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Cape Town - When I hear the name Locnville, I always start singing Sun In My Pocket and the image of the two young Chaplin boys in their signature vests and caps springs to mind.
So as I’m walking into the One & Only Hotel in Cape Town for an interview with the musical twins, I’m taken by surprise as two very good-looking, mature men make their way to me.
"Hi, I’m Brian," the one says. "And I’m Andrew," says the other one.
Oh my how the Locnville boys... or rather men, have grown! (Note to self: Brian’s got a beanie on and Andrew doesn’t, Brian’s got a beanie on and Andrew doesn’t... repeat, repeat and repeat.)
They’ve signed a new record deal with Warner Music, they’ve spent the last year in Los Angeles to work on their new album and laying down the groundwork for future endeavours there, they’ve released their first single Grapevine and now the twins are back home with big plans for their new music.
"How did you guys decide to leave SA for a year and was it a difficult decision?" I ask.
"It was an easy decision, but a tough move," says Andrew. "I would say that that’s a very good way to put it."
"And what have you guys been up to there? Apart from working on the album obviously," I ask.
"Basically it was like for half the album, but mostly meeting with our label people that side and our publishing people that side. But the main thing was to build up some groundwork there. Also apart from that to actually meet up with songwriters, producers, to kind of hone our skill a little bit more," says Brian.
"I mean it was almost like going to university, it was like a real learning curve," adds Andrew.
Back to their roots
Heavyweights such as producer and songwriter Trey Vittetoe, who has written songs for Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus, worked on their new album. And as it goes in the music industry, it’s all about who you know, and chance of course. Remember the local band Stealing Love Jones? Well, their lead singer Esjay Jones is the one who got Brian and Andrew in contact with the right people.
"Esjay moved to LA about six years ago, and after playing little bars for about two years, one day somebody came and said, 'Have you ever considered writing songs for other people, because you write really good songs', and then she got signed to Beluga Heights Records," Brian explains.
"Our sound engineer and sort of our tour manager knows her quite well. So it turned out that when we went to Palm Springs, we got a call from him saying well Esjay lives in Palm Springs, so why don’t you guys meet up, and we met up," says Andrew.
For Andrew and Brian it was a big jump to go from the local music industry to Los Angeles. "It's pretty hardcore there," says Andrew. "There’s a very serious aspect to the entire industry in Los Angeles in just how they run it, in how seriously they take the song writing aspect of it, the production aspect," says Brian.
Having recorded half of the album over a period of five months in the US, and going back to their first name Locnville instead of LCNVL, the twins are excited for SA fans to hear the new sound.
"We’re going back to like our roots, more song-based tracks, so in terms of the sound, it's closer to what people first knew Locnville as. But it's fresher, it's newer, it's bigger, and in my opinion, better. It's upbeat summer vibes," says Andrew.
"It’s very different from our last few albums," says Brian. "It’s a bit of old and a bit of the new... So ja, you’ll hear what you do expect from Locnville but you’ll also hear something different. But on a much more happy note. That’s what I like about this album."
"If you had to summarise the album in one word?" I ask.
"Amazing!" says Brian. "I would say weekend. Amazing weekend," says Andrew.
And while the twins are holding back on performances until the album drops, fans can rest assured that they will be staying in SA for now, because as they put it: "If you’ve grown up anywhere in Africa, it’s in your blood."
We also played a little game with the boys, it's called Who Is Mostly Likely...
1) To sleep naked...
2) To quote Oprah...
3) To go to the gym with a hangover...
4) To hug a stranger...
5) To watch a full episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians...
