The polo shirts they wore on “America’s Got Talent” are gone, replaced by stylish black jackets.
“We’re metal,” says Emil Liakhovetski, 17, one of two cello-playing brothers from West Boca Raton. “And black is the color of metal.”
Much has changed since Emil and Dariel took the stage last summer on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and rocked Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” They’ve traveled to Las Vegas for corporate shows, and on Tuesday, their first album, consisting of covers of heavy metal and rock songs, will be released. It’s titled “Emil & Dariel Rock Cellos.”
The album, recorded in a Hallandale Beach studio, features 16 songs with four guest vocalists: Mark Wood on “Crazy Train,” Loverboy’s Mike Reno on “Working for the Weekend,” Rick Derringer on “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” and Starship’s Mickey Thomas on “We Built This City.”
“It’s a huge honor to work with them,” says Dariel, 15. “And it was nice for us to spend so much time in the studio, because we’re perfectionists.”
The boys learned cello from their grandfather, Leonid Rubanchik, who emigrated from Belarus, Russia, and was a touring principal cellist in the United States. About two years ago, the brothers expanded their repertoire to include rock and pop. Dariel notes that the cello, like the guitar, was originally a classical instrument. Groups such as 2CELLOS, a Croatian duo that appeared on “Glee” and toured with Elton John, have explored the instrument’s versatility.
“It mimics the human voice, and you can cover a whole array with just one instrument,” Dariel says. “In our music, we try to take advantage of all we can do with it. We tend to associate ourselves more with metal and hard rock, but you also can take a pop song and put a cello vibe to it. If we cover a song, we make it our own.”
And that’s where their next hurdle lies. The boys say they’re ready to start writing original material. When they appeared on “America’s Got Talent,” judge Howard Stern advised them to hire a vocalist or write their own songs. (They finished in the show’s final 12, but lost a tiebreaker to make the final six.)
“We don’t want to be a cover act our whole lives,” Emil says.
“Rock Cellos” will be available digitally on Tuesday. Go to EmilAndDariel.com. Watch Emil and Dariel’s new video for “Live and Let Die” here.
