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The Veronicas

17.12.2007 | KYS-Cam | 9 Comments

Yes, we (the good people who run this site) are well aware that The Veronicas aren't a punk or hardcore band... but we don't really care. Whether you want to admit it or not, you probably know the words to one or two of their songs yourself!

I was lucky enough to catch up with Jess for a chat...

Interview with Jess Origliasso of The Veronicas

By Cameron Chambers 
 

Hey Jess, how are you this afternoon? 

I'm good, how are you? 

Really good thanks. I know we're pretty limited for time so let's get into it to make sure we cover all the questions shall we? 

Awesome! 

The Veronicas have been pretty quiet this year... what's been keeping you guys busy? 

Ah... writing and recording our second record, ha ha. That's been keeping us pretty busy for the last six months! 

Your new record “Hook Me Up” is set to drop on November 3^rd – how did the writing and recording process differ from your debut album? 

I guess, you know, writing for the first record was kind of a long process. We did a big, world trip and a lot of experimenting and you know, we actually had a lot of the songs written before we signed our deal... so when it came to writing our second record we knew exactly who we wanted to work with and the people we wanted to go to and um... we just kind of stayed in LA the whole time and had people fly in to us, that kind of thing, so it made it a bit easier that way.  

In the past you've worked with some highly respected song writers such as Cliff Magness and Billy Steinberg – did you and Lisa have any assistance this time around or did you keep the writing between yourselves? 

Yeah, we did. We wrote with a bunch of people and um... it was really cool! 

We wrote with a guy John Feldman who we didn't get to work with on the first record, who we absolutely adore and love and we also went back to Toby Gad who we wrote most of this record with and he actually wrote a couple of songs on our first record. 

We worked with Billy and Josh again on one or two songs and then a guy named Greg Wells who we didn't work with on the first record but he produced the songs on the first album. So yeah, we knew who we wanted to go to who could get this new sound and help create it and yeah... so it worked out well! 

Is there a dominant song writer out of you and Jess or do you take a more collaborative approach? 

Yeah, we both do everything pretty much. Yeah... we both kind of share everything. 

The lead single and title track probably threw a few of your fans... do the rest of the songs on the record have the same electronic feel to them? 

I mean, you know, “Hook Me Up” probably has the most pop or electro feel but the rest of it has a lot more guitars in it and there's a couple of ballads on there and there's a couple of songs on there that are more similar to the first record. 

But I guess the electro feel is over the whole album. 

Were you concerned that your audience might not understand or appreciate what you're trying to do with your new music? 

I mean, I think they got it. Obviously we didn't want to make a record that was the same as the first and I hope that they appreciate that. 

I think they like that you can kind of dance a lot more to this record... it's very much us still! 

As I mentioned, “Hook Me Up” is quite a drastic departure from “The Secret Life Of...”, is this kind of sound something you've been interested in doing for a while or did it just naturally come about during the writing sessions for the record? 

Yeah, I mean it's been over two years since we were writing for “The Secret Life Of...” so obviously musically we had new influences and kind of... new ideas for it.  

It's definitely something that kind of just came around but it was also something that we knew we wanted to do. 

The single has just been certified gold so you're obviously happy with the response but did you expect your fans to embrace your new sound so quickly? 

Yeah... I mean no! We weren't expecting it. It's awesome! 

It's always a great surprise when things like that do well. You know, we were really surprised, ha ha, and really happy!  

The “Hook Me Up” tour kicks off on November 30^th, what can fans expect from your live shows this time round?  

It's going to be a bigger show... it's going to be more production based. There's going to be a lot of new songs as well. 

We've got our band back out and it's going to be a lot of fun! 

Are you still going to be playing with a full band or is the emphasis going to be on yourself and Lisa given the direction of your newer material? 

You know, live... we're still, it's still a lot more rock orientated even though it's a more electro album.  

You know, it's going to be a little different live... there's a lot more keys involved. The boys... luckily our band are extremely talented and they can switch between guitar and keys quite easily. 

“The Secret Life Of...” was a huge success here in Australia. Now that you've already established yourselves at home will you be focusing more on the overseas market? 

Definitely! Next year we'll be focusing on the overseas market... lots of touring and releasing over there. 

The “Hook Me Up” tour wraps up in Mid December – what do you have planned after that? 

Um... Christmas and birthdays and spending some time with our family and loved ones, ha ha. 

Sounds like some much needed time off. Will you be planning a more extensive Australian tour for 2008? 

Um... you now what? This is probably going to be our last tour for a little while in Australia coz they've we've got to head overseas to Europe, Asia and America so that's why we want to make these concerts some nice big ones! 

2007 has been such a great year for Australian music – who are some bands or artists that have caught your attention? 

Oh, good question! 

There's a lot of bands. I loved Silverchair's new record. I loved um... I haven't heard much new Australian stuff that's come out... I can only kind of recommend old bands, ha ha. 

Is that bad? 

No, not at all. You can stick to the classics if you want, ha ha. 

Um... you know we've been in America for the whole first half of this year so there's a lot of American bands I can tell you, ha ha. 

Feel free to reel off a few of those if you'd like. 

Yeah um, a band we've been kind of listening to for the last year and a half or two years is ShinyToy Guns. They're a really cool kind of electro pop band. 

Another band called Under The Influence Of Giants. They're kind of a mix between electro, disco and pop. They're really really cool and I love them. 

I love The Sounds... they're from the UK. 

That pretty much wraps it up Jess, is there anything else you'd like to say? 

Um, that's great. Thank you! 

Thank you and good luck with the tour. 

Bye!

For more information on The Veronicas check out:

http://www.theveronicas.comor http://www.myspace.com/theveronicas