Twin sisters Megan and Liz Mace were 17-years-old when they were forced to make a momentous decision.
“The time came when we were about to fill out college application forms for something that wasn’t in music,” Liz says.“We both thought this isn’t what we want to do. Everything in our heart and soul was saying music was the right choice.”
Megan and Liz elected to jump into music headfirst and soon found themselves performing in front of sellout crowds worldwide.
Tonight the American pop duo will be making their first ever performance in Vancouver with an all-ages show at the Rio Theatre.
“We have never been to Vancouver before and we have just heard wonderful things about it,” Liz says. “We are so excited, but it also happens to be the very last show on our tour so we’re kind of sad. We are really looking forward to it that’s for sure.”
The Mace’s were born in South Bend, IN, and moved to Edwardsburg, MI, at a young age. Megan, older than her sister by just one minute, says that ever since they were little girls singing has always been a part of their lives.
“We were just raised by our mom who was always singing around the house. We were always watching Disney movies,” she says. “It was just normal to be singing. It was just natural. I don’t remember a time that we weren’t singing.”
In 2007, Megan and Liz uploaded their first original song to YouTube after they struggled to find opportunities to perform live around their hometown.
“We were from such a small town that there weren’t any places to play around. YouTube was kind of the way we would perform (for) an audience,” Megan says.
After finding early success the twins continued to post original songs and covers to YouTube. In October of 2009, they had more than 87,000 subscribers following their every move on YouTube.
Last week they surpassed one million subscribers on their channel.
“It is crazy — a million is just such a huge number. I can’t believe that it really did just start from us on our webcam,” Liz says. “Those million subscribers have brought us so many opportunities. We are touring because of that. We are able to write songs with pros because of that — we are able to do live dream because of those million subscribers.”
Growing up Megan and Liz listened to all kinds of music. "When we were teenagers we got into rap and hip-hop,” Liz says. “We really go all over the map.”
“We really love strong female artists like Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift,” Megan adds. “Then again, we love people with harmonies like the Dixie Chicks.”
Since 2009 the twins have released five EPS. Their most recent release, Bad for Me, came out in 2012 on Collective Records. They currently are working on their debut album with no scheduled release date.
“The album has been a work in progress for what feels like forever,” Liz says. “It feels like we are never going to get it out but it is just because we are perfectionists. We want this album to be a 100 per cent representation of us and what we have gone through and how we have grown up in this business. It takes time to make it perfect and we are willing to do that. We just keep writing and pushing our limits with it.
“This album is definitely the most mature body of work we have ever done. We started writing songs when we were 10 and I think you can really see the evolution of us as songwriters.”
As performers they have shared stages with Carly Rae Jepsen, Cher Lloyd, Hot Chelle Rae, Boyce Avenue and Tiffany Alvord among others. Last year they performed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. In 2012 they were also featured in the New York Times, Seventeen Magazine and Teen Vogue and were named in Billboard’s 21 under 21 chart (alongside the likes of Earl Sweatshirt, Cher Lloyd, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, One Direction and Justin Bieber). We’re talking teen superstars in the making.
“It is definitely really cool to be compared to people and to be on that same list,” Megan says. “It’s really rewarding and you feel like all that hard work has paid off.”
Despite all their success, Megan and Liz realize they still have a long way to go and acknowledge that it’s not going to be a walk in the park.
“There are challenges every single day. Just having to be consistently compared to other pop artists. It is a hard game to play, that pop-top 40 game. I think that in the end Megan and I have each other and we stick to the songs that we love,” Liz says. “We know what we are passionate about and I think that pays off in the end, but it is hard to be compared.”
Although the twins no longer reside in Edwardsburg they say that their upbringing in a small town really motivated them to pursue their dreams.
“We are definitely smalltown girls with really big dreams and I think growing up in a small town in Michigan it really motivates you to do what you love,” Liz says. “You either stay in that town, which is awesome for some people, or you have a dream to do something bigger and I think that kind of like pushed us to pursue our dream.”
As twins, Megan and Liz are extremely close to each other. They hardly ever have disagreements and struggle with the idea of one day not being able to live together.
“We are best friends. I know that sounds like it is made up but honestly the biggest concern between the two of us is we don’t know how we’re going to get married because we don’t know how we’re going to be separated,” Megan says. “We’re going to be those two old ladies in the grocery store when we are like 80 years old with matching outfits. We’re best friends, other than the occasional bicker about makeup or clothes, we’re best friends.”
For more information on Megan and Liz visit meganandliz.com and follow them on Twitter: @MeganAndLiz
