Prove It
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Prove It

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"PROVE IT Proves It at the Media Center"

Saturday, July 18, 2009
by Rebecca Sanders

I first saw Ian and Graham Houts perform at the West Coast Songwriters Competition held at the Freight and Salvage in April. I saw them again at the same venue in June and I was hooked. I invited them to play at the Media Center on July 7.

These ten-year old twin brothers already play hard at the execution of music. On stage with them were a keyboard and four guitars. Ian plays keyboard and both guys play guitar and bass. They each play wind instruments as well - which have not made it into the performance mix - yet. Graham usually sings lead with Ian providing the vocal harmony. However, Ian does offer up a very strong lead on some of their songs.

They write their own music and develop their own arrangements. And they work on their music everyday.

The five original songs they performed are really credible. They're about the kinds of things kids think about: monsters, boredom with chores, being outside, wondering about the future. The lyrics are thoughtfully developed and entertaining. Developing their own sound, they draw heavily from classic blues, rock and folk traditions.

"I'm not Afraid Anything" opens with a classic vocal blues recitative with vocal call and response. And then a guitar riff transitions the duo to a solid rock groove. How did they learn not to be afraid? They put it all in perspective. They know that "the earth is just a speck in the sky and I will just watch my problems fly by."

"Yawn" opens with skilled sliding fret work by Graham with Ian setting the tone on the keyboard. The song is salt and peppered with musical breaks with Graham using the wah wah pedal and Ian creating the groove with the keys. "Yawn" is about all the stuff they don't want to do but have to - a nice spin on the issue of "chores".

"Outside" which sports an organ groove straight out of the "summer of love" is just a great song. The lift to the chorus: "Time spins fast when I'm out there" is sung in lovely harmony with the simplest instrumentation behind it, but then the guitar and keyboard give us such a nice build to the chorus. Very satisfying.

Ian and Graham play bass and guitar respectively in "I Don't Know". This song has a mellow groove that explores how things might go down in the future: "Will I get a Gibson guitar? Will we ever finish Monopoly?" These kids know intuitively that the lyrics and melody and arrangement all need to match. There is an openness about this arrangement that matches the lyrics: "Will we fly to Jupiter to Mars? Will we find the cure for cancer?" Just another great "slice of life" song.

The boys finished their set with "A Dee in the Life" with Ian singing the lead. This song captures very nicely that feeling of having an inner life as you trip along through your day. While you go along, there is this parallel force going on which Ian and Graham express as "deeing" your way through the day. To appreciate fully the subtlety of this song, you'll have to listen to it, of course!

The guys get song ideas from every day life, which is exactly where the best songs spring from. Their lives appear simple, but they are already wrestling with junior versions of heavier adult topics - the meaning of life, the balance of leisure and work, and the uncertainty of the future.

The boys got their start early on in music by being avid listeners to all kinds of music. Not musicians themselves, their parents are avid fans and inadvertently exposed their youngs sons to America's brilliant cross-section of musical experience. Couple that with immense natural talent and we have two boys eager and able to explore original sounds now. Fortunately no one saddled them with the misassumption that creativity is a chore. They make it easy, not at all trivial, and above all fun.

Prove It will cable cast On Comcast Channel 27 in the Palo Alto Service Area Wednesday and Friday nights at 9 pm, through July 29.


- www.myspace.com/americansongwritershow


Discography

Videos featuring performances of our original songs and covers can be viewed through our website, listed below, and through our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/DrainWaterCompany

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Bio

We are 11-year-old identical twins who started playing and writing music when we got a DJ beatbox for our 7th birthday. At 8 we both took up guitar, at 9 Ian learned electric bass, and over time we've added piano/keyboard. People usually don't believe us when we say we write and perform our own music--so we love to "Prove It"!