BAND CRUSH: WILD BELLE

With over 2,000 bands invading Austin last week all vying for attention, it's tough to stand out in the crowd. But the SXSW competition doesn't faze Elliot and Natalie Bergman, otherwise known as Wild Belle. The Chicago brother-sister duo took to the stage Friday night and confidently captivated the audience with their rhythmic, trippy space age sound. With Natalie slinkily crooning up front and Elliot strumming beside her, this genre-hopping pair is about to break out in a big way. Considering how long they've been playing together, isn't it about time?

So what's the story behind Wild Belle?

Natalie: Elliot and I have been recording together for several years, but we also had separate projects entirely. Last year we were in the recording studio working on my brother's new NOMO record, and we started messing around with different sounds. It all morphed into this.

How old were you when you first started playing music?

Natalie: We were both really young. Our parents are musicians, so got started when we were like, six.

How is it working as brother and sister?

It's so nice working with Elliot because we've been doing this together for so long. We didn't expect it, but once we became Wild Belle we were like, "we're going to own this." i

The response here has been great.

Natalie: Yeah, it's really exciting.

Elliot: We've put out one single and the response has been amazing. Plus, we put it out on our own label, so it's crazy to see how excited everyone is about it.

Natalie: I mean, we're making good music. We want to share it with the world.