| | | |  | It’s almost exactly two years since the release of The Veronicas’ brilliant and phenomenally successful debut album, The Secret Life Of … Over 300,000 copies sold in Australia alone, three top 10 singles, an ARIA Award, MTV awards, international success,...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: Hi Lisa, How are you?
Lisa: Good babe, how are you?
Access All Areas.net.au: Where are you, are you at home in Brisbane? How's the weather?
Lisa: I am in Brissie, the weather's nice but unfortunately I've been inside all day!
Access All Areas.net.au: You've just announced your 'Revenge is Sweeter' tour for 2009. What can people expect when they come to your shows?
Lisa: We're really excited about this tour because we've been touring the US for most of this year, so coming back to Oz and doing our own headlining tour again is an exciting thing for us. We're wanting to make it a bit special. We're going to be rocking out all the hits, all the song from our old record as well as our new record. We're bringing Metro Station out as well so that's going to be fun.
Access All Areas.net.au: Tell us about the special 'V Experience' concert tickets.
Lisa: That's a chance for our fans to come up close and personal with us. We're going to do a special acoustic set before the show just for those few people, have abit of a meet and greet and give them a signed photo. It’s just a chance for the hardcore Veronicas fans to come and say hey.
Access All Areas.net.au: Tell us the story behind your new single 'Popular'.
Lisa: When we were writing it, it started out as a bit of a joke. We were taking the piss out of the celebrity lifestyle, especially the 'it girls' in LA, we were having a bit of fun with it, Jess was doing a rap and it ended up turning into this song (laughs). We loved it, it's a bit tongue in cheek and a bit of fun. It's a great song to rock out live to.
Access All Areas.net.au: You guys have been trying to crack the US market. How is it different from the market here in Australia?
Lisa: It's a much bigger country overall and you have to target the markets one by one. You almost have to live the lifestyle over there for a while and get your name out that way. It's not like here in Australia where if you get added to one radio station, the rest add you. You really have to put in the hard yards. We worked hard for our success in Australia as well, but America is the hardest market to crack, it took Kylie a while, we know it's not an easy feat but we're having fun doing it.
Access All Areas.net.au: Both of you have had to deal with lots of gossip and rumours this year. How do you deal with it?
Lisa: You have to take it in your stride. We try not to pay too much attention. It was a bit of a shock at first because we never really had that sort of tabloid attention before. To deal with that all at once was quite overwhelming but we try to stay positive and focus on what we're here to do, we're so passionate about our music, and we try to not let too much of that crap get us down. I think people are smart enough to realise that the media sensationalises a lot of things and it's not always what it appears to be on the TV or in what you read.
Access All Areas.net.au: You guys are known for your amazing style. Who do you consider your fashion icons and draw inspiration from?
Lisa: I actually get a lot of inspiration from Jess,(laughs) she's always doing something a little weird and quirky. I love flicking through magazines and checking out what people are wearing, I love the Olsen twins, Kate Moss, really stylish people who aren't afraid to take risks and have fun with fashion. We get into a lot of Japanese fashion mags and we like anything a bit quirky and out of the norm I guess.
Access All Areas.net.au: Do you and Jess fight a lot, and if so, what about?
Lisa: We do spend 24/7 together and we've been touring the US for the past 6 months in a tour bus, so that's a bus for 6 months with ten other people, so you really need to learn patience and take your time out when you can get it because your alone time becomes very little when you're in a situation like that. So of course we have our fights every now and then but I think it's perfectly normal and healthy considering how much time we spend together.
Access All Areas.net.au: What's something different between you and Jess?
Lisa: Umm she's blonde and I'm brunette! (laughs) I get shy and she sticks up for me and I'm a bit girlier.
Access All Areas.net.au: Growing up in Brisbane, listening to Michael Jackson, what were your dreams?
Lisa: He definitely inspired us to get into this whole entertainment industry. He made us want a long career and to be the best artists we could be. He made us realise what we wanted was international success, not just in our own town. He was someone who seemed very strong willed and determined and didn't really let all the hype get him down. He was the best he could be and we admired that a lot.
Access All Areas.net.au: Did you ever think you'd achieve such success, as you have in Australia so far?
