Photography by JEROEN NOORDZIJ
With their musical talent and distinctive appearance, the twin brothers Sander and Arnout Brinks of Tangarine have been drawing full houses for many years. Their synergy is reflected not only in beautiful two-part songs, but also in their sense of style. Something they like to emphasize on stage, but prefer to avoid in private. Sander: “If I go out with Arnout, I don’t want us to be wearing the same thing. Then I always give him a quick call: what are you wearing?”
A Full House
Sander: “We were born in Lelystad, but grew up in Assen. Our parents divorced and later our mother remarried. We lived in a blended family with a total of eleven people, so it was a super chaotic household.”
Arnout: “And in a not too big house. At first, the four of us even slept in one room, which was very cozy. Although we come from different families, it feels like one big family because we grew up together. Our sister and stepsister are a year older, so the four of us spent a lot of time together. Sander and I were always the ones who were busy and present at home. We liked being in the spotlight, so we often put on performances for family at birthdays. We have been singing from a young age.”
Sander: “I think it was always in us and that’s why we looked for places to make music.”
Arnout: “And because you come from a large family, you have to make extra effort to get attention. I think that contributed a little.”
Critical Audience
Arnout: “There was always music in our home. Our mother has had a serious hearing problem for as long as we can remember. Although she was always involved with music, mainly marching bands, it became increasingly difficult for her as the years went by. When she listens to music, it’s at very high volumes.”
Sander: “I think it was especially important that there were musical instruments at home, which provided a good foundation for sparking our passion. In addition, we went to church as a family on Sundays, and that was a place where there was a lot of music. We never really had guitar lessons. Instead, we learned to play guitar from a Christian booklet, because the chords we could practice were listed in the back. That was really our school of learning.”
Arnout: “And our stage, because we could make and perform music there ourselves. If it was our own music, it did have to be approved by the church council first, but it was the place where we learned to play for people. Reformed people are critical, so there was no applause when we were finished. The idea was that you don’t do it for yourself.”
"Our records and songs are actually diaries."
Musical Quest
Sander: “Music is a kind of seed that’s in you, and you look for everything that fits with it, such as your environment and friends. We had a friend who wrote lyrics, and that inspired us enormously. We soon knew how to play three chords on a guitar, so we could write a song. We were about twelve years old then.”
Arnout: “Before that, we were always on stage at school. In primary school, every Friday we had a kind of weekly closing assembly where all the children could perform something. We always did that; every Friday we would sing by default. So back then we were already really busy making music. At some point we started writing our own songs in different styles. We were once huge fans of Michael Jackson and even made heavy metal.”
Sander: “That is, of course, part of puberty – a musical quest.”
Arnout: “Also rebelling against the church. We were those heavy-metal types with black clothes and colored hair. We even dyed it blond once for fun. I actually didn’t like my curls very much, so I tried to get rid of them with a lot of gel. It was a fun time, because you’re looking for yourself like that.”
Born from a typo
Arnout: “We were looking for a beautiful, distinctive word – something like Nirvana. We opened the dictionary and went looking. We found ‘Tangerine’ to be a very beautiful word, although we spell it differently than usual. When we were young, we once recorded a demo and had the name printed incorrectly on the cover. Because we had paid a lot of money for that, we really couldn’t go back, so we just left it like that.”
Sander: “It ties in with what we did and do. We saw that word and, in terms of sound, it fit our music and personalities.”
A nod to the 70s
Arnout: “We have always found it important to look good, on stage and off. We've always been a bit vain. When Beste Zangers came our way, we wanted to approach it even better, so we ended up with Michael & Giso. We immediately felt that they suited us. We are of course creatives and artists, and I thought it was really cool how they thought along with us in that. They saw that we wanted to be dressed in our own way, not necessarily according to the latest rules. We immediately felt that we were allowed to deviate from that, and that was very nice. It's completely custom-made for us, but a bit roomier than usual. We like that; we do like a nod to the '70s and an authentic style.”
Sander: “It’s a kind of addiction, because you can make it exactly how you want. They have books full of fabrics and in fact you want to have everything made. Another thing they think along well about is that we make music. The suits have to fit comfortably, so that we can perform well in them.”
Arnout: “It’s very nice that it’s custom-made, because we have pretty weird sizes. We’re tall guys, not the heaviest, with long arms. In a regular clothing store, it never fits properly. Incidentally, the sizing was very relaxed, because when they took my measurements, they knew Sander’s too right away. That is exactly the same as identical twins.”
Design your signature outfit together with your tailor at the boutique
Schedule an appointment
