Interview with HAUSER

Welcome back to Bringing it Backwards, a podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we hung out with Houser over Zoom video. You may recognize HAUSER as one half of two cellos, but he also has a booming solo career that we talk about, Born and raised in. Croatia was always drawn to the cello from a very, very early age. Classically trained on cello pretty much all his life. Really only listened to classical music up until about 25 years old. And that's when he met Luca, the other half of two cellos. 3 (2m 15s): And they decided to do a cover of a Michael Jackson song. Just try something different. They cover Smooth Criminal, put the song up on YouTube and it does insane numbers. Right away they're getting calls from Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres and they're on Glee all based off of this one cover song. So at this point they're like, Whoa, we, we need to lean into this. And that's really how two Cellos was formed. Now they're selling out arenas, but Hauser talks about putting out his first solo record. He did that with the London Symphony Orchestra, which is where he desired to be as a kid. He always grew up wanting to play with the London Orchestra, and there he is putting a whole album out with them. 3 (2m 59s): So he talks about that and he talks all about his new album, which is called The Player and his first tour as a solo artist. You can watch our interview on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It'd be amazing if you subscribe to our channel, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Bring In Back Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcast, it would be incredible if you follow us there as well and hook us up with a five star review. 4 (3m 32s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts, 3 (3m 38s): We're bringing it backwards with HAUSER . 5 (3m 41s): Hello. 3 (3m 41s): Hey, how's, how's it going? Great, 5 (3m 43s): How are you? 3 (3m 44s): I'm doing awesome. I'm actually watching the countdown for your music video as we speak. It's at a minute, 30 seconds until it starts. You have a lot of people waiting around for this, so like a bunch of comments, like thousands of likes already on the video. Pretty crazy. 5 (4m 1s): It's like a movie premier. 3 (4m 3s): It is. It's, I've got this rad graphic and it's counting down like as, yes, as I'm sitting here, 5 (4m 10s): We need a popcorn. 3 (4m 11s): Yeah, right. Well, I'm Adam and I appreciate you, you taking time, especially from your premier to, to do this right now. 5 (4m 20s): There are you now 3 (4m 22s): I'm in Nashville, Tennessee. 5 (4m 23s): Oh wow. 3 (4m 25s): Yeah. Musical 5 (4m 26s): Musical city. 3 (4m 28s): Yeah, I'm actually, originally, I've only been here a little over a year, originally from San Diego, California. So moved here a little over a year ago and love it. My family and I moved here. We, we absolutely love it. But it's all about you and your story today. So this podcast is about you, your journey in music, and we'll talk about the, the album, the player that you just released and what you have coming up. 5 (4m 51s): Cool, 3 (4m 52s): Cool. First off, talk to me where Born and raised Croatia, is that what I read? 5 (4m 55s): Yes, yes. Croatia. 3 (4m 57s): Tell me about that. 5 (4m 58s): So Pula is a small city by the coast, the beautiful creation coast, known as one of the most beautiful sea all over the world. You know, a lot of tourists come every summer. So I was lucky to be born in such a nice surroundings and grow up in the nature. And yeah, I'm always happy to come back home every time I have, you know, free to visit my parents. 3 (5m 22s): Are you, so you're close to the coast? 5 (5m 24s): Yeah, yeah, 3 (5m 25s): Yeah, yeah. Okay. Did you go out to the ocean pretty often or no? 5 (5m 29s): Yeah, all the time. I grew up on the ocean, you know, swimming, fishing, climbing the rocks in the, I'm like a from the jungle, I'm like taron, you know. Oh, 3 (5m 39s): That's awesome. Amazing. And I, Did you come from a musical household? 5 (5m 45s): Yeah, yeah. I mean, from very early age my mother would put me classical music and I was so lucky to be influenced by the most amazing music from early age. And this is what shaped me to who I am today. You know, I was listening to Beethoven Symphonies when I was only a few years old. All those masterpieces, bar, Beethoven, Bram, Japan. So I was lucky to grow up in this artistic surroundings. And my father used to paint, do lots of mosaics. My brother plays trombone, he's a conductor. My sister used to play violin, she was a music critic. So yeah, it was always arcs around us, you know. 3 (6m 23s): Wow. And where are you landing at with your sibling siblings? Oldest, youngest, middle, Middle. 5 (6m 28s): I'm the youngest. 3 (6m 29s): Youngest. So were your, your siblings already doing music before? 5 (6m 34s): Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was the last one. Even my oldest brother first had attempt to start to play cello, but he just didn't, we didn't work out for him, so. 3 (6m 42s): Okay, okay. Yeah. What was the first instrument you learned in? How old were you? Do you remember? 