Bec & Sebastian – The Voice Australia

bec-and-sebastian_slider

Bec and Sebastian came to our attention with their acoustic rendition of Jessie J’s hit song ‘Price Tag’.

Apart from being ridiculously talented, they’re also super cool – so cool that Ricky Martin picked them to be in his group on The Voice Australia.

Does it get much cooler than that?

Your fame comes in an unconventional way on Australia’s The Voice, TV Show. What was that experience like?

It was incredible – we both experienced such a range of emotions throughout the show.

For the most part, the experience felt surreal, particularly the Blind Auditions – singing to the back of four giant red chairs isn’t something you do everyday!

After making it through the Blind Auditions, I remember standing around the piano with Ricky Martin and Jessica Mauboy rehearsing our song, thinking nothing really of it… until we left and then me and Bec were like

“OK so we were just singing with Ricky martin and Jessica Mauboy two massive superstars, how f@#ken cool was that?!”

It was a very fun experience, especially to share together. A lot of hard work was involved, heaps of pressure and stress with getting everything right but that’s part of what being an artist is all about, working and doing what you love and pushing through the challenging times together.

You picked to be on Team Ricky – a superstar in the music world. Did he impart any wisdom that’s stayed with you?

The most memorable advice he gave to us is to be confident and proud of what we project.

To give every little bit of ourselves as artists which means… vocally, visually and in terms of our energy and the way we connect/engage with the audience. It is the combination of all these elements that helps artists create a unique identity through performance.

He also reminded us to always stay true to ourselves – especially in terms of the music we write and the way in which we conduct ourselves.

This is something we’ve both been committed to for a while now – and I have to confess that it’s much easier staying true to yourself when you’ve got your twin sister on the journey with you, continuously keeping you in check and vice versa!

You’re both openly gay musicians, did you have a thought out conversation about whether you would be open about it on TV or was that just a given?

We understand the realities of TV land and the advertising industry.
The fact is, reality TV shows thrive off a good back-story to draw an audience in early and that seemed to be what ours was.

Having said that, we don’t think being openly gay is the most relevant thing to who we are as musicians – it only makes up a very small part of who we are as artists – so we tend not to really mention it unless it comes up.

We’re both incredibly proud of who we are as individuals and proud of the music we write together… all we want is for people to just enjoy the music we create no matter what “label” is attached to it.

Sebastian, you’re quite the music veteran having been a producer for several years but Bec is not so keen in performing. How did you convince her to come around, partner up and appear on a TV show like The Voice?

I’ve been working in the music industry for around 12 years – mainly writing and producing for Australian artists and I’ve also had some great opportunities overseas.

Bec has always had a passion for music, from a very early age. Over the years, I would often get her involved in some of the production work I was doing, particularly if I needed to record female vocals at short notice!

More often than not, we’d quickly finish recording what I needed and then kick on in the studio for hours – just the two of us – having a blast singing some of our favourite songs, writing new ones together, and I’d also share some of the new music I’d been working on at the time.

This went on for years and became more frequent as time went on.
Neither of us never really read too much into it – from our perspective it was just another fun thing we did together as brother and sister.

Eventually, it came to a point where Bec wanted to face her fear and I suggested we apply for the show.
Who would have thought that our Blind Audition on Australia’s highest rating television program – The Voice – was one of the very first performances we had done in front of an audience together.

Up until that moment, you could count on one hand the number of public performances she had done.
So as you could imagine, it’s been so amazing watching her learn, grow and build her confidence as a singer – she has an incredible voice, one that’s very unique.

Everyone around her has been so supportive, particularly family and friends who continue to encourage her at every stage of her journey.

How does your partnership work? Do you both write and sing? Produce and sing?

Our partnership is rather organic.

Easy is another word that comes to mind because it never feels like an effort, we rarely argue and the fact we don’t live and die by a set formula/process in terms of how we come up with new ideas makes it all the more natural and enjoyable.

Having said that, if we had to break it down to give you some sense of how it works, most of the time we both write the songs together.

For example, I may have already got a few thought starters for the music/melody earlier in the week and then share this with Bec when we have a session in the studio to get her feedback and also ask if she has any thoughts re: words.

Other times we’ll catch up for a session and she will have written half a song completely from scratch or hum me a new melody that popped into her head.

In terms of things that are consistent – I do all the production on the fly as we go and Bec takes the vocal lead more often than not.

As siblings are there ever any sibling dummy spats? Go on, don’t be polite… My brother and I still have blown out tantrums…

Funnily enough we don’t have many at all.

Growing up was a little bit different but as adults it’s very, very rare.

If ever there is an issue and we start to annoy one another, we’ll just have a conversation and talk it out.

We are used to being around one another because we live together and generally do most things social together.

What did you hope The Voice would do for your career? Was that the only ‘talent show’ that you had gone on?

The Voice has done exactly what we wanted it to – give us some mass exposure.

We knew it would be the perfect platform to give people a glimpse of who we are and what we do.

We have been so blessed, and both of us are so appreciative to have gotten to where we did. It was a great opportunity to work along side some experienced people that have worked in the music industry for years, build relationships, make new friends and of course build our fan base and social media presence.

How’s the journey post The Voice been so far?

Very busy!

Naturally, there have been some highs and lows but it’s been positive overall.

We have been keeping busy with post-show commitments and have also been performing more frequently to try and capitalise on our appearance on The Voice whilst the show still has some momentum and is top of mind with people.

What’s next for you both?

Currently we are finalising our EP.

We have an album of songs ready to go, but have made the decision to launch with just a taste of what we have been working on.

We are putting finishing touches on the chosen tracks and looking at release early next year – we’re both so excited.

We are also playing live around Melbourne at the moment and have been in discussions for a potential U.S trip in October as we have been asked to perform at “Come Out with Pride” in Florida.

And finally, where can we find you…?

To keep up to date on what we are doing you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, YouTube, Reverbnation and our official website.

Mariella Mejia; works at GaydarGirls and is always on the lookout for great content, inspiring stories and restaurant recommendations – she can’t help herself.

Tags:

Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Upcomming Events