Though loaded with talent and charismatic on stage, the young duo have yet to develop the business of their music. They write original music, but stick to covers on stage to meet bar scene demand. They have a MySpace page, but not much interaction with their fan base and almost no active social media strategy. But they have the tools to succeed and with the right management and a good distribution plan, this promising duo should be able to convert an evening passion into a modest secondary income, and possibly more.
I caught up with them backstage for an impromptu interview, which is hard to make out over the clutter of a very packed bar. I've included the transcript of our conversation below the video.
Where are you from?
David: I'm from Belgium, Brussels.
Rebekah: I'm from Dublin.
How long have you been playing together?
Rebekah: 6 months, since April.
How did you guys meet?
Rebekah: Believe it or not we stumbled across each other at work. He was looking for a singer and I was looking for a guitarist, and here we are.
You guys played one of my favorite songs of all time tonight, High and Dry by Radiohead. Is there a special reason for that or was that just filler?
Rebekah: It's a great song and Radiohead is a great band. We generate all of our songs together based on [feedback] from people, and that is a personal favorite.
David: Same here. I play piano as well and it's one of my favorites to play.
What's your schedule like? How often do you play?
Rebekah: 2-3 times per week. We work full time in Marketing, but on the weekends and on Thursdays as well, in different bars.
David: We're going to start playing weddings as well.
So you guys work full time?
David: Well maybe one day we'll get lucky and quit our jobs to do music full time.
Rebekah, When did you start singing?
Rebekah: It must have been when I was nine. I was in theater and various music groups, so I was doing an awful lot of singing. I had done some of my own recordings because my uncle has an editing studio, so he allowed me to go in and record a lot of my songs. Then I was in Australia 2 years before this and I sang in a rock band. I moved to Barcelona nearly a year ago and wanted to do more.
David: I started playing the piano when I was 6 and then I started to play guitar in a Beatles cover band.
What are you guys doing in Barcelona?
Rebekah: Who wouldn't want to be in Barcelona! We had an office in Dublin, but our head office is in Barcelona and I had the option to stay in Dublin or move to Barcelona. It seemed like a great opportunity.
David: We've got the beach, women, it's a great city.
Do you ever sing in Spanish?
David: We'll be singing in Spanish later tonight.
Do you play original songs?
David: We have a couple. When we play in bars they request cover songs, but we're thinking of dropping a couple of originals in there.
Do you write music together or is it one or the other?
Rebekah: I've been writing a lot of the music, but we plan to [write together]. We've only been together for a short period.
Do you sell your music on iTunes or Amazon?
David: Not yet, but maybe with your help we will.
Do you guys have a fan base where your fans can congregate and learn where you will play next?
Rebekah: The MySpace page is the best place right now, but its only been online for a few weeks. Before that we would just give the name of the band and they check the pub website to see where we are at the time, or they add us on Facebook as their friends.
Who are your biggest influences?
David: I love the Beatles, Radiohead, the Police, a little bit of Jack Johnson.
Rebekah: The oldies, 80's rock music, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, and at the moment I love Lady Gaga, though she is a bit extreme.
If you could open for any band, who would it be?
David: We'd love to open for Kings of Leon.
Check out Rebekah and David from the Southsiders at http://www.myspace.com/thesouthsidersrock
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