BURBANK, CA (Top40 Charts/ Sire Records Publicity) - The
Veronicas - Aussie twin sisters Lisa and
Jessica Origliasso - will release their second album, an electro-pop confection entitled "Hook Me Up," in May 2008 on Sire Records.
The album represents a stylistic leap from the girls' 2006 debut "The Secret Life Of..." by swapping the latter's pop-punk leanings for "Hook Me Up's" dance friendly, beat-driven feel that showcases the sisters' expert song craft, organic vocal chemistry, and sophisticated sense of humor. Those qualities have led The Veronicas to huge success in Australia. "Hook Me Up" is well on its way to double platinum status Down Under with sales of 130,000 and has spawned their first #1 single with the title track. The Veronicas' debut album, "The Secret Life Of..." sold more than 300,000 copies, scored three of their five Top 10 singles, won a slew of awards (including a coveted ARIA), and made the Brisbane natives, now 23, international stars.
"It's been more than two years since we wrote the first record so our musical tastes have changed a bit," Lisa says. "We've been living in Los Angeles where we got into the whole electro-pop rock scene. When it came time to write the new album, we were really inspired by it musically." Adds Jess: "We didn't want to make a record that was the same as the first. We definitely wanted to create a different sound for ourselves and reinvent The Veronicas."
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, mostly in Lisa and Jess's Hollywood Hills home, "Hook Me Up" led the pair to collaborate with a host of top-notch hit makers, including Shelly Peiken (Christina Aguilera), Greg Wells (Mika), John Feldmann (The Used, Good Charlotte), and the legendary Billy Steinberg (Madonna), and their "Secret Life" collaborator Toby Gad, who also wrote Fergie's 2007 hit "Big Girls Don't Cry."
"With Toby, we'd gossip and tell him all the drama in our lives," Lisa says. Adds Jess: "That's why a lot of the songs we wrote with him come across as emotional and dramatic. I'd have to say this record is even more personal than the first one, which was hard because the first record was very much us." The collaboration resulted in eight tracks, from the album's first single "Untouched," to such razor-edged epics as "This Is How It Feels" and "Revenge Is Sweeter," through to the funky "Take Me On The Floor" and "Popular." "It's a very upbeat dance record, though there are a few ballads on there," Jess says. "It came out exactly how we wanted it to, so we're stoked."
"Hook Me Up" is the beginning of a new chapter in The Veronicas' stateside career. "The Secret Life Of..." was released by Sire Records in February 2006 and debuted at Number Three on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Named an AOL Breaker band and called "Australia's rockingest twins" by Blender, the girls were also praised by Entertainment Weekly for making "most of their female pop-rock rivals seem like jugheads." Indeed, critics agreed that The Veronicas were "the real thing," as the New York Post put it.
The Veronicas have recently completed a tour of Australia and are now gearing up for the U.S. release of "Hook Me Up." Tour plans for the summer TBA.
