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EXCLUSIVE: The Micallef brothers interview!


The Micallef brother Wayne and Richard are both taking part in this year’s Malta Song for Europe. For Richard this is his solo debut while Wayne came already 7th last year with Where you belong. They both however had a taste of the competition already back in 2005 as The Mics along with their sister Michelle.It’s up to you was a groovy number with strong vocals but made it only to 21st. BlogIlkar had a chance to chat a bit with the guys.

Wayne and Richard, what has happened since? You both have spent some time in the UK ?
Yes we spent 3 years touring the U.K doing music since 2005. Basically we had a band called Castaway and we were approached by an agency that wanted us to come to the U.K and perform, So it didn’t take long for us to pack our bags and go for it. We had a lot of original songs that we wanted to push and just get stuck in there with the rest of them and were also hoping for someone to come along and take us to that next level. It was a real eye opener just how much talent is out there not just in Europe but all over the world, hoping for the same thing and made us realize just how competitive the music business is, but you have to follow your dream and give it 100% and that’s want we tried to do. But all in all we loved the experience and performing for people all over the world was an amazing mind opening experience.
You come obviously from a musical family. How did it all start? When did you realize you wanted to become musicians and singers?
Well our parents are to blame for that, the best thing our parents ever did with us was getting us into music at a really early age and it also kept us out of trouble too. Our dad is a musician and used to make us and our sister practice singing all kinds of songs and then take us to his gigs to perform in front of people so although we were very young we fell in love with music and performing straight away, He even used to let us play keyboards (Wayne) and guitar (Richard) in his band, so just the natural rush of playing in a band got us hooked.
You are both also recording some new music. When are we going to get your solo cds?
Actually Wayne released an album called Making My Way Home back in June 2009 with tracks on the album going to number 1 on the Maltese islands and Richard has also released some singles which also reaching number 1 on Maltese charts, in fact you can listen to some of the tracks in our MySpaces here and here. We are lucky in a sense that Wayne has a recording studio so we are able to record on regular basis to keep the music fresh including the entries for this year’s Malta Eurosong, Wayne's Save a life and Richard's Change.
Do you compete with each other or is it still a family affair? If one of you wins in Malta, will the other go along as a backing singer in Oslo perhaps?
Ha ha, yes well it’s a bit of both, we are very competitive with each other but in a good way, when you compete with someone you always try your best to be the best and that will make you a better singer/songwriter and musician but we are brothers so we will always support each other no matter what. As for backing vocals yes why not, we’ll probably take the whole family up and make a show out of it.
Why do you think Malta has done rather badly in Eurovision since 2005?
Well it’s not really anyone’s fault and the performers and songwriters that have represented Malta since 2005 have given there 100%, but these things can happen from time to time and the important thing is to keep going and trying to improve every year. Problem is that sometimes, being Malta is so small and we were using 100% televoting, People feel safer voting for performers who are popular instead of the singer who deserves to win with the best song.
Well, that surely happens everywhere, Finland included! You both have a rather intimate song. My guess is there won’t be any big show for them on stage?
Yes, we have intimate song with a message to deliver and sometimes the best way to perform these types of songs is to just grab the microphone and sing your heart out, bringing emotion to the stage.
That's exactly what caught my attention on you both. Do you think Eurovision has become a bit too much of a show contest rather than a song contest?
Different people have different tastes. For us the songs are always the most important thing and the music comes first. If someone has a bad song with a good show it’s not going to catch our attention, but good songs even with a very simple performance can bring the stage to life.
Have you followed Eurovision throughout the years as fans, too? Do you have any favorite moments or songs over the years?
To be honest more often then not we are working on the night the Eurovision is aired being fulltime musicians and are unable to see the show live on TV, but our parents love the Eurovision and always records it so we watch it the next day. There has been some great songs thought-out the years but one of our favorites are Lordi. We were in England when we heard they won, we thought they were so cool with there outfits and brought something different to the Eurovision and also the song rocked.

Thank you so much for the interview, Wayne and Richard. BlogIlkar wishes you all the best for Malta Song for Europe and your future careers! We hope to see the Micallef family in Oslo 2010!

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