Lisa: It was always the dream. At some point reality became bigger than the dream and it was such an amazing feeling. It's still kind of shocking every time we come back home because we do spend a lot of time in America and things are bigger over there and things aren't at the level that they are here just yet so we get left along a lot more. It's a bit of a shock to the system every time we come home and we get all this attention, it kind of gets a bit nuts!
Access All Areas.net.au: One of your Sydney shows sold out in about 15 minutes, how does that make you feel?
Lisa: It's such a great feeling. The fact that people are still excited about the music and the show, it's the best feeling we could ever have
Access All Areas.net.au: Do you have any rituals you do before every show?
Lisa: We do a bit of a band chant and hype each other up. We do some warms ups and then when the band goes on stage to set up Jess and I have a little hug and that's it!
Access All Areas.net.au: I heard you guys may be doing a reality TV show, is that true?
Lisa: We did reality webisodes when we were on tour with the Jonas Brothers through the Yahoo music channel. It’s kind of like a reality show but reality shows these days aren't even really reality so I'd say they're more like a documentary of life on the road.
Access All Areas.net.au: What are the Jonas Brother's like?
Lisa: They're sweethearts, we adore those boys. They work very very hard and they're a lot of fun.
Access All Areas.net.au: What do you miss most about Australia when you're overseas?
Lisa: We miss our family; Mummy, her awesome cooking and her looking after us. We miss having that chill out time with our parents and our friends. We miss a lot of things about home but we're often so busy that we don't get a lot of time to think about it too much.
Access All Areas.net.au: There was a bit of a change in musical direction between 'The Secret Life Of' and 'Hooked Up'. What do you think the next album will sound like?
Lisa: We're definitely thinking about the third record and that record will come at a time when we're inspired by different music once again and who knows what direction we'll go in, but we're always true to ourselves. We're never influenced by what someone else might expect us to do, we stay very true to The Veronicas and basically just what we're inspired by and what we're writing about.
Access All Areas.net.au: When can we expect a new album?
Lisa: We're hoping next year, for sure. If we can nut one out soon enough! (laughs).
Access All Areas.net.au: Thank you so much Lisa, I really appreciate your time, and hope you get to see some of that sunshine today!
Lisa: Thanks beautiful! Bye.
Interview by Alexandra Hartshorn
Interview - January 7 2007
Access All Areas.net.au: How's the Coke Live tour been going for you so far?
Jess: It's really good, it's kind of a really different vibe to obviously our own tours and we were really excited at the start and it's been really good. It's kind of a lot different to what I thought, but not really.
Lisa: I mean it's quite easy for some reason... I mean its harder work there’s a lot more promo, a lot more going on within the show...
Jess: we've got to do red carpet, we've got to introduce a band on stage so you don't really get a chance to just chill out but its kind of good and it keeps you busy you know.
Jess: And you know what... I think it might be just a little less pressure because of the fact that's it not just our show it's kind of like a festival vibe so you can go out there and just have a lot of fun.
Access All Areas.net.au: You're the only girls on this tour, how has it been touring with predominantly boys?
Jess: Yeah! Laughs
Lisa: We're just like one of the boys... they don't see us as any different.
Lisa: Yeah they've been just as dirty and gross!
Jess: They're just fun they've been really cool
Access All Areas.net.au: Any favourite bands on the bill?
Jess: I really love the Hot Lies!
Lisa: They're really cool
Jess: They kind of come hang out and say hi. They're such great band!
Lisa: And I do like Rodney from End Of Fashion!
Access All Areas.net.au: When you were first approached to join the Coke Live N Local tour this year what was your instant reaction?
Jess: I guess it was kind of cool because I mean the Coke tour in the past I guess you wouldn't really expect a more pop act to be on, like last year there was the Living End I think and Spazzy's and stuff and so I kind of thought that it was kind of cool that they went such a diverse selection this year you know. I guess they pull in a lot of a younger crowd because of us and then you've got Evermore which is a bit more of the chilled out rock and then they've got After The Fall, Hot Lies which is they kind of hit them and go. It's funny kind of thing how fans of ours and fans of other bands that are not necessarily of ours, react to the music sometimes at the start at a few of the shows were a bit more difficult but by the end a lot of them were kind of like...
Lisa: You've won them over
Jess: Yeah you've pretty much won them over and I mean its like that's a good feeling.
Access All Areas.net.au: Ok so this is the last show of the Coke tour, is there any goss from this tour; bad habits from other bands, anything that's happened on the road?
Jess: You know there were a few marriage proposals... I don't want to name names... Justin from End Of Fashion's in love with me!
Lisa: But not with me... and everyone else on the tour is in love with me! [Laughs]
Jess: Yeah no we're kidding... what ever goes on tour stays on tour… we can't really spill anything too good. Tonight's the night because it's the last night, because everyone's going to be out partying, so if there's going to be any goss to tell its all going to happen tonight!
Lisa: It'll be within a few hours.!!
Access All Areas.net.au: Your debut album, have you been surprised by the success you've achieved with The Secret Life Of have you been surprised at how well its been received by audiences in Australia and the rest of the world?
Lisa: Yeah it's always a dream that you want it as successful as it can but when its actually happening and the success of the album is kind of beyond anything we could've imagined. I mean we just got presented with our four times platinum plaque the other night and it's just kind of crazy to see that you know.
Jess: I just remember like when we got once time platinum we were just like wholly cow, I never ever even imagined that we'd go four times platinum and you know then coming home and seeing how big its blown up it surprises us every time and all these people that come out dressed like us and 'Veronicas' written in nicko across their face, they’re die hard fans it's like you guys are crazy but we have the best fans ever!
Lisa: We do We Do!
Jess: It's an awesome feeling to get back home and to tour.
Access All Areas.net.au: Coming in to your second album, do you feel any pressures to follow up on that success?
Lisa: We haven't even started to tell you the truth! It's like we're thinking about it but at this point we're still getting ready to release the album in March in the UK, we're getting ready to release it in parts of Europe where it hasn't already been released and also Asia so there's still so much touring on this first album that we've got left to do.
Jess: Id say we'll start working on the second record more on the second half of next year and I don't really feel much pressure, I feel it as more of its going to be more of a journey and we’re going to be able to experiment more with different things. Obviously we want it to be quite different to the first album and we're getting really excited because we're kind of ready to start working on some new stuff when we get excited writing down all of these ideas and stuff so...
Lisa: But I think In the meantime because it might be a little while, a few months or whatever till we really start with the next record for Australia, we've got other things in the works like our own fashion lines and make up ranges and other fun stuff that we like to be involved in so that's going to keep us busy too.
Access All Areas.net.au: So what's the plans for 2007 and ahead?
Jess: Touring internationally mainly, trying to break the record elsewhere and also...
Lisa: and we're going to be busy designing stuff a lot of stuff and starting our next record as well, it's going to be a busy year.
INTERVIEW: AUGUST 9 2005
Access All Areas.net.au: Firstly tell us what is it like being twin sisters and the adventure of you both about to embark on a world-wide music career?
Jess – The Veronica's: It is pretty cool – I mean it's one of those things that's taken forever to get here but now it's all happening so quickly... it's the coolest and best thing ever to do this with Lisa and I wouldn’t want to do it without her.
Access All Areas.net.au: How does songwriting happen for you? Do you write on personal experiences and in a case like that how does the other sister become involved?
Jess – The Veronica's: You know what there was stage where we wrote about a different guy in every song [laughs]. It was really funny where we would sit down and name each guy that a song was about. Each song is about either a personal experience or something we’re inspired by and always something that we relate to and that's how we write. If Lisa came to me about writing a song about someone who pissed her off then yeah we'll start doing it. We're very close... I can always relate as well.
Access All Areas.net.au: Having heard of you guys quite some time ago, how long have you spent on developing your music?
Jess – The Veronica's: You know what, we did a year of touring around co-writing in different places, we went to London, Sweden, Canada and America and through that time we experimented with styles and stuff so probably about a year. We tried R&B, dance, pop and when we turned 18 we knew we wanted to do rock/pop because I got a guitar for my 18th birthday. We wanted to infuse different styles in to that.
Access All Areas.net.au: You've signed a production deal with Engine Room (Holly Valance), how did this opportunity arise?
Jess – The Veronica's: We signed a publishing deal with a company in Brisbane. We sent a demo into this guy, he called us in and we performed acoustically for him and then he took us down to Sydney to shop around to a few record labels and we ended up signing to Engine Room.
Access All Areas.net.au: For your album, you wrote over 50 songs and clocked up a lot of frequent flyer points traveling to London, Los Angeles, NYC, Vancouver and Jess – The Veronica's: Stockholm, how long did this process take?
We did [laughs]. It took us a full year, there was a point where I think we wrote a song a day there for a while and it got intense. But it took us a year to get to where we wanted to.
Access All Areas.net.au: At that time you were probably more accustomed to writing your own songs as a duo, how was it to be able to co-write with some of the world's best writers?
Jess – The Veronica's: It was great! We saw it as a great opportunity and it's funny, when we write with each other we're brutally honest. If I think a song sucks I'll say it and it's the same with Lisa, if she thinks something sucks she'll say it but with co-writers, if you bag out an idea you've go to comeback with a spectacular idea or go to be ready for them to have a go at you but we wrote with incredible people. None really impressed themselves upon us and they were all very well into what we wanted to say.
Access All Areas.net.au: Can you describe your music to us?
Jess – The Veronica's: I would say rock pop sort of stuff. I guess just got some really up tempo party tracks, rocked out sort of stuff and then we've got some moody stuff that you’d play in your bedroom. It's kind of what we were feeling over the past year and a half and that's what we kind of wrote about. We're into pop melody's though so we like a good melody but not over pop – like Britney Spears.
Access All Areas.net.au: Your first single '4ever', can you tell us a bit about that song?
Jess – The Veronica's: That song... it's a really fun song, basically talking about living each day as it comes and not taking life so seriously, going for it and having fun and we recorded that in Sweden with a guy called Max Martin. He is a really really cool guy and working with him was great because he is such a pop pop guy and there was another guy who was rock and it was great working with them.
Access All Areas.net.au: How long did it take to get your first single '4ever' and what struck you to make this single the first over your other 50 songs?
Jess – The Veronica's: Oh you know what – this song came in last. We signed a deal with Warner at the end of last year. We like had most of the album but one guy we didn't work with was Max Martin and the label came to us and asked if we wanted to go to Sweden for two weeks to do some writing with him. He wrote "Baby one more time" [Britney Spears] which we loved and we were like hell yeah so we went over there, rocked it out, and I don't know it was a great first song. Its not too predictable I don’t think and it showcases our personalities well so we wanted that to be song to show us to world.
Access All Areas.net.au: So what are the plans from here for the Veronicas?
Jess – The Veronica's: We're here for two and a half weeks – going to Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and doing instores, tv shows, radio and stuff then we head back to LA and New York doing a few shows there. Then doing a few shows with Jesse McCartney and a few gigs like that. We've got a trip to Japan as well so basically just promoting the single and album really. |
| Biography | It’s almost exactly two years since the release of The Veronicas’ brilliant and phenomenally successful debut album, The Secret Life Of … Over 300,000 copies sold in Australia alone, three top 10 singles, an ARIA Award, MTV awards, international success, hundreds of magazine covers, constant touring. So much more has happened to twin sisters Lisa and Jessica Origliasso in that time. They’ve gained a world full of life and musical experience, all while becoming two of the most recognisable young faces in Australia.
Now, however, it’s best you forget what you think you already know about The Veronicas, because this new album is set to change everything. This is HOOK ME UP and it’s a dramatic new sound that marks The Veronicas’ musical coming of age.
The first single, “Hook Me Up”, the title track, should have given everyone advance warning that the pop punk leanings of the girls’ debut album have given way to a more sophisticated electro-beat feel. What remains as a constant is, of course, the sisters’ signature harmonies and vocals – now stronger than ever – and that innate pop sensibility that will have everyone singing along to all the new songs after a couple of listens.
“I’d have to say this record is even more personal than the first one,” says Jess. “It’s even more us than the first record, which was hard because the first record was very much us. It’s just a progression, I guess. We were very conscious of not making a record that was the same as the first. A lot of artists tend to replicate their first record if it’s done well, but we definitely wanted to create this different sound for ourselves and reinvent The Veronicas.
“A lot changed in our lives and we’ve changed a bit personally, so we just had a lot to say and we wanted to spend the time getting this new sound and creating something different, not just for us but for music in general.”
“It’s been over two years since we wrote the first record so I guess over those two years our musical tastes had changed a little bit,” offers Lisa. “We’ve been living in America and we got into the whole electro pop rock scene over there. Music-wise, we love all that stuff. I guess that scene is a bit more underground over there. When it came time to write the record, we were kind of really inspired by that kind of thing. And we had a lot to write about. We tend to draw from experiences from our own lives. The two years away from home and the people that we’ve met definitely played a big part in the songwriting of this record.”
Work on HOOK ME UP began early in 2007 when the sisters returned to Los Angeles after a year of virtual non-stop international touring. The Secret Life Of … had seen the girls co-write some 60 songs with a variety of writers as far a field as LA, Sweden and Australia as they formulated their sound. But for HOOK ME UP, Jess and Lisa knew exactly what they wanted to sound like, and who they wanted to co-write their songs with.
The first stop was a session with writers Shelly Peiken [whose credits include Christine Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants”] and Greg Wells [who would very shortly rise to international prominence for his work with Mika]. Jess and Lisa brought with them a bunch of their favourite music, including songs by electro pop rock acts such as Sweden’s The Sounds and local LA acts like Shiny Toy Guns and Under The Influence Of Giants.
The first new song to come out of these sessions was, believe it or not, “Hook Me Up”, which obviously set the theme for everything else to follow. “It’s really funny that it ended up being the first single,” laughs Jess, “because we were really adamant about sitting down and not writing a single, just writing songs. So it was kind of ironic that it turned out to be the single because we went in all saying we’re not going to do the typical ‘let’s go write a hit’ sort of thing. We were like, ‘Let’s relax and take the time to experiment.’”
In the six months that followed, Lisa and Jess visited a few more of their favourite songwriters. They returned to the studio of the legendary Billy Steinberg [Madonna], who along with his songwriting partner Josh Alexander and the girls, had come up with some of the biggest tracks off The Secret Life Of …, including the singles “When It All Falls Apart” and “Leave Me Alone”.
This time around, the partnership produced an epic new song called “I Can’t Stay Away”. Another song from this collaboration which appears on HOOK ME UP is “Someone Wake Me Up”, although that was penned two years back and originally intended for the debut album. Together, however, these two tracks conveniently forge something of a bridge between the old and new sound of The Veronicas.
A new relationship the girls established during the writing period for HOOK ME UP was with John Feldmann, a writer and producer best known for his work with rock acts like Good Charlotte and The Used. Lisa says they absolutely loved working with John and the song they produced together, the big and broody “I Don’t Wanna Wait” acts as the centre-piece of the new album.
But the most significant partnership or relationship for The Veronicas in creating HOOK ME UP was with their old friend, the celebrated New York-based German hit maker, Toby Gad. Toby and the girls had co-written three songs – “Secret”, “Mouth Shut” and “Speechless” – on The Secret Life Of … Jess and Lisa knew he would play a big part on the new record, but they had no idea exactly how big.
Toby, who penned arguably 2007’s biggest hit so far, Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry, flew to LA to hook up with the girls. Each day, he would drive over Jess and Lisa’s townhouse, where he’d set up a makeshift studio in the loungeroom.
“With Toby, we’d gossip with him and tell him all the drama in our lives,” laughs Lisa.
“That’s why a lot of those songs come across as emotional and dramatic,” continues Jess, “because at the time, things were going on in our lives that we were singing about. So it was an extremely personal and intense kind of thing with a lot of it.”
The results of the partnership are stunning, from the album’s opening opus, “Untouched”, to razor-edged epics such “This Is How It Feels” and “Revenge Is Sweeter”, through to the album’s funkiest moments in “Take Me On The Floor” and “Popular”. In all, eight of the album’s 12 songs came from The Veronicas work with Toby.
HOOK ME UP very much represents the beginning of a new chapter in the already remarkable career of The Veronicas. It is, by any measure, a brave and brilliant recording. And if the reception granted to the first single is anything to go by, then it would seem The Veronicas’ fans and the music world at large are ready to accept that The Veronicas have grown up.
“It’s definitely been a crazy ride and it can go so quick that you often need to take a look back to see what you’ve achieved to see how far you’ve come,” says Lisa. “I hope the fans appreciate the music change. I now it’s a little bit different but I think there’s always that room for an artist to grow and develop, and the fans too. We can’t wait to tour. We just want to keep making music for as long as we can and we hope that people keep enjoying it.”
“It’s a very, very personal record and we’re very proud of it,” concludes Jess. “It’s very cool that it’s very upbeat. There are a couple of ballads on there but it’s very upbeat, beat-driven, dance record. And it came out exactly how we wanted it to, so we’re stoked.” |
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