Twins on fast track to fame
By HEIDI GAISER
The Daily Inter Lake
Reality series profiles musical, personal lives of Kalispell natives
Jacob and Joshua Miller might be remembered by some Flathead Valley residents as the twin high-school boys who taught them the country swing or the two-step at U-Wan-A Dance Studio in Gateway West Mall.
But after the airing of "Jacob & Joshua: Nemesis Rising," their identities are in for a dramatic change.
The seven-part reality series, premiering Monday on the Logo television network, documents the struggles of the identical twins, born and raised in the Kalispell area, as they make some difficult decisions. As they pursue a rock-music career as the vocal duo Nemesis, the twins decide to reveal their gay orientations to the world - and to their family - on film.
It was a secret that couldn't be kept for long. Cover stories on the twins are in two major gay-oriented publications - Mate Magazine and IN Magazine. They performed for a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington, D.C., last week; they were on San Francisco's morning talk show "The View from the Bay!" on Thursday.
On Monday, they will also be guests on MTV's "Total Request Live," and "The Tyra Banks Show."
The twins are releasing their first CD as Nemesis soon; their song "#1 in Heaven" is available online now.
AFTER BEING raised as devout Jehovah's Witnesses, the twins kept their adult gay lifestyle hidden from their family. The revelation of their sexual orientation to their parents, Rex and Sherrie Miller, was filmed for "Nemesis Rising" and will be seen during one of the first few episodes.
"It was tough, but like I do with most things when I find them difficult, I made it businesslike," Jacob Miller said during a phone interview from Los Angeles. "We sat them down when we were having dinner, and I said that Joshua and I were gay and they would find out eventually and it was most important that they find out from us directly and that I would like to pretend we never had this discussion. But it's never that simple."
Joshua said it was a "profoundly emotional experience, as to be expected.
There was more to the Kalispell shoots than the big disclosure, Jacob and Joshua said. There are also interviews with their sister, Sarah, and brother Jordan. Jacob's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Ingraham, is featured, along with her sister Kristy.
"We also came there to film Montana," Jacob Miller said. "The mountains, the lakes, the rivers, flyfishing with my dad - the kind of activities that shape who we are today."
The natural world of the Flathead Valley was important to the Millers growing up, as they weren't allowed to participate in extracurricular activities in local schools.
But the 1993 graduates of Flathead High School were always attracted to music. They first realized they might have a future in music after winning the local Jimmy Dean Country Showdown at the Ol' River Bridge Inn in Columbia Falls and then the state competition in Great Falls.
They took off not long after high school for Nashville, where they met people with connections who were impressed with the twins' vocal talents. They signed on with Curb Records, a label that carries country superstars such as Tim McGraw and Wynonna Judd.
They later met music producer Desmond Child, who convinced them that, as a rock act, they needed to be in Los Angeles. Because Child had a track record producing acts such as Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin, the Millers took his advice and headed for California.
The television program was not part of the master plan, though. It was a result of contacts in the music and television industries deciding that the twins' story was a compelling one.
"It came from out of left field," Joshua Miller said. "It was something completely unexpected."
The publicity from "Nemesis Rising" might provide a huge boost for their music careers - but at a price, Jacob Miller said.
"We always hoped we would be successful recording artists," Jacob Miller said. "That was the master plan, and we didn't have to deal with our sexuality or religion. The TV series is exciting for the mass exposure, but it's also mass exposure. People are going to see a lot of our life."
Though Joshua Miller said "I don't think about the gay thing as a marketing tool," the twins' publicist, Howard Bragman, said it hasn't hurt.
"I have to say if they were straight brothers in a band, they wouldn't be getting the attention," Bragman said. "It certainly works in their favor, but we didn't say 'we'll make you gay for marketing purposes.'"
Logo, the nation's leading channel oriented toward gay audiences, can be seen locally by satellite dish subscribers. Episