Despite the recent success of Nervo, co-writing songs like “When Love Takes Over” with David Guetta, “Drowning” with Armin Van Buuren and collaborating with pop superstars like Kesha and The Pussycat Dolls, little is known of this sister duo that hails from Australia. We caught up with the Nervo twins, Miriam and Olivia, at Beyond Wonderland, and they gave us the scoop on the inspiration behind their latest single, “We Are All No One,” and detailed their journey from Australian models to two of the most versatile songwriters to be reckoned with.
festivalZOO: You girls began your careers as models, when did it become apparent that music was your number one priority? What kind of support did you have from friends and family in that decision?
Nervo: Music was always the [the number one priority]. When we were sixteen, we were working at a chicken store for four dollars an hour. Mom and Dad were sick of the time we were spending in the chicken store and wanted us to make better money. So they submitted a family portrait to a really good modeling agent in Australia. Sure enough, we were twins, we were blonde, we were tall, we weren’t fat (chuckles), so we ended up doing a little bit of catalog work, but we never did any runway or anything super cool that I can tell you. Music was always the focus. We had really positive experiences. I got really cool trips over seas from [modeling], and that’s about it.
festivalZOO: A lot of people don’t know that you guys are successful songwriters, co-writing songs like, “When Love Takes Over” with David Guetta. What did you girls learn from your experience writing with him, and can we expect any more collaborations with him in the future?
Nervo: Yes, you can expect many more. We’re on his current album, “Night of Your Life,” and we’ve just done a few more records with him. And I think one is going to be on his repackage as well. We love David, learned so much from him. He has been pretty much our big brother throughout our journey. He’s the one that said to us girls that we should take our DJing more seriously. So he was a real supporter in the transition from being behind the scenes to giving it a real go. I think when we wrote for him and Armin and a lot of DJ’s, we thought, “Oh, Ok, we don’t just write for popstars now, we write for DJ’s as well.” So i guess that gave us the confidence to release stuff under our own name.
festivalZOO: Have being females in an industry heavy with males in any way limited your career pr provided any obstacles?
Nervo: We love it. We don’t try to make anything gender specific. We love being the only girls and I think there are more girls now coming up as well which is great. Even the music industry when you work for other people, again, it’s male dominated, so I think we’re used to it.
festivalZOO: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Nervo: We definitely talk through our set. We talk through our first four records and our last four records. And we always play a lot of our own records. So when we’re playing short sets , like tonight, we really need to space them out. Otherwise, we get half way through and we’re like, “Oh no, we have to play only our own records.” Then the last half is only our own records.
festivalZOO: As sisters, how is it like touring and writing together? Do you ever get in fights?
Nervo: Always (laughs). What’s that word? We squabble. But then we get over it. We fight a lot in the studio. We fight a lot more in the studio than we do in real life because we have to fight for the song. Then when we leave the studio, we’re over it.
festivalZOO: What was the inspiration for your latest single, “We Are All No One”?
Nervo: Aw, it was hard times, wasn’t it? (to sister). We both had become single, both quite heartbroken at the time and it was kinda weird…our love lives had fallen to crap, but our professional lives were picking up. So we were at that stage where it’s, “It all means nothing if you don’t have someone to share it with” kind of vibe. “This is all great, but we’re all no one unless someone thinks we’re someone” (in a crying voice). It’s kinda like a spiritual meaning of “you complete me.” But it was a bit of a hard time, wasn’t it? (to sister). It was a therapeutic session.
festivalZOO: Is there any future shows or events for Nervo that we should look forward too?
Nervo: Lots. This is our agent here (points to agent) who books us the best gigs in the world. We’re staying in Vegas, so we still have the residency in Vegas. I think in L.A. as well. Mexico tomorrow for the first time ever, we’ve never played in Mexico before. But we love America. We feel the crowds are amazing in America. So we’ll definitely be back here a lot.
festivalZOO: If you could pick one artist to write with, who would it be?
Nervo: Oh it depends. There are so many. I would love to work with Daft Punk. I would love to work with Fat Boy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx. But then if you’re talking more pop-oriented artists, definitely Rihanna. We’ve been close to working with her quite a few times.
festivalZOO: Last question is something we ask every artist…if you could pick an animal that best describes your party style, what would it be?
Nervo: A Parrot? Because a Parrot talks a lot. Something loud and fast. Thats a really good question. Maybe something sexier than a Parrot. Ya, it’s not very sexy is it? A flamingo? A leopard? Ya, a Leopard. (I asked, “Are both of you going with Leopard?”). Yes. Well we’re twins aren’t we.
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