The usual Wednesday’ series “Barefoot in Luxembourg meets People” today goes Rock, with a sparkling music duo, the “On Two Feet”, for our boldest interview so far. Put your seatbelt on!
Good Morning. So,” On Two Feet”, who are you?
We are a world famous rock band with years of militancy in the hugest live summer festivals in Europe…. just kidding, in reality we are an “open” acoustic band, made up of friends who like to play rock and blues music, entertaining people with extemporaneous shows.
Basically “on two feet”, rather than being something physical / tangible, is something ethereal, a sort of musical philosophy that takes you to play what you like, wherever you are, whoever you are with, in any manner and with any instrument just for the pleasure of doing it!
Where does the name “On Two Feet” come from?
It is the literal translation from Italian of the initial name of our band, which is a kind of word-joke, difficult to explain in English. When we were young, before one of our first live performances, we have been asked the band’s name for the billboards. We had no name and the answer was: “Well, here, on 2 feet (that in Italian means: off-hand, on the spot) … we don’t know”. Guess what? On the billboards we were presented as “On Two Feet”. We loved and kept it!
Describe your music with three words.
Acoustic rock music
Except for the music, do you have any other hobbies?
It’s very rock but definitely true: fast cars!! We are crazy about Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren and so on… we dream about them, we talk about them, we drive them on the circuits: we are great fans!!!
How long have you been living in Luxembourg?
It’s almost 10 years, even if we came from different places. We arrived here just to make an experience and indeed we are still there! To most of us no-longer-young-people Luxemburg does this strange effect! Certainly Luxembourg lacks many things, but has an exceptional “quality of life”, you feel comfortable here.
What is your most beloved place in the city?
We like Place D’Armes for the different offer of bars and restaurants, and it is lovely during the weekend going there to enjoy some bands performing live or some good jazz duo-trio playing at lunch time in the summer, while walking through the flea markets. But we also love to relax in the parks, like the one in the Petrusse Valley, playing there our guitars, and then cross the street, cast a glance at the “Libreria Italiana”, or have a beer in one of the bars in rue Munster, in the lowest part of Luxembourg, that is of course very charming both during the day and the night.
What is your favorite restaurant in Luxembourg?
We think that there are several very interesting choices: if you want a nice place with excellent Italian food in the city center, you can head to “Essenza” or to “Mi&Ti” or to “Al bacio”, if you prefer to have a ride in the countryside, you can go to “Elch” or to “ToitpourToi”, if you are looking for relaxed atmosphere visit “Maho”, if you are a sushi fan book at “Yamayu Santatsu” … and if you want the best homemade pizza you have ever tasted, you should come to our place as we are the pizza masters!!! (Laughing).
What is your preferred night-life spot in Luxembourg?
Right now we like the “Go Ten”: great service, the drink selection is “dangerous”, always cool people and tasty Asian tapas platters. And then it is very well located in the city center, so that you can jump from one place to another, meeting people. And because the winter time is coming, and you cannot always be outside, we will spend some time at the “White House”, of course!
So as musicians, which place would you suggest to listen to good live music in Luxembourg?
Apart from “Den Atelier“, definitely you have to go on Thursday night at “LiquID Bar” if you like more blues oriented music. Otherwise I heard that “Melusina“ is starting to organize nice events with a very good selection of live music with interesting artists! What we also love a lot are the “open mic nights” organized in small bars where we are used to jump in and play something fun: I remember epic nights both at Rocas and at Konrad.
Do you have a favorite drink?
Gin Tonic! We love the enormous variety of Gin produced all around the world and the various different Tonic proposition. Of course what makes the difference is the expert bartender who advices you the appropriate Gin flavor to your taste and the best Tonic to be combine with. Try the Mombasa Gin with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic, some cardamom and … you are immediately in the mood!!
Do you pay any special attention to your appearance during concerts and in your personal life? Where do you do your shopping usually in Luxembourg?
We are not fanatic, but of course we tend to be sufficient rock looking!! And at the end it’s easy: get a nice pair of jeans better if ripped, a nice t-shirt, boots or converse, some accessories around your neck (foulard or pendant) and chains around your hips!!! Personal life? What is personal life? We are always on stage!! (Laughing) We pick up stuff from everywhere, both in cool places like The Kooples or the more fashionable Smets and in high-streets one like H&M. We are actually waiting for someone to start selling JOHNJOHN stuff here in Luxembourg!!
What do you like about Luxembourg life?
Its multiculturalism: even if the country is pretty small, you can meet people coming from all over the world. When you go out for drinks, you can hear a lot of different languages, easily meet new people from different countries and cultures. That’s something unique!
What would you change or improve?
The road-works!! There are too many of them, but of course they are useful. The problem is that they last years and cause nerve-racking traffic jams! And people should learn to drive with “more rhythm”, to say it in a musician way: they are too calm and relaxed, and sometime to cross a 100 meter distant traffic light it takes you ages!!!
What is the best place you visited in a range of 200 km from the city and that you would suggest for a daily trip?
Trier, there are lots of very nice club bar to go in the night!!! 🙂 (Laughing)
We would suggest visiting Maastricht, or to collect some bottle of champagne in the Reims-Epernay region in France. The problem is being sober enough to drive back safely…. Remember always bring a sober driver with you!!
What is the best adjective to describe Luxembourg?
Quiet or quite…a lot!!
If you want to listen “On Two Feet” on stage, next appointment will be at “Al Bacio” on Thursday October 15th, starting from 6.30 pm. There will be an after-work formula: so, no entrance fee, no reservation, free Italian buffet, you pay for what you drink and listen to their music. More information on the FB event here.