5 (6m 48s): Actually, cello. Because was cello. I heard it on the radio and I was a really small boy and I just fall in love with the sound, this warm, beautiful sound that touched my soul. Even that I was so early, so young, I still felt this special vibration. So, so I asked my mom to, did I wanna go to school and start learning cello? 3 (7m 9s): Yeah. It's such a beautiful instrument. My, my, it's my wife's favorite instrument. But did you, you was always cell, never played violin, anything like that. It was just always just straight to cello. 5 (7m 19s): Yeah, because it is this, those kind of instruments are very demanding. You have to like focus all your time and energy to learning those instruments. You cannot just, you know, I mean you can do it as a hobby, but if you wanna do it on a high level, you have to, They're 3 (7m 32s): Not gonna be Yeah. Nearly as good as you are. Wow. Well so have you always just played cello then from the first instrument you learned? Yeah, 5 (7m 42s): I mean I can play for fun, for fun. I can play piano, you know, guitar. 3 (7m 45s): Oh, oh, I'm sure, yeah, you could pick up other things, but it was always been, when you picked up Coachella, you knew that that was the instrument that you were gonna continue playing forever. 5 (7m 53s): Yeah, forever. 3 (7m 54s): Amazing, amazing. And were you in like the school band all the way up in, up through what? Elementary and the university and everything? 5 (8m 3s): Yeah, I mean when you start playing cell first you learn classical music only for many, many years. You have to, you know, it's like you have to learn all those basics, you know, it's actually boring. It's like, you know, you have to do a lot of exercises, scales, attitudes, so not as concertos. And then it was only many years later, after I was 25 that I started to do something different. You know, this is how, this is how two cellos was born. We started to, you know, do some, you know, improvisation. Let's do something else, let's try something crazy, let's do pop rock. And, but you have to first learn the basics. You have to have this patience and discipline for many years. 5 (8m 44s): It's like becoming a professional athlete, you know, you have to sacrifice your childhood. 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Limited time offer terms apply. 3 (10m 28s): And from an early a, like at what point do you realize that you're obviously very, very good at your instrument to the point where you like, were you getting validated early on from people like, oh my gosh, like, you know, he's so, he's so good. He's like this insanely good celloist. Like, were you getting any of that at an early age? 5 (10m 47s): No, actually at early age, not so much. It was because actually I started to learn when I was eight and then I lost really interest because, you know, our kids will make fun of me in the school, you know, because everyone is like a football player. Everyone is, you know, it 3 (11m 2s): Wasn't really cool. 5 (11m 3s): Wasn't cool and popular to play cello, you know, no one even knew what cello is in, in my city, you know, here in Paula back then. But, and then I almost gave up, but I, and I almost finished, it was like end of my elementary school and my mom told me, Play just one more year. Just finish the, the elementary school. And okay, but this is what, what happened, you know, miracle because, cause I had some master class from another teacher who came to give a master class to Pula and she told me for the first time I heard, Oh my God, you're so talented. No one told me I was talented, you know, so someone had to come from another place to tell me how talented I am and this is where I got so much motivation and I start playing and practicing like crazy and I improved a lot and that's when I really fall in love completely. 5 (11m 52s): So it was like, like 14, 15 year old, which was the crucial moment. And this is actually, I think for everyone, the decisive moment, what's gonna be your future, you know, around. 3 (12m 4s): Yeah, just imagine if she wouldn't have came into the class and said how great you were. I 5 (12m 8s): Mean it was a destiny. Yeah. 3 (12m 9s): Yeah. Do you ever keep in contact with that person or have you, have you seen 5 (12m 12s): Them since? I told her a few times later. But you see how important is encouraging word in the right time for someone. You never know. You can change someone's life, you know, with one word. 3 (12m 23s): Yeah. That's fascinating. And what about like, because you, from what I read, I believe that you and Luca were in the same class, you knew each other growing up, right? Is before two Cell started. 