Brothers Christian and Rhys Callinan have received their biggest career break after winning a competition to open for The Whitlams at an open-air event in Griffith next month.
A GRIFFITH duo will strum onto the biggest stage of their lives next month when they open for Aussie band The Whitlams at a one-off concert on the banks of Lake Wyangan.
Talented brothers Christian and Rhys Callinan, who make up Jiakomo Thief, have been plying their trade in pubs and clubs across the region for near-on a decade.
But in an unexpected twist, the duo's biggest career break came when they filmed an impromptu video clip late one night on a mobile phone.
After finishing up at Griffith Carols by Candlelight on December 9, the brothers realised they had until midnight to submit an entry for the Optus Flix in the Stix local artist competition.
"We'd packed up when we realised and we only had an hour to film the clip and upload it to Facebook," Rhys, 27, said.
"We just put a mobile phone on a stand and played our hearts out."
The clip did the trick, with hundreds voting to have the brothers play a 30-minute set at the February 1 short film festival.
And while opening for The Whitlams is a far cry from the duo's early days of singing into shampoo bottles and banging on saucepans, they said they were more excited than nervous about the prospect.
"It's just such an amazing opportunity," Christian, 30, said.
"It's good for our profiles and to be able to play original songs to such a large audience will be huge."
The timing couldn't be better, with Jiakamo Thief to release their debut EP, Set Me Free, early next month.
The EP features six punchy rock tunes, including the moving track Mister C, about the death of their father.
Griffith is one of 12 regional centres to host Flix in the Stix, which features a number of short films and live performances.
