Twins in harmony
They’re frequently to be found at the Good Market on Thursday. More often than not you’ll find a crowd gathered around the two young boys, nodding heads and tapping their feet to the music of the JJ Twins. What most wouldn’t know is that the JJ Twins write their own music; they rarely perform covers because they believe that any musician worth their salt should compose their own music.
Julian and Jason Prins really are twins, and yes, they really do sing. The duo are not identical twins, yet you’ll struggle to tell them apart-mostly because they finish each other’s sentences and talk and think very much the same.
JJ Twins. Pics by Susantha Liyanawatte
The two 19-year olds from Wattala schooled at St. Joseph’s College and then at the Open Education Institute. They remember having a twin act as young tots but never seriously till just about two years ago, when they sat down with a guitar, the voice recorder on their phone and wrote their very first song. In fact very little of their music is written down on paper-the boys say they find it easier to just do it by memory, picking up the words and tunes as they go. Only You & Me, a personal favourite (which also involves some nifty beat boxing) is one such track which has never been written down.
“We might have never become anything if people didn’t take a chance on us,” says Julian. Their very first gig was with Prince Leone at his show Star Studded Rainbow back in 2012. The twins have moved on to perform at venues like Charcoal, The Floor by O! and Park Street Mews, which is where they were spotted by entertainment company The AgenZ. Now, thanks to representation, all their worries and troubles have been taken care of. “We get to concentrate solely on doing our own thing, which is great.”
In February 14, the JJ Twins will release their first album ‘Dream’. The album (title self-explanatory) will mainly comprise of dance tracks. It’s not a genre their fans have really heard much of at their usual gigs, but the boys say it’s definitely something to watch out for. Out of sheer curiosity, we ask them how they’ve managed to change genres so fast.
“The technological aspect of mixing tracks is quite easy,” they laugh. Their producer Sheaam Deen is a well-known performer and producer in the circuit. “We compose our tracks the normal way,” says Jason. “What Sheeam does is take that to a whole other level in the studio.” Don’t get them wrong though. It might be fast-paced music but the twins have stuck to their writing home ground with tracks like Walk into My Life and Marry You.
“We like making music and writing about love,” they say. With this album they’ve got quite a number of people to thank with the boys looking to their parents, Estelle and Reno Prins, first and foremost. “They’ve always encouraged and supported us,” they smile. “Other parents would’ve told their kids to go out and study something serious or to get a job. Ours just accepts that we want to make music.” Sheeam and their agents are next on the list
You can find the JJ Twins on Facebook and Twitter, and listen to their music on their YouTube channel of the same name.