5 (12m 34s): I mean we were both from same country playing the same instrument, same age. So we knew of each other. We were like consider each other kind of rivals, you know, who's 3 (12m 42s): Use the other really good she player in town. Yeah, yeah, 5 (12m 45s): Yeah. Always this kind of tennis, we were following each other, you know, it's like CRO doing messy, you know who 3 (12m 52s): Oh sure, sure, 5 (12m 54s): Yes. But then we joined forces many years later and there's this explosion, you know? 3 (12m 59s): And when did that happen? Like at what point did you both decide, hey, we should, instead of going against each other, let's, let's team up and you know, create this super group? 5 (13m 9s): Well, yeah, when we met the first few times there was such a strong tension and chemistry and this, you know, competitiveness, but in a healthy way. We also were friends from the first moment. So we were like, and we were both playing with so much not adrenal and passion energy. And we were actually both criticized for that because it was like, because you know, they will not put you in the box when you're in this classical music world. 3 (13m 31s): Yeah. You have to look a certain way. They probably have a certain posture play a certain way. 5 (13m 36s): Yeah. We were both crazy. We would always lose control on stage and go and we were always like talking, Imagine if we joined Forest. That would be crazy. That would be crazy. And we've been talking about it for many, many years, but we never would meet in the same place in the same time. And it was many years later that we were finally together in London where I was studying. And then he came to study there too. So it was like perfect opportunity to, you know, finally unite. 3 (14m 1s): Okay. Wow. At what point do you start kind of, was this pre, you know, two cellos, you both, like, you start taking on some of these pop songs or like these rock songs and just trying to, learning them in their, in their pieces on, on cello? 5 (14m 17s): No, we were both only focused on classical music for many years, going to different competitions, master classes, you know, and we tried to make a career out of this, but it was really, you know, classical music. It's not what it used to be. It's not really, it's hard to, you know, make it in the classical community world. And this world is so like limited full of rules, full of so many things. And we were really fed up and we were like rebellious. We were like, let's do something different, something exciting, something crazy. Let's attract wider audience to cello. Let's just come up with something revolutionary. And that's what we did. We just then start discovering other music out of classical music. 5 (14m 59s): You know, this was actually our first time that we were paying attention to what's going on out of classical music and crazy. 3 (15m 5s): Oh, so you were only really listening to classical music as well? 5 (15m 8s): Yeah, also we were like, I mean, they knew, of course we knew about some songs that everyone knows about, but we were not really paying too much attention. And then I was like, I was actually completely into classical music that I didn't even know anything out classical music. And I was like, who do I know out of classical music? And I was like, Oh, I heard of Michael Jackson. I heard of that guy. So I typed Michael Jackson on YouTube and the first song that pop was Smooth Criminal. And I was like, Wow, let's try this on cello. And that was it. You know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. 3 (15m 40s): Oh my gosh. So that was the very first one you guys did together and then you had the YouTube video, right? That just went, Why? It did, I 5 (15m 46s): Was like, it happened like this. Like, it's insane. No one would believe the story. 3 (15m 53s): So you, what you decide to you, you find, you find out that you guys could play, you know, you find this Michael Jackson song, you're like, Hey, like let's do this together. And did you work out the parts or is it like, 5 (16m 3s): Yeah, it all happened so quickly. Like it all happened in five minutes. We did the arrangement through Skype at the time and we were like, Okay, let's go record. Boom. Everything just happened the next next day. Everything happened to, to us in a big explosion. And we only had this one song. We only had this one like thing that we tested for the first time 3 (16m 23s): And it just went wild on YouTube, right? I mean, like you go to your computer the next morning and it's got like of plays. 5 (16m 32s): So imagine you've been trying to succeed in classical world for like 20 years and then you do one thing out of classical music and just everything just explodes the next day. And we were like, what 3 (16m 42s): Is going on? 5 (16m 43s): And we just had this one song and everything happened. Elton John called Sony, Ellen General, all this TV shows it become so crazy. And we were like, we only had this one song. So we went then, okay, let's, let's now find next song. 3 (16m 56s): You're like Google. Yeah. At that point you're like, like how do you find these other ones? Did you just look up like did or did look know some of these songs also? Cause it sounds like you were just like, Oh, I know. Let's 5 (17m 7s): See. Yeah, the funny thing is we were just drawn into that world and we were like discovering, you know, on the way. Like, oh look at this, look at then it was like songs that everyone knew, but for us it was fresh, it was new and it actually played the important role because for us it was all so exciting, exciting, you know, we were discovering rock and roll, we were discovering pop. So we approached it with so much enthusiasm. So it was amazing. 3 (17m 30s): Yeah, I know. And some of the songs that you all cover and, and you cover yourself is are like ones that, like I look at the title and I'm like, like when I come around from Green Day, I'm like, Will this work and cello, like, I don't understand how this is, and then I watch the performance you guys do and I'm like, oh my gosh. Cuz you, you pick up every element of the song. 5 (17m 52s): Yeah. 3 (17m 53s): And the way, like even with the vocal part, like you can hear it obviously in the, in the melody of what you're playing, but like little parts of the song, I'm like, oh my gosh. Like you're able, and a lot of covers you won't hear, right? Or like, you know, it's in the recording, but if a band, a four piece band does it, you're like, oh, okay, that's probably just like a little thing that they added in later in the recording. And it's like, you guys are bringing all of that out, all of it to life. Like Yeah, I think it's so cool. Like, some of the decisions you make, like, like, like yeah, for that one for example, it's like, I would've never guessed in a million years that would sound cool or hurt. 5 (18m 24s): Yeah. 3 (18m 25s): But the, and when you do hurt, like, whoa. Like it is mind blowing. 5 (18m 29s): Yeah. There were so many misconceptions that we just, you know, we, no one could ever imagine that cello can sell out whole arenas, you know, touring all this craziness, we were just like, we were going for it. We just, you know, we, we believed, we believed in a miracle and we just, it it crazy. It all happened. It's like a room. 3 (18m 49s): So once the, once you know, Ellen's calling and, and Elton John and obviously like obviously your name's getting out there and you're kind of at this point what, trying to find other songs that will work. Yeah, yeah. 5 (18m 60s): It was crazy. Like, it was very stressful actually, because we were like only one song and suddenly all days everyone expects now of a full album, a tour, everything. It was crazy stressful period. So we had to come up with so many new things in such a short period of time. So we were like 24 hours a day like this in studio, coming up with arrangements, searching for the songs, discovering new things. Can't imagine 3 (19m 29s): Just having that musical ear and being the both of you being so talented and hearing something like Smooth criminal, like you could probably pick out the notes pretty easily. Like, okay, yeah. Like you, do you, when you hear something like that, are you able to just kind of hear it? Like, okay, you could figure it out pretty fast. 5 (19m 45s): Yeah, luckily we had this rigorous classical training, so we had big discipline, we were trained so strict, you know, proper. And so this is why we could actually adapt to this new crazy life and we could actually survive this pressure either from the very start. So we were lucky to have this incredible experience from the past. And of course, yeah, as soon as you hear the song, you know exactly if it's gonna work on Shell or not. Especially if it has a great melody. You know, because cello is such a melodic instrument. And also there certain riffs, rock rs that you know, oh this is gonna rock on cell some rhythmical songs like hiphop you can't really do on cello. How are you gonna, 3 (20m 26s): Yeah, the only 1 (20m 29s): Bank of Clark County is making it easy to give to local charities. We're featuring a different one at each of our Bank of Clark County locations to find out how you can support their good work. Visit our website@www.bank of clark.bank or follow us on our social media channels and the hashtag give with B O C C Bank of Clark County. Remember F D I C 9 (21m 5s): When you switch to Frontier Gig service, you don't have to worry about your internet dropping out at the worst possible times. And you could talk to friends and present in work meetings without anything like this. Seriously, no more of that nonsense. 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And you played here in Nashville not that long ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like there's, I mean you play in like these massive arenas like Bridgestone, like, you know, like that's, that must be such a wild thing to think of. Like they're crazy coming from a YouTube, like a Michael Jackson cover to now you're, you're selling out arenas, like, that's 5 (22m 28s): So great. This is what we are, this is what we are most proud of because you have a lot of this YouTube sensations, internet sensations, people with lot of followers, but this means nothing until you really make people buy tickets, sell out arenas, tours. This is what we are most proud of because this is something that is most difficult to achieve, you know? 3 (22m 46s): Yeah. And just the passion, like when you said the way you guys play together, like, you know, that you're just have so much passion for the songs and to see that play out, it's like, oh my gosh, like this is so wild. Like I Yeah, it's, you guys are doing something so unique and I love that the, I mean with the, the album that you guys, you just put out with the player, I mean the song choices are so cool. Like, when you started, did you, you were already in two cellos when the first Salam came out or was that Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So what made you decide on, on doing a record of your own and were, was that just like song choices? 5 (23m 21s): Yeah, because, so I was always doing my own things as well on the side during the two cellos. But now I'm, because this is our last tourist two cellos now I'm taking fully a solo career. So because we were so, our show was so spectacular on stage in the terms of like, we were rocking out. It was so, so crazy intense, passionate people going wild. It was like a real rock show. 3 (23m 45s): It was like a rock show. Yeah, yeah. It's great. 5 (23m 47s): So now when I'm alone I'm like, okay, I can't do rock because first of all, we are not too cellos anymore. It's a different concept, but I still wanna do something that's dynamic, that's gonna make people dance, go crazy. And, and I was thinking a lot, what could I do? Of course, apart from classical music, romantic music, all these ballads, soundtracks, this is all good on shallow that I do. But what could I do to have the same impact on stage that people go crazy And, and I think Latin music is something that everyone loves. The whole world is listening to Latin music and dances to Latin music. And I was always love this written, this passion in Latin music, the fire, the movement, the dance. 5 (24m 31s): And I thought, wow, this could be something. And I also have this Latino kind of Latino blood in inside of me as well. People when they see me, they think I'm Spanish or, you know, Anyways, so, so yeah, it was actually natural to come to that conclusion. So now I also have opportunity to really make a crazy exciting show with all this written stuff and everyone go crazy and dance. And these are all the songs that are well known from also for younger and all the generations. Everyone knows those iconic Latin evergreens. Yeah. 3 (25m 8s): And when it came to Song Choice, was that like, like how do you, how did you make decisions? I mean like the Living La Vita Loca cover is so cool. Like 5 (25m 18s): Yeah, so those are those songs that everyone knows, you know, younger people, all the people and everyone wants to stand up and dance to it, you know, Guava the same thing. Let's get loud. Same thing. Everyone knows those songs Sway. 3 (25m 29s): Yeah. 5 (25m 30s): And there are some songs that are very old from 1950s even, but I wanna make them more acceptive Access, not 3 (25m 37s): Like Kiper. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of your own hip spin on 'em. Yeah. Wow. And you're doing with, with with the Player you have? Well the video I just, I kind of had it on so I can kind of get a little grip. Oh cool. Cause we was premiering and I'm like, okay, like we're talking like right as this thing is going out. So tell me, the concept is like very, it's, I love how it was shot, It was like black and white and then you're playing, you know, kind of in this beautiful hall. Like where was that all filmed and like, tell me the concept behind the video. 5 (26m 6s): So this was filmed in a castle in Hungary. 3 (26m 9s): Oh wow. 5 (26m 10s): Wow. And we wanted to recreate this kind of James's Bond wife, you know, because arrangement sounded 3 (26m 15s): A little Oh yeah, it does have that vibe for sure. You have the tuxedo and like bass and Martin. Yeah, it's okay. 5 (26m 25s): I'm James Bond movie is actually a story about my life. So, 3 (26m 32s): Yeah. And so what was that with the, like, what made you decide on that was just you just a fan and, and then like how does that relate to the best of Miu? 5 (26m 41s): Because the why the arrangement sounds really like in this kind of wipe James Bond wipe. So we were like, Oh yeah, let's also shoot video in this same mood and style. And of course there is a bond girl as well, so everything 3 (26m 56s): Is there. Yeah. I just, I didn't notice that the 5 (26m 58s): Only, the only, the only thing it's missing that is no guns and no violence because my weapon is the cell and the bow. 3 (27m 7s): Oh sure, Okay. I like that. 5 (27m 10s): That's much better. You know, it's a good message 3 (27m 13s): Actually. It is a good message. I like that. Yeah. And when it comes to, like, you, you've played solo shows in the past, like prior to this record, you have other albums out under, As a solo artist, Craig, I 5 (27m 22s): Had a classic album, which was amazing because classical music is something that is like always, it plays important role in my life because everything started from classical music and I wanted to make one classic album where