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Molek FMNervo: Wonder Twins
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A lot has been said about twin sisters Mim and Liv in their incarnation as DJ-cum-singer-songwriter-cum-producer duo Nervo. “Oh, these girls were just models!” You exclaimed, incredulous to the notion that attractive girls can have artistic talents too. But your incredulity also means you’re oblivious to just how talented Nervo are. These girls did co-write David Guetta and Kelly Rowland’s ‘When Love Takes Over’ after all – and that track won a Grammy! When not effortlessly proving their worth as amazing pop songwriters – they wrote for Ke$ha and Kylie Minogue – the twins compose their own EDM-tinged tracks such as the instant smash hit ‘You’re Gonna Love Again’, an absolute pop gem that encapsulates their mantra: “Art before chart.” JUICE spoke to one-half of the duo, Mim, and was pleased to find out the whole model thing associated with them was something of an ‘urban myth’.
Hi, Mim! Prior to becoming DJs, you guys were models, what attracted you to the EDM scene?
(Laughs) You know, it’s a little bit of an urban myth. We were with a modelling agency but I can’t say we graced the covers of anything fabulous. We were at a school of music, doing music obviously, and we were just modelling for our music. Australia has a really healthy electronic scene and we moved to London when we were 19. And within the first year of being there, we discovered like an island of club music, so that really took us by a storm and we were addicted. Because we were writing music in the studio every single day, we would come in writing pop music, then went on clubbing on the weekends. We started working more with EDM artistes and DJs and we had some success behind some DJs. Then we got a record deal and here we are now!
What was that journey like?
Fantastic! I mean it hasn’t all been peachy; there have been some dark years when we were waitressing, getting by just to do music, but we persevered. We worked hard and bit by bit we’re getting there. We’re still not there but we’re getting there (laughs).
We notice a lot of hand gestures and talking going on while you guys were spinning. What usually goes on up there?
Probably arguing. It depends what mood we’re in that day, whoever is going to be fighting the hardest wins. Sometimes it takes one or two mixing to get the sound completely right because every system is different, so sometimes we’ll be talking like “Oh, let’s turn that up” or “Turn that down”.
Out of all the celebrities that you’ve met, which one is your favourite or have you met all the people that you’ve wanted to meet?
Oh, definitely we want to meet more people. We loved working with David Guetta and Ke$ha obviously, because Ke$ha we’ve known for many years and we had David’s first number 1 with him. So it’s a big journey together. And of course Kylie Minogue! It was great to work with her because she’s Australian, from the same city that we’re from, and we all live in London, it was a great moment having a laugh about Australia and London and just connecting over that.
What can we expect from you at Thirst? Do you have anything special planned?
Definitely! We’re testing a lot of new records at the moment because we’re working on our album so you would definitely have a few unreleased records, new mixes, there’ll be a lot of little special treats.
Which was the first event you played at?
First paid event? (Laughs) When you first play, you don’t really play to get paid, you play for free drinks or accommodation, but I think the first paid gig was in London in a bar.
How’s it like working with each other as twins?
It’s more helpful definitely. We have our moments where we argue and don’t get on. Because we’re twins and we’ve known each other forever since the womb, we know how to read each other. If one is getting on the other one’s nerve then we know how to leave the room and when it works, it works really well.
You guys are one of the fashion icons right now; who or what are your inspirations?
We like to wear things that we’re comfortable in, that we’re excited in that makes us feel a bit crazy and wild. We actually do a lot of custom made clothing, we design a lot of them ourselves and because we travel out of two suitcases for the whole year, everything we wear has to be quite versatile.
Any expectations towards the Thirst crowd?
When we play in Asia, we don’t need to play such an electro set, sometimes we go a little bit more progressive, so I’m excited to feel the crowd and see what they respond more to. It’s always challenging playing for a new crowd for the first time but it’s exciting at the same time. I’m excited to see what goes down over there.
Nervo will play at Thirst 2013 on Saturday 14 December at Sepang International Circuit.