Articles

Danielle R, Roving reporter

FReeZA presents: Grace & Juliet

[listen to "Soliders" by Grace and Juilet - lyrics at the bottom of this article]

In late September 2009, sister duet Grace (17) and Juliet (15), October’s FReeZA Artist of the Month, travelled three and a half hours from Wodonga to perform in the Victorian Government Expo at the Royal Melbourne show.

It was their first time ever to the Melbourne Show and younger sister Juliet took in a bit of the atmosphere and jumped onboard the Skywheel before meeting up for our interview.

How long have you been singing and performing?

Juliet: About three years. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I did my first public performance when I was three years old.

Grace: We started playing together in 2007 for the Kool Schools competition in Wodonga. It got Juliet really excited because she wanted to start doing some performing. So three days before the auditions we wrote two originals and got something together.

But we didn’t get in that year because we weren’t very good. But we kind of just worked from that and wrote new originals and better things. We both had been looking for different bands to go in, so we decided to just go together.

How do you write songs together?

Juliet: Grace writes lyrics when she’s half asleep. She’s got quite a few books that she writes words in. We sit in the loungeroom, she brings out her lyrics and we find parts that we like. Then she puts some guitar to it and I try and find a melody. We keep changing it and working it out like that.

Grace: Some of the lyrics we use now in songs are ones I wrote years ago. The lyrical stuff takes a while but the actual writing on the song only takes a few days to get the basis and then it takes a while longer to develop it and make a song that is good enough to perform.

You live in Wodonga. What’s the music scene like up there? Are there places to go see live bands?

Grace: Yeah, it’s really good. We get lots of opportunities from the local council and local FReeZA. There’s a music shop that has open mic nights. So we might not get the big international tours coming to town like in the city, but Wodonga compared to a lot of other country towns has a really strong music scene.

Juliet: We have a really tight community, which is good. That’s helps us a lot.

Grace: There’s a place in Albury that has gigs every fortnight and we go to most of those.

Have you had singing lessons or any training and what made you want to do that?

Juliet: I’ve been having singing lessons since I was in year seven. I had them before that but they weren’t very serious. I had been singing for years and I loved it. So mum decided I should give them a go in year seven. The teacher offered them and she was a really good teacher.

Grace: I only had guitar lessons for half a year in year seven. The rest is self taught, learning off friends and stuff.

Tell us a bit more about Kool Skools.

Grace: It’s a program from youth and in Wodonga there are auditions to get in to it. It’s normally six acts who get to do two songs each on a compilation CD. You record it in Melbourne at Studio 52 and that CD is then sold in the local area. It gives you new demos on your MySpace.

Juliet: You have to be in high school to enter. Along with recording the music you get to design the cover and think of a name for the album. You get a place in the book for a picture or lyrics, anything you want. You all work together. It’s a really good experience.

Where would you like to play in the future?

Grace: We’d love to start playing with bigger acts, supporting. We’d love to tour. Anything with big crowds. It’s great playing in Wodonga because it’s tight-knit and you’re playing to your peers but playing for a greater section of people would be great.

What do you like most about performing alongside your sister and what’s one quality of hers you’d like to have?

Juliet: (to Grace) You can go first.

Grace: Juliet’s a really good performer. She’s always been really confident. That’s why she wanted to get into performing. She’s pretty funny and she’s really fun to be with. Having your sister there, you’re fully comfortable with them. We fight and stuff but you’re always friends with your family. It’s great to have someone who knows you that well and you’re able to be comfortable with.

Juliet: Grace has really good skills in songwriting. The lyrics she produces are really good. She tells me what I should and shouldn’t do, like teaches me stuff. And she looks after me and does a lot of the work. She takes the lead with finding gigs and gets talking to people and says to me, "You’re singing here and here and here."

Do you have anything coming up?

Juliet: We’re going to record an EP. We’re working on that. We want to write a few more songs.

Grace: We’ve got a few small gigs coming up too like the children’s fair.

Juliet: Check out our MySpace. We’re on it every day: www.myspace.com/graceandjuliet (new window)

For more FReeZA news, check out www.freeza.vic.gov.au, and for more Arts & music articles, check out our Articles archive. You can also find out more about Kool Schools by visiting www.koolskools.com.au (new window).

Lyrics: "Soldiers" by Grace & Juliet

I can hear the drums are ringing
I can hear choir singing
I can hear the wolf outside my door

I can see tomorrow
And it's all wrapped up in sorrow
Take my heart and give it to the poor

We don't wanna be children anymore
We don't wanna be children anymore

And I know how it feels, to have to run against the wind

And I know how it feels, to tell your mama that you've sinned

And you close your eyes and the pictures
They just won't go away
And there's someone holding out his hand saying "you're the one that's gonna have to pay" in the end

The wind is cold, I'm feeling old

We don't wanna be children anymore

We don't wanna be children anymore

I can hear the guns are ringing
I can hear the bullets singing
I can hear the war outside my door

Take my heart and give it to the poor

And you close your eyes and the pictures
They just won't go away
And there's someone holding out his hand saying you're the one that's gonna have to pay,
gonna have to pay, you're gonna have to pay, in the end

The wind is cold, I'm feeling old

We don't wanna be soldiers anymore

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