INTERVIEW: RyanDan
- Posted on August 28, 2007 7:42 PM
- 1 comment
Interview by Katie Spain
If there really is a God, he was in a mighty fine mood when he made the mould for this double act. Twin brothers Ryan and Dan (aka, you guessed it ‘Ryandan’) are identical classical singers with a vocal fluidity reserved only for the likes of… well, twins. The boys have been stretching their vocal chords since the age of four and after following in their Opera singing father’s footsteps, have hit the big time.
Ahead of their Proms in the Park gig and their September 24th album release, we chat to the Canadian duo about the trouble they got up to as youngsters, their former life as boy band members and what it’s like to sing in front of a stadium full of World Cup Rugby fans. They say double’s trouble… but in this case, two most certainly wows a crowd.
So, first of all guys, what have you been up to today? I bet your going interview crazy?
We have been doing promotions and getting ready for our album release on the 24th
Excellent. It will be busy days until then I imagine?! Now, your Canadian-from Toronto yes? My dad is Canadian and so I have always been planning a trip over there – is that still where your based?
Well, right now we are based in London...
If I was to make a trip to your home town, what do you recommend I go and see?
Well, you would have to go and see all the touristy things like Niagara Falls which is beautiful and just Toronto itself – there is some really nice shops.
So, do you like London? How long have you been based here now?
Oh, we love it! We have been on and off here for about a year now and we recorded our album here. We weren’t sure what to expect when we come here. You don’t know how people are going to treat you when you come to a new country but everybody had been very supportive to us.
And what about the English food? How are you handling that?
We love English shepherds and fish and chips! We went to Blackpool not to long ago and had fish and chips.
Do you enjoy the travel perks of your career? I take it you do have to get on planes a lot and travel about – is that a plus?
Travelling is great. The great thing about this career is the amount of different things you get to do. One day you are in the studio, the next you are travelling and on the next day you might be on stage or doing an interview. But yeah, travelling is one of the best things! The only negative thing is that you do all the travelling but you don’t get to see the places. In the next few weeks we are going to Australia but we are not going to get to see any of it.
You started in music very early. From what I have read it is mostly through the influence of your dad. You also starred in Joseph at very young age which I was very impressed by. Apparently, no one could tell who was who. Did you two cause twin havoc when you were little? You have got to tell the truth now!
All the time! Absolutely. We used to switch. I would take a test and then Dan would take my test. Actually, Ryan used my passport to fly to the US. I shouldn’t really tell you that!
Yeah, I was waiting for my passport to be renewed do I just took Dan’s! It helps being an identical twin!
Absolutely! Did your mum dress you the same when you were younger?
When we were very young, maybe one year old, my mum used to paint my toe nails red so she could tell us apart!
That is a really early start in entertaining that you had then isn’t it. Did either of you ever consider changing career paths?
People always ask what would you be doing if you weren’t in music but both of us can’t imagine dong anything else. Music has always been a big part of our life. Our father is an opera singer and out older brother is an opera singer as well so we grew up watching them. We have been singing since the age of four. We actually have footage of us singing on our website.
Your family gatherings must be amazing. Did you ever all give it a whirl together? Is there a recording on the cards maybe?
Well, album numbers two that might happen on!
That would be fantastic! You also gave the boy band path a whirl, tell me about that...
We got signed when we were 16/17 year olds –young and naïve. We just walked into a record company in Canada and said ‘we have this demo – you have to play it to the president or whoever you can!’ We were annoying her a lot and suddenly we got lucky. Two guys were walking through the doors and it was the President and Vice President. We ended up singing for them and we got signed right away- we went double platinum in Canada and Germany and we were very successful. But, the frustrating thing for us was that we were playing for a very young audience and so the focus was very much on our hair, style and image but we wanted people to focus on orchestration and vocals and the lyrics we were singing about, that’s why we are really happy about the stuff we are doing now.
Yes, it’s a kind of boy band thing isn’t it, but from what I have seen and read now, the emphasis is on the vocals. You have achieved so much already - what has been the highlight for you?
Oh, so many things. Performance wise, we recently performed with Catherine Jenkins at the Tower of London – that was probably one of the highlights. We performed with a 60 piece orchestra. Our father actually flew in for the show – we are so used to us watching him – so for him to be in the audience watching us was just amazing.
And at the Tower of London – that’s pretty special. Is he going to be in Australia for your Sydney Opera House gig?
He might come over; we have been talking about it. It’s a strong possibility.
Now, one thing I have noticed is a real openness to fans and their suggestions about producers and tour locations – do you get a lot of feedback from them?
Oh, yes. We are very much involved in our website. The other thing we do is we try to respond to the fan mail as much as we possibly can because they are the ones who are supporting us and getting us to where we want to go.
You have been dealt your fair share of blows though haven’t you? I know your niece and your mum have been ill. Is it hard being in the public eye at times like that or do the fan letters and support help you and your family thorough all that type of stuff?
I think being in the public eye is sometimes a good thing. We get so much support from our fans. We get tons of emails – people were telling us that our little niece was in their prayers or they tell us that they are in a similar situation and that our situation is helping them through. It’s nice knowing things like that.
Your mum must be one very proud lady then!
I hope so.
You are signed at Universal now. This sounds great because you have been recording in a vintage central London studio. I read that the mixing desk was the same one used by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That must have been a real buzz?
Absolutely. The whole experience was that it was very surreal. The microphone we used was Frank Sinatra’s microphone.
Wow, I bet you were tempted to pocket that microphone!
Well, we tried but we got caught on the way out.
I would have tried! Ha Ha.
Your new album was narrowed down from 50 songs to 12 – God only knows how you managed to do that and all with a full orchestra as well. Can we expect the same for your upcoming concerts?
The reason we did 50 songs is because sometimes when you listen to an album, you don’t enjoy two or three of the songs. We wanted people to be able to put on this album from beginning to end and to enjoy the whole thing. That was so important for us and so we spent a lot of time choosing the songs and choosing the order. We are very proud of it. And yes, out live shows are going to be the same. We want people to be getting goose bumps.
You recently recorded vocals for the official theme tune for the Rugby World Cup 2007 and shot the video as well. That sounds amazing. First of all, are you Rugby fans?
We are now! We didn’t know too much about rugby before then but we do now. We recorded it with Andrea Botticelli who we have always been big fans of- singing along with him was incredible. I think we are going to be performing with him in Spain next month.
You have been singing since you were four and I wanted to ask whether you still get nervous when you step up on stage. You’ve got each other I guess but you must get an overwhelmed feeling?
Yes, I think always. Five minutes before show time you get a little nervous but I think it is a good thing. The pressure makes you perform better – we don’t want to lose that.
What is the most memorable gig you have ever been to as a punter?
One of the first concerts we went to was The Beach Boys. They have incredible harmonies and it taught us how to out together harmonies- so I think Beach Boys is the most memorable.
To finish up then, are you happy with the album so far?
We are extremely happy with the album and we can’t wait for the world to hear about it and for us to tour with it around the world and perform it on stage with a 60 piece orchestra. People have been very supportive – it’s amazing how fast it has been built. I t just seems like yesterday that we recorded the album. We have been on TV and Radio. Ryan and I were just saying the other day that we can’t believe where we are right now. I mean, we are getting the chance to tour all over the world.
Ryandan MySpace
Ryandan Official Site
Comments (1)
clifflee
wow..I am getting so much time to read it since my english is poor ,and I need to translate them.Thank you for ryandan,yours let me feel bliss
Posted on November 4, 2007 6:41 AM
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