I included almost beautiful classical melodies. And they all, they all sound amazing on cello because cello is such a beautiful melodic instrument. And those iconic melodies, none of them are written for cello originally, but when you hear the album you think like, wow, this should have been written for the cello, you know, and the first 3 (27m 55s): Place. Right. I feel like that's how all the songs that you guys do sound and that you've put us, I'm like, whoa, bad luck eye. Like I can keep behind this cello version. Was that a difficult choice, like to make choices on those songs that you wanted to choose for this? Cuz you held, you know, classical music so high up and like, and like, so you're so prideful of it. Was it hard to pick which songs you wanted to use for that and how to kind of arrange it? 5 (28m 20s): It was difficult because there was just so many beautiful, iconic melodies. And how do you limit yourself to only, you know, as many as they fit. We chose as many as it fits to the album, you know, but I could make hundreds and hundreds of melodies like this. So it was, but they will be classic two, classic three, classic four, you know, I wanna do in the future more classical music for sure. 3 (28m 43s): Okay. And was there like a bigger, like did you have a lot more songs that you had to kind of dwindle down to a smaller set? 5 (28m 52s): That's actually the biggest problem that I have, the selection because anything works on cell really. 3 (28m 58s): Right. It all sounds good. And then kind of figuring out which ones you wanna actually release and, and, and present. And did you do, is that the record? Did you do that record with the London Symphony Orchestra? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What was it like working with them mean? Was that always a, like a goal to have? Like did you want, was that your, like, when you were finishing school and as a kid, was that, were you wanted to end up before 5 (29m 26s): Kind 3 (29m 27s): The YouTube thing happened? 5 (29m 28s): Yes, because London Symphony Orchestra is considered one of the best in the world, you know? Right, 3 (29m 33s): Right. 5 (29m 34s): And to one day play with them and record an album. It was like, wow, you couldn't even dream of this years ago, you know? And now it all happened crazy. 3 (29m 44s): Yeah. Like, but before the two cellos thing began with, with a smooth criminal cover, what was like, what were you hoping to, like, what was the career path that you were looking for was to play with them? 5 (29m 58s): Yeah, of course. Especially because I was studying in London and I went to listen to the concerts of London Symphony. It was like, wow, imagine if one day, blah, blah, blah, you know? But, but actually this dream dream became true a few years later, which is crazy if you think about it. But I always believed, I always, I was visualizing myself. I was so confident about my future, you know, I would always, I was so focused and I knew it's, it's gonna happen. You know, It's very important to have disbelief and just keep going and believe in your dreams. Never give up. 3 (30m 31s): I mean, especially from the, the where you got to play with them. I mean, instead of being like first chair in the, in the orchestra, it's like you are the, the focus that is being kind of just accompanied by this, this, this symphony that you, that you aspire to be in. Now you're kind of, you're the center of it and everyone's playing around and with you, 5 (30m 53s): It's 3 (30m 53s): Crazy. That must have been a huge Yeah, a great feeling to have 5 (30m 56s): And responsibility because it's not easy to come in front of all this hundred professionals. Were really good. And you know, you have to like, you have to, you have to do it well otherwise, 3 (31m 8s): Right? Yeah. You have to come really prepared, right? 5 (31m 12s): They know everything and you have to like be on a really high level. So it's also big, actually pressure a little bit. 3 (31m 20s): Wow. And then, and then doing that. Where are their moments that you're like, Okay, this, hopefully this works. Or like, you know, should I present this? 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And we were scared because we were like, okay, there, there must be, you know, classical snobs, they will look down on us. But no, actually when we arrived they were really like, they were fans and we were really surprised. But their reaction, because this was a beginning of YouTube, it was beginning of this, it wasn't really common to do those, those experiments, you know, we were one of the pioneers of going wild on YouTube at the time, so it was a totally new thing. Now of course it's more common that everyone tries to do what we did, you know, But back then it was like a new thing and we were surprised at how well it was received also by professionals and, you know, people in the industry. 