Unlike most young bands, the Veronicas started out in stadiums and only recently graduated to club shows

Even though they aren’t complaining, Jessica and Lisa Origliasso have had to learn to do everything backward. The twin sisters (and, let’s face it, complete Betties) known to their fans as the Veronicas started out playing megavenues, both in their native Australia and in North America, while opening for the likes of the Jonas Brothers and Natasha Bedingfield. Now, with their sophomore album, Hook Me Up, starting to take off, they’re having to learn how to connect with audiences in the smaller rooms they’ve, ironically, graduated to on their first Stateside swing as a headlining act.

“We released our first single [“4ever”] and it blew up huge, so by the time we scheduled our first tour back there [in Australia] we were headlining big places,” an endearingly peppy Jessica Origliasso says, on the line from a New Orleans tour stop. “Then we came to America, where we’ve now toured quite a bit, slowly building our fan base through a bunch of support slots. We were lucky to be on those tours because it was such a learning experience where we got to play our music for as many people as possible.”

The stage isn’t the only place where the Origliassos have found themselves evolving. Jessica freely admits there were times during the writing and recording of Hook Me Up when she and her sister had a battle on their hands. Entirely understandably, the record company wanted more of “4ever”, a sugar-rushed dance track concocted for them by a team that included Swedish pop king Max Martin, who’s churned out confections for ’N Sync, Britney Spears, and the Backstreet Boys. The Veronicas, however, were intent on not only mixing things up, but also making sure they were part of the creative process, cowriting 11 of the album’s 15 songs.

“When you are signed to a major label, everyone wants to have a say in who you are and what you are doing,” Jessica says. “It was a big learning curve, so when it came to this record we definitely controlled all of that a lot more. We picked the people that we wanted to work with, and we wanted to take it in a new direction. We didn’t want something generic. We wanted a sound that was the Veronicas, as opposed to being similar to a lot of other artists.”

That mission was only semi-accomplished, through no fault of the Origliassos’. Hook Me Up is indeed a progression from their buffed-and-sheened 2005 debut, The Secret Life of”¦, with the songs ranging from the synth-punk–splattered “Untouched” to the tricked-out-with-strings trip-hop of “I Can’t Stay Away” to the hip-hop–dipped new-waver “Popular”.

But, as Jessica acknowledges, there’s a techno-strafed guitar-pop tint to parts of Hook Me Up that suggests the Veronicas would make natural touring partners for the likes of multiplatinum chick-kisser Katy Perry and freak-flag-flying Rolling Stone cover girl Lady Gaga. The album was released in Oz back in 2007, America in mid 2008, and Canada earlier this year. Over that span, the sound that would define tracks like “Take Me on the Floor” and “Hook Me Up” began to spread viruslike around the globe.

“We wrote this record almost three years ago,” Jessica explains. “At that point the electro-pop thing wasn’t in the mainstream in America. In Australia it was big, and in the U.K. as well, but in America it wasn’t so well known. We were influenced by a lot of underground electro bands coming from Europe and Australia, so we created, explored, and pretty much created this new sound for ourselves. Because it took a fair bit of time to have it [Hook Me Up] released in America, by the time it came out your Katy Perrys and your Lady Gagas had already hit. So it became kind of a not-so-new thing even though it felt quite new when we were creating it.”

Disappointing as that was, there is, of course, an upside: with the sound they’ve explored on Hook Me Up having a ready-made audience, the Veronicas find themselves in an enviable position. Before long, they might very well find themselves not having to worry about how much progress they’re making mastering small clubs.

Not that Jessica has any problem with where she and her sister find themselves today.

“The vibe is different on this tour, though, because we are playing more intimate rooms—500 to 1,500 kids as opposed to 10,000,” she says. “You can have more of a conversation with the audience, and things rely more on the interaction with you and the fans. It’s not so much about the massive light show and production and all the things you need for the big shows where you need to reach the people at the back.” -

The Veronicas play the sold-out Venue on Saturday (June 27).