Me: Give us a little background about yourselves. How did you get into music, and who are some of your influences? How did you decide to collaborate together?
Antonius and Vijay Nazareth: We are actually brothers. Our parents are both classical musicians, our mother is a trained singer, and our father is a symphonic and operatic conductor. Both of us were born in Verona, Italy, but due to our father's profession, we moved all over Europe; Rome, Nice, Monte Carlo, Vienna, Amsterdam and Hamburg. Three years ago, we finally made the big move to New York to study. Here, Vijay studies film at City College New York, and I studied music composition at New York University.
Me: Where did the idea of AVbyte come from?
Antonius and Vijay: The idea for AVbyte came a long time ago. Both of us were raised watching the old Hollywood musicals 24/7... literally. If we weren't watching Singing in the Rain, we were singing along to An American in Paris, or Anchors Aweigh. Those musicals, the tap dancing, and the lighthearted, funny, charming musical style of those films are essentially engrained in our DNA. Then we were both fascinated by YouTube, and the possibilities it presented. Vijay had actually started his own YouTube channel, producing action/comedy shorts. It wasn't long before we put two and two together and came up with AVbyte. At first, we didn't think it was going to be possible for me to write a song a week, but somehow it has been working so far!
