How a coffee date led to Veronica's unexpected sixth album

When the Veronicas went to John Feldmann's house in Los Angeles last year, the plan was simply to share some coffee and meditate. The Australian twin sister duo of Jessie and Lisa Origliasso are longtime pals of Feldmann, who was the lead singer of the band Goldfinger before becoming pop-punk's leading producer.

During a recent Zoom call from her beach home on Australia's Gold Coast, Jessie describes a moment of “spontaneous creation” with Feldmann: The three of them ended up writing the songs “Perfect” and “Invisible” that very day .

“He was really excited about the songs, as were we, and he said, 'Let me get a friend to put down some drums and finish the song and bring it to life,'” he continues. “Then, 10 minutes later, Travis Barker comes in, and he comes in and lays down the drums for those two songs and took it to that next level.”

This was the day Gothic summer, Veronica's sixth studio album was born. “It was a surprise for us too,” Lisa adds from her home in Australia's most jungled outback. “We all left that day saying, 'Oh, I think something very special happened.'

As for how surprising the album turned out to be, Veronica describes the process as “seamless.” Maybe it was the lack of pressure to make an album in the first place. They had been on the road playing the festival circuit at the time, and in between those gigs they would be back in the studio to work on the project. These festival shows ended up being a major source of inspiration for the new tracks, especially since it was such a new setting for the pair to perform.

“We play not only in front of our own fans, but other artists' fans as well,” describes Lisa, noting that she's been on bills for everything from rock festivals to hip-hop and folk. “When you're at a festival, people are there to see all kinds of different artists. And I think that was really fun for us because you get to reconnect with your fans, but you have to try to convince everyone else that they should love you too.”

The energy and sheer diversity in their fans' tastes opened up a realm of possibilities for musical direction, and the duo explored them all. While “Perfect” is a classic emo-pop banger from Veronica, the single “Here to Dance” is a bit of disco pop. Meanwhile, the stunning “Jungle” is a slice of surf-rock perfection, a tribute to how popular the genre is in Australia and their parents' musical taste.

“The whole point of it Gothic summer is that it basically explores social commentary about what we believe to be reality versus how we create our reality,” Jessie says of the album's lyrical line. “It's a very metaphorical album.”

The concept of “perception vs. reality” is one that Veronica knows well after nearly two decades in the industry. They were 20 when they released their debut album The secret life of… in 2005 and their lives were turned upside down by its success.

“Jessie and I have been through all kinds of crazy things in our 20-year career, even in life as two young women growing up,” admits Lisa. “We've experienced many things in life, especially in the last six years, that have given us a gift of perspective on what really matters. I think that's actually what keeps us going.

Much of the twins' perspective came from their mom, who was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy and Lewy body dementia in 2018. She died in 2021.

“That was a huge driving force behind us wanting to put our health and happiness first,” says Jessie. “We are not immortal and we have a certain amount of time on this earth to do whatever we want to do with it. That was a really big shift for us to make sure we spend our time honoring ourselves and what really makes us happy, as well as being kinder.”

Veronica is working on a different, and still secret, musical project separately from Gothic summer which helped them to channel their grief.

“Music has always saved our lives and has always been our sacred space and our way of coping,” Lisa adds. “But that's not it Gothic summer is. This record is a bit more like “Laughing so we don't cry”.

For the Veronicas, Gothic summer it's a celebration. But it doesn't feel like a new beginning to them. Instead, it's like the end.

“It looks like we're in the incubation period for something else,” Jessie explains as best she can, since she's still not sure what that something else will be for them. “Gothic summer it was the completion of either a mindset or a cycle or just something in how we used our music and Veronica itself as a vehicle for our stories.”

This chapter of their career so far together also comes with big plans to celebrate The secret life of…the twentieth anniversary next year, for which they are already scrapping plans. It's an achievement the couple doesn't take for granted.

“When you hit a 20-year milestone, it feels like we survived it,” Lisa says. I'm really proud of Jessie and I hope she's proud of me. And we know our mom was really proud of us. She was our biggest fan. And we are fine. We are still so in love with music and creating. That fear mentality and that fight kind of fall away.”