words irma widjojo

They may be famous, but Soler are not floating above the clouds

Julio and Dino Acconci were born only 90 minutes apart and have used their brotherly connection to create a musical power team that has made waves internationally. bc met up with Soler at their studio and found a surprisingly grounded duo who nevertheless have an uncanny ability to finish each other’s thoughts.

As the brothers chat animatedly about their music,
I notice that they are wearing very similar pendants. Julio, the older of the two, explains that the pendants are gifts from their mother. And that leads to the admission that, in fact, their mother, a member of the Burmese Karen tribe, has always been the main source of their support. ‘Soler is our mother’s maiden name,’ Julio says. ‘I think the name is perfect because it explains our roots and it is not something that we will regret in the future. It also gives us a story to build on.’

Part of that story is the unusual fact that they are not only brothers and bandmates but twins. It is something they fully embrace. ‘That’s what we are and we want to be known as a group, Soler,’ Julio says. Dino chips in with a story about a fan asking how to tell them apart. ‘I told her that she could just call us Soler, and both of us would respond,’ Dino says. ‘I don’t think it’s necessary to tell us apart because we create our music together.’

Still, that doesn’t mean they are clones. Like any other band members, they have different opinions regarding their music and both recognize and honour that. However, being twins has definitely helped them deal with the inevitable issues that arise. ‘We know each other really well and we respect each other’s opinions,’ Dino says. ‘We can’t always expect things to go our own way and I think it has worked for us,’ Julio finishes.

Successful as Soler may be, clearly fame has not got to the duo. In fact, they will be guest performers at a couple of gigs on the local music scene in the next two weeks.

‘Of course we are doing this to support the local band scene, since we know how hard it is for [bands] to survive in Hong Kong,’ Dino says. And Julio completes the thought with, ‘But you also have to remember that at the end of the day we are still musicians. We love to play and we are taking every opportunity that is given to perform.’

Such a generous and humble perspective is refreshing from a successful band in an industry known for big egos and self-serving agendas. The brothers explain it comes from a philosophy of never underestimating the power of one and recall, as an example, performing to an audience of three. ‘We didn’t see it as a let down. We came there to perform and we did,’ Dino says. ‘Those three people bought our albums at the end of the performance, and three albums sold are better than none.’

Despite success in Hong Kong, Soler are planning to move base to Taiwan. In fact, a Mandarin album is in the works – it will be, they say, ‘a little more poppy, but quite soulful’.

Before they decamp, do they have any advice for new and emerging Hong Kong bands? ‘You can’t wait for the invitation to perform to come to you,’ Julio says. ‘You need to go out there and do it yourself, start by performing to your friends, and if they like you enough, they will tell their friends, and so on and so on.’ The idea is not to be afraid to perform to a small crowd: Whatever the numbers, the crowd is always important to any musicians. ‘The best crowd is the one that react to anyone even though they are not famous,’ Julio explains.

But they do agree they always take into account crowd reactions in different cultures. ‘In the West, people just go crazy from beginning to end. But here, in Hong Kong, people tend to be quieter during the performance, because they want to be polite, not because they don’t like your music,’ Julio says.

When asked to choose which language they prefer when writing music, Soler say English, but quickly add it doesn’t really matter because music is universal. ‘Music is definitely the glue that keeps people together,’ Dino says.

Soler is performing at The Underground on July 17 from 9:30pm-1:30am at California (30-32 D’Aguilar St, Lan Kwai Fong, Central). Tickets are $100, for students $80. Tel: 9486 4648. They are also guest performing at the ACGHK 2009 HeartBeat Band Sound Competition, August 1 from 7:30-8:30pm at Hall 1, HKEC