This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year’s True/False Film Fest. Find the rest of them here.
Hannah and Delia Rainey started playing music together at 15 years old, combining Delia’s poetic writing with Hannah’s interest in guitar. Throughout the years, their songs have been rooted in the land — both of their hometown and of the places they visit. When Delia came back from getting her master's degree in creative nonfiction in Chicago, Dubb Nubb reformed with an evolved style and two new members.
The twins share something they call blood harmony, or the ability to connect and sync their voices easily because they are genetically related. Sometimes, they can’t even tell their own voices apart.
Dubb Nubb will play at the True/False Film Fest's Sunday Afternoon Eastside Showcase. KBIA's Robin Crouch spoke with the band's founding twins ahead of this performance. Here's an excerpt from their conversation:
Robin Crouch: I know that you both started playing music at a very early age. Can you tell me a little bit more about how your band began and your early musical roots?
Hannah Rainey: We had these friends that were having a show — like a New Year's Eve show — when we were in ninth grade. We're like, "Oh, well, we should play." It was all these boys playing in these bands, and we said, "Well, we could do that." So we got like three covers together when we were in ninth grade and played our first show. After that, we started writing music.
Robin Crouch: You’ve been performing at True/False off and on for 15 years now. How would you say this performance will be different from past years, and how has your music evolved?
Delia Rainey: I think some people may be surprised, because our music has changed a lot in the past four or five years. When we started playing the fest, we were an Americana folk band.
I moved back to St Louis in 2021, and we came back together. And we got our friends John and Todd into the band, and just kind of immediately created a different vibe. Being a full band and us both playing electric guitars, it just totally changed it to be kind of more — obviously, it's more of a rock band now. But it's got this cool, like folk-rock vibe, where it still has Dubb Nubb's old roots there, but we play louder now and it's rocking.
Robin Crouch: You’ve talked in the past about the idea of blood harmony — the ability for relatives to connect and synchronize their voices in a special way. How do you feel that your relationship with each other impacts your music?
"We can kind of just harmonize with each other without even really calculating it."Hannah Rainey
Delia Rainey: Being twins and playing music together, like — people always ask twins if they're psychic and they can read each other's minds. And I wouldn't go that far, but I do feel like we are really connected when we play together. Sometimes I don't have to look at her to know my cue, or to know when we're going to hit the last note of the song, because I just — I feel it in my body somehow.
Hannah Rainey: We can kind of just harmonize with each other without even really calculating it. It just comes pretty natural to us. Yeah it's just a special kind of thing that we just have with each other.
Robin Crouch: What is your overall goal or mission with your music?
Hannah Rainey: Yeah, it's just, like, share art and hope that somebody feels something from it. They don't even have to feel happy. They could feel sad, or just feel — have feelings.
Delia Rainey: We have a new album that is almost done, and we're really excited to share it. My only goal for that album is just — I just want people to listen to it and for it to make them feel happy.