3 (34m 4s): Yeah. And with that, that first album with the, with the London Symphony Orchestra, the one that you put out your, you know, your album, you weren't able to tour it, so you had to do what, like these c friendly shows or like the alum together things that must have been 5 (34m 18s): Announced to tour. And it was sold out and I was so excited. And then it was canceled because of the, the pandemic, the situation. And then I had to come up with different concepts and yeah, I did this Alone Together series, which were so well received because everyone, no one could travel, but at least they could watch it online, all those concerts. And so I did three along together concerts, which were huge success and, and also more attributes to yeah, composers. So actually, you know, I couldn't travel and play, but I had time to dedicate myself to different projects, which was amazing actually. So you see, you can always do something with, regardless of which situation you're in. 5 (35m 1s): And my number, my classic album became number one, you know, in the, on the charts in the pandemic, you know, So it like, it's crazy when you think about it. 3 (35m 13s): Yeah. Oh, and have you then done a show just cause you just did the two cellos tour? Have you played just as, as Hauser is yourself? 5 (35m 22s): No, it's, I just announced today we announced the ticket sales. 3 (35m 26s): Yeah, I did see that. So, 5 (35m 28s): Wow. Show is already sold out, man, quickly. 3 (35m 33s): But like, yeah. Do you have any like, like going in as just now, it's just you. Yeah. How are you, Is that gonna be different to approach these shows? 5 (35m 42s): Oh, it's gonna be totally different because on two cello stories was just me and Luca, you know, two cellos and we had a drummer for the second part. But now I'm alone and I'm gonna have 25 musicians behind me in the band. So I'm gonna have a string section, the brass section, the rhythm section keyboard, the piano, guitar, bass, the, the percussions drums. It's just so many people, and it's gonna be a huge spectacle. And I'm gonna start a little bit, you know, slower with some classical tune, some soundtracks with the strings only. And then second part of the show is what I'm trying to achieve is this crazy Latin party where everyone just get up and dance to those great songs, you know? 5 (36m 27s): So little bit of everything for everyone. 3 (36m 30s): Yeah. Are you, are you nervous or anything in, in, in the aspect of like, playing these things yourself? 5 (36m 35s): No, I'm not nervous because I, I'm feel so natural on stage. This is where I belong, you know, I feel most comfortable on stage and I'm just curious and excited to see how will this show work out because never, I never done it before. So it's exciting. 3 (36m 52s): That's so cool. I love watching you guys live videos. I mean the, the spinning in the cell and then catching it and just like, just like literal rock stars with this instrument that you would never, I mean, I wouldn't in a million years assume could be played that the way, the way that it is. 5 (37m 8s): Yeah. 3 (37m 8s): And, and just like having the, the distortion on it. Like just coming up with these little things, like those are probably like how to all be through you guys. I mean, not, I'd never heard of anyone else doing that prior. 5 (37m 21s): Yeah. People didn't know what cello is capable of for many years, you know, because even in classical music world, cello is not considered the most popular instrument. You always have a piano or violin or, you know, whatever. And we, and we always were knew that cello can do so many things that is limitless. You can really treat it like an electric guitar. You can treat it like an acoustic guitar, like a harp. Like you can play high violin, lowest double bass, you can hit it like percussion. There is nothing you can do on the cello. And it's actually the only instrument that you have so many possibilities. And, but no one has really showcase it in that way before and they never really understood why. So we were like, that's it's time, you know, to really make cello cool all over the world. 5 (38m 6s): And now young, all young kids wanna learn cello, you know? 3 (38m 9s): I know. Yeah. That was super inspiring. I'm like, wow. Like this is the coolest instrument I wish I even played. Oh, well congratulations on the, the, the video coming out today, the tour, the album. Cool. And hopefully it'll come out to the states. I know you're just here with two cellos, but you have the tour in Australia and obviously you or Europe coming up. But I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for, for doing this. I have one more quick question before I let you go though. I wanna know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. 5 (38m 42s): Yeah, so the most important thing is to, especially now in time of social media, it's not to imitate others, just find your own voice. Because now it's easier. They see something is working, something is successful, and now they want to apply this to their own. But you have to find your own way of making music, your own language, your own style. So just try to be original and listen to your voice, your heart, your instinct. Don't copy, you know, others.