The Veronicas "Untouched" Video & Interview With NewNowNext!

 

Identical twins Jesse and Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas have grown up in the few years since I first heard "4Ever" during She's The Man - which I saw in theaters, thank you - but their edged-out, girl-y pop-rock is still definitely up my gay alley. And now I can't get this "Untouched" business out of my head ...

Check out my chat with the Brisbane, Australia-natives after the jump. You wouldn't believe how gay they are, without actually being gay and all. The girls talked everything from favorite gay-club hangouts, to getting busted in school, to a certain girl-on-girl make-out rumor for one of them ...

 

 

Now I loved "4Ever," but I think "Untouched" is a little more ... adult? Could you guys have pictured singing it three years ago when you were starting out out?

Jess: I think we could have been singing it three years ago, that style of music, but I think "Untouched" is a result of just a natural progression ... of growing as artists and musically things that inspire us.

Lisa: I don’t think we would have written that three years ago. I feel like it’s a good indication of where we’re at musically with The Veronicas and with who we are. I feel like we’re older - and traveling and different music inspiring us and just the experiences we’ve had - but it wouldn’t have been out of place for us to sing it three years ago. It’s still ours.

In some of your videos and in the lyrics for "Take Me on The Floor," you hint at some girl-girl flirtation. Why did you guys decide to have fun with sexuality?

J: The question we get asked a lot, especially when the album first came out in Australia, was, “Oh, you’re trying to be controversial. You’re trying to put this in to purposely cause some sort of risqué thing.” We were like, No.

Honestly, when we were writing the song, we were just having fun: We didn’t think twice about putting in some curse words; we didn’t think twice about putting things in like, I wanna kiss a girl, I wanna kiss a boy, I wanna kiss a girl. It was just the whole spirit of just doing what you want.

L: And I guess for society - I’m not too sure what it’s like in America, but definitely in Australia - sexuality has become such an open thing; it’s not taboo or as looked down upon anymore, which is great.

J: And we wanted to keep that message going, that you can do what you want ... and everyone being different is why our world is beautiful.

 

The Veronicas "4Ever" video

 

I also liked your naughty school girl video for "Hook Me Up." I want to know what sorts of things you guys got in trouble for in school...

J: For wearing make-up and hoop earrings - we got suspended.

You guys got suspended for hoop earrings?

L: We were wearing, like, eyeliner and mascara and hoop earrings, and we would make our hair kind of big ... I guess it was a distraction from learning or something.

J: I knew girls that used to, like, hike their skirts up ... or pour water on their blouses to make it see-through ... or wear black bras under their white blouses...

 

 

So have you guys always had a relationship with the gay community?

L: Well, we grew up doing musical theater... We had five really close gay friends that we grew up with.

J: We have a lot of best friends that are gay, and I think musically the gay community, especially in Australia, has embraced us. And like with Kylie Minogue, if you can dance to it, they love it, which is so great. They loved the first record too, but they really connected with this last record, because it’s played a lot in gay bars. We go to gay clubs all the time, especially in Brisbane; it’s so much more fun, hands-down.

L: We actually go to more gay clubs than anywhere else.

How are the gay clubs in Australia compared to the ones in America?

J: Well, we’ve been to a couple here. There’s one that we always go out to called Here: It’s on Friday nights next to Truckstop on Robinson. It’s like our hangout, and it’s also where the girls get up on the bar and dance. It’s like Coyote Ugly but, like, lesbian.

L: And the gay clubs in Australia... We go to The Beat in Brisbane, which is awesome. And there’s a couple of other ones in Sydney. It’s so much fun; we love it.

So do you guys ever get hit on by girls?

L: Yeah. They usually opt for Jess. For some reason the girls don’t really go for me.

J: Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the hair or the style, I guess.

 

 

I also like in "Popular" how you say you only "date up" - but what does that mean to you, exactly?

L: It just means someone who’s confident with themselves ... like, someone who’s not going to be jealous or judge you or put you down or freak out. When we were having a little bit of success in Australia, the attitude of guys toward us changed quite a bit: They would approach us, and we’d be like, Oh, cool, but they would ask for a photo or just freak out or couldn’t talk, you know?

J: It was more for the fact that they'd try to be really like ... their testosterone’s spraying around...

I have one last question for Jess! I heard that you made out with bisexual MTV VJ Ruby Rose...

J: She's a lesbian! She was very upset that they wrote she was bisexual. But I actually haven’t commented on that... We’re really good friends, and she’s really cool. We were just back there for the MTV Awards, and we all partied on and had a good time...