They’ve signed a deal with Island Records, toured the
UK with Girls Aloud and featured on the soundtrack to How to Lose Friends and
Alienate People. Yet sassy sisters Electrovamp are barely out of school. In
fact, the Caerphilly-born siblings have only just begun their assault on the
UK's musical barricades with foot-thumpers like Drinks Taste Better When They're
Free and Don’t Like the Vibe in the VIP. So before they turn all Mariah
Carey and start demanding spring water from Milford Haven, we caught up with
Kally, 18, and Tammy, 19, to talk about music, men and mad booze.
RH: How did two teenage girls from South Wales get mixed-up in the crazed world
of dance music?
Tammy: We’ve just always liked music. My dad’s got home videos
of me as a young girl singing and dancing to Michael Jackson with a hairbrush
in the front room. As we grew up Kally also got into it, so we decided to try
and take it a bit more seriously and recorded our first song at 13 or 14. Then
before we knew it we had worked with the Sound Factory and were on tour with
Girls Aloud. It’s been amazing.
RH: Crikey! Does that mean you got to share a dressing room with Cheryl and
Sarah?
Kally: Er, no. On the first day they popped into our dressing room and said, ‘Hello’,
which was fantastic as they’re all really nice girls. Then at the end
of the tour we had a big party and had a bit of a dance-off in a nightclub.
But that’s about it really.
RH: Did you preserve the honour of Wales and wipe the floor with the Anglo-Irish
vixens?
Kally: No. They won by miles. But then they had all their dancers with them
so we had no chance really. All these guys were booty-shaking better than we
ever could! But it was crazy. We did 25 dates around the UK and Ireland and
as I was only 14, I got a little bit of time off school to do it too, which
was fun.
RH: Nice homework if you can get it. What about backstage: was it a scene of
tantrums and fisticuffs as you morphed into a pair of full-on divas?
Tammy: We are both really messy and both steal each other’s clothes.
So we do fall out from time-to-time. But it’s never anything major.
Kally: We always have to make up quickly afterwards anyway because one of us
will normally want to borrow something else in an hour. At home my bedroom
is right above the front room so I can hear the floorboards creaking when Tammy
tries to steal my stuff. She tries to keep quiet by creeping really slowly
across the floor but as soon as I scream “Tammy!” I can hear these
little footsteps creeping out of the room. She’d be a rubbish burglar.
RH: What about blokes: ever argue over them?
Tammy: It’s always amicably sorted out. We would never fight over a man!
Kally: Sometimes one of us will come home and say, ‘This boy’s
nice’ and the other one will say, ‘Oh my god, I like him too’.
But after that he’s out of bounds. You have to be the first one to say
it - otherwise you can’t go near him.
RH: So where do you go looking for these lucky chaps?
Tammy: We normally get ready at home, have the girls over for a few drinks
and then head into Cardiff because Kally loves Jumping Jacks.
Kally: It’s really cheesy in there. I love it.
Tammy: Then at the end of the night we always go to Chippy Lane. If anyone
goes to Cardiff they have to go to Chippy Lane. It should be the law or something.
But not during the day as it’s not very nice. It’s only good when
you’re drunk.
RH: What’s your favourite tipple?
Kally: At the moment I like Southern Comfort and Lemonade.
Tammy: I like Apply Corky, which is a shot of sour apple with lemonade. Mind
you the last time I drank some I fell off a chair and couldn’t get up.
There was hardly anyone in the club that night either so everyone in the place
noticed. I was so embarrassed but my friends just stood there laughing. It
hurt too. But Kally falls over all the time. She does it when she’s stone
cold sober.
Kally: Yeah, I’ve fallen down the stairs plenty of times. My friends
normally have to catch me or I end the night with huge bruises on my knees.
RH: Crikey! Does that mean a man has to don a hard hat if he wants to get close
and personal?
Kally: Not at all. The best thing to do is to simply be yourself. Be a nice
person and a genuine person. We don’t really like cocky blokes who tell
loads of lies.
Tammy: I met a bloke the other night who kept on asking me to dance no matter
how many times I politely said, ‘I’m really sorry, no’. In
the end I just turned around to him and said, ‘No!’ Then he got
really moody and said, ‘It’s your loss’, which made me really
angry. If he’d just been nice he would have had a much better chance.
Kally: Men should never use chat-up lines either. A Canadian guy recently looked
me up and down and said, ‘I like the way you’re put together’.
I didn’t know what he was on about! He must have thought I was some kind
of jigsaw or something. I really liked his accent too – until he blew
it!
RH: So what happens if a bloke does manage to sweep you off your feet? Should
he take you to a fancy restaurant? Art gallery? Romantic bolthole?
Tammy: No. We like theme parks.
Kally: Yes. We really like rides.
Tammy: The candlelight meal can come later once we’ve got used to them
a bit better and are happy to sit down talking for hours. You need something
to break the ice to begin with.
Kally: It’s also a bit of a test of bravery.
Tammy: That’s right. We’d take them on the worst rides ever to
see how strong their stomach is. If they throw up it would be a case of ‘bye
bye’ immediately. We’d have to leave him in Alton Towers on his
own in his soggy clothes.
Electrovamp's new single Drinks Taste Better When They're Free is out now.
Log on to www.electrovamp.co.uk or see their MySpace page
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