where we were at the time."
You've already had success in Australia and the US, but how important is breaking the UK to you?
Jess: "I guess it's important because we want to tour and spend more time here. We definitely have a lot of fans from the UK on the net and we get loads of messages asking when we're coming over."
Lisa: "We grew up listening to a lot of British groups like The Clash. We still listen stuff like The Horrors and The Kooks."
Jess: "I love Lily Allen too - she's got such a cool attitude. British TV is great too - we met Russell Brand recently and that was an experience!"
He's got quite a reputation as a womaniser - did he try flirting with you?
Lisa: "He was quite normal - as normal as someone like him can be. I was quite surprised!"
Jess: "He's hilarious, but he did pass on his number to me!"
Which one of you is more likely to fancy him?
Jess: "We both like people who can make us laugh, so therefore he's immediately in with a chance. But with him being a womanizer, we'll leave others to go there! We do think he's a real character though."
Do you always agree on the group's musical direction?
Lisa: "Not always. Sometimes when Jess feels like being a little..."
Jess: "No, for instance when we first started on the new record she wasn't sure about the electro thing."
Lisa: "Actually I was the one that showed all the producers the ideas we had."
Jess: "We weren't creatively on the same page when we first started. We had to talk each other round sometimes."
Lisa: "That statement you said wasn't true at all!"
Jess: "I was saying at the start... you want to have an argument in this interview?"
Not many Australian bands have found success in the US. Were you surprised when 'Untouched' became a big hit there?
Jess: "Yeah, 'Untouched' has already sold over 1.3 million copies. We got a really good kick out of it and hopefully it'll do the same over here. It easily surpassed Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', which charted really well but never really sold that much."
Lisa: "It's a big personal achievement for us. Our name's getting out there more, so we're now feeling we should pave the way in giving Australia a good name there."
A couple of your songs have been compared to Pink. How do you feel about that?
Jess: "Well, we've used the same songwriter at times so I guess that makes sense. If a song like '4Ever' could do as well in the UK as Pink does, that would be just great."
Lisa: "That song was produced by Max Martin, which is why they sound a bit alike. Maybe it's a bit of a shame in how similar they are."
You're based out in LA now - have you been taking in the party lifestyle?
Lisa: "We've been out there for about three years and the novelty wore off pretty quickly. When we first went over we had a bunch of really great friends and we were all living in this big house together. It was nuts as we seemed to have a lot more time to party. Nowadays we're too busy to go off the rails quite that much."
Jess: "There are loads of aspiring singers and actors out there who party really hard - for them it's like a full time job. We've seen Britney out and met Paris Hilton too. She's a really cool chick actually. Oh God, I'm starting to sound like a British girl already!"
The Veronicas release 'Untouched' on May 25.
I heard their single the other day and quite liked it