Locnville

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Locnville are a South African electro-hop music duo.^[2] Twin brothers Andrew and Brian Chaplin established the Locnville in Cape Town, South Africa in 2009.^[2] The duo are singer-songwriters, song producers and musicians, in addition to being guitarists, drummers and business entrepreneurs.^[3]

They have released a studio album entitled Sun in My Pocket in February 2010 in South Africa.^[4][5] The album has since peaked at #1 on the RISA South African Albums Chart. Sun in My Pocket has so far spawned three singles - the title track, "Sun in My Pocket", follow-up single "6 Second Poison" and the latest single "There". The first two singles have been substantial successes throughout radio stations in South Africa.^[1][5]

Locnville were nominated in the category for "Best Newcomer" for Sun in My Pocket at the 2010 MK Awards^[6] and won the award during the ceremony held at the Teatro at Monte Casino in Johannesburg on 28 February 2010.^[7]

Andrew and Brian Chaplin were born as identical twin brothers, Brian first, to a South African father and American mother on May 14, 1990 in New York, United States.^[2][3] The twins are related to the late Charlie Chaplin, with their great grandfather being the brother of Charlie Chaplin's father.^[3] In an interview, Andrew explained his take on the perceptions Locnville garnered as a result of their relation to Charlie Chaplin: "For people that know Charlie Chaplin and what his ethos was, I would definitely say that the relation affects their view of us. In terms of whether it has affected our success or not, I'm not too sure. If it did, I would hope it's for the best!"^[8] Although being American-born, the Chaplin twins have lived and been raised in Cape Town, South Africa for the majority of their lives.^[1]

Andrew and Brian discovered their passion for music at the age of six when they got their first guitars.^[2] As kids, they were largely influenced by the music by bands Pink Floyd and Oasis who were regularly played by their parents.^[3] Andrew elaborated in an interview: "Our family was pretty musically orientated, so I think we got a pretty good sense of melody and rhythm from a young age."^[8] With the divorce of their parents in 1997, they spent alternate weeks with either.^[1]

Andrew and Brian started "busking" around Cape Town at a very young age and as a result they obtained funding which led them to record their first single entitled "Amnesia" at the age of eight.^[1] Between ages eight and twelve, the Chaplin twins' were on a rock-influenced genre due to Brian playing percussion and Andrew guitar.^[2] In 2001, the twins returned to the United States with their mother and settled in Park City, Utah where they started to pick up a new influence of hip hop music into their musical style as they were not able to play their own instruments because of sound restrictions, so they started downloading hip hop instrumentals and writing to them.^[8]

In 2003 the pair returned to South Africa and settled with their father in Cape Town, where they then focused solely on hip hop and rap music.^[2] In 2005, at the age of fifteen, the duo performed publicly for the first time at the "2005 Hip Hop Indaba" as the competition's youngest contenders, this participation was the origin of the group's fanbase and as a result they were later featured on television for the first time on popular South African channel, e.tv's "The Showbiz Report".^[1] The pair later made a second appearance on the show after contracting with the channel.^[1] At this stage, the twins were in the process of recording their first demo tape, which was of hip hop influence and entitled "Making a Name for Us".^[2] A track from the demo tape entitled "What If I Said" then became an underground success in the youth music market of Cape Town, which attracted the attention of South African record producer, Gabi Le Roux.^[1]

In 2006 Andrew and Brian were introduced to Gabi Le Roux. Le Roux conceived an idea to put them together with another African artists to create a fusion of hip hop, rock, kwaito and R&B. This resulted in the recruitment of Khayelitsha-based artist, Given Phike to form the group III.

III released a twelve-track album, What They Say, on a local interactive chat music store, MXit Music.^[1] on August 21, 2007. III the first group in South African music history to release an album in this format.^[9] 'What They Say' went on to achieve double platinum download sales status, selling over 500,000 copies in South Africa.^[9]

Following the success with III, the Chaplin brothers were only satisfied with their accomplishments upon birth of Locnville, saying:

We wanted to make the kind of music we enjoyed listening to, music that was commercially viable as well as music that could be accepted internationally - that’s what inspired Locnville and the album. We combined elements of the music we like and altered it to make it our own.^[10]

The duo's name 'Locnville' originated as a "metaphorical way of saying that we have both American and South African influences in our lives."^[8] Locnville were first signed to record label Just Music in November 2009.^[2] After two weeks of recording and mixing at LMX Studios in Cape Town their debut album, Sun in My Pocket was originally released on a music download format with the original title of Retro Electro in November 2009.^[9][11] The CD format of Sun in My Pocket was later released in South Africa in February 2010.^[2]

Locnville were later deemed the “buzz act” at the Midem International Music Conference in Cannes in January 2010, sparking interest in the duo from international record labels globally.^[12] In May 2010 it was announced that Locnville signed a worldwide deal with Sony Music International.^[13]

Locnville's debut single and album, both entitled "Sun In My Pocket", will be released around the world on Sony's Jive Records imprint, except in the United Kingdom where it will be released on Sony's Epic Records imprint.^[13]

Locnville have released three music videos to date. Namely Sun in My Pocket, 6 Second Poison and There. All of Locnville's music videos have been the product of a group of young film makers. The first of the videos to be released was Sun in My Pocket released to YouTube on August 11, 2009.^[14] 6 Second Poison followed on suit on January 06, 2010.^[15] The most recent video, There was released to YouTube on May 25, 2010.^[16] Collectively the videos have received over 1.5 million views (August 2010).

Studio Albums

• Sun in My Pocket (2010)

Singles

• Sun in My Pocket (2010)