Melbourne move pays off for Queenstown siblings

Queenstown siblings Isla and Finley Brentwood  had their rearranged acoustic cover of the...
Queenstown siblings Isla and Finley Brentwood had their rearranged acoustic cover of the Deadpool Rap included on the Deadpool Reloaded soundtrack after it was discovered by the original artists, Teamheadkick and Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds on...

It is the stuff dreams are made of.

For Isla and Finley Brentwood, dreams have become reality.

The Queenstown born-and-raised siblings, now based in Melbourne, combined their musical talents to form the Brentwood Duo several years ago.

In 2014 the pair came third in Queenstown's Songstars original music competition.

That same year Mr Brentwood (25) took on the lead role in Showbiz Queenstown's production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Soon afterwards they moved to Melbourne to focus on their music, and the shift has just paid massive dividends.

This month one of their songs was released as a bonus track on Deadpool Reloaded, the Deadpool movie soundtrack.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times from Melbourne, Miss Brentwood (28) said she and her brother were finally allowed to talk about the secret they had been keeping for two months.

"We're still pinching ourselves. It's definitely surreal.''

The duo has a YouTube channel where their acoustic version of a popular song is uploaded every week.

At the beginning of March they chose to rearrange Teamheadkick's Deadpool Rap, featuring in the movie starring Ryan Reynolds.

"We tagged the original artist and we tagged Ryan Reynolds - we always do that, not even thinking they would ever even watch it.

"But, the original artists watched it and Ryan Reynolds watched it and they ... retweeted it.

"Ryan Reynolds posted it on his Facebook page and it very quickly went worldwide,'' Miss Brentwood said.

To date, the video has been viewed 335,000 times through Reynolds' social media page alone.

Soon afterwards the siblings were contacted by Milan Records, the label responsible for the movie's soundtrack, looking to include their version of the rap as a bonus track on Deadpool Reloaded.

They had two days to re-record "a new, beautiful rendition'' in a Melbourne recording studio, which was then sent to the United States.

"We've had to keep it secret for the last two months and it's been killing us.''

Miss Brentwood said she and her brother were in "pretty regular contact'' with Teamheadkick, which was largely responsible for their success.

"We've got a lot to thank them for because it was probably their influence, or what they did for us, that got us in touch with Milan Records.

"They really loved the song - they're just the loveliest guys ever.''

Miss Brentwood, a graduate from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts, said she and her brother - a radio broadcasting graduate - both quit their full-time jobs eight months ago to focus full-time on music.

While they largely played cover songs "to pay the bills'', they were also working on more of their own original music, hoping to release "our own little originals EP'' this year.

"When you toss it up, we would rather be doing music 24-7, so [Melbourne] has been really good to us so far.

"We just think we're the luckiest people alive.''

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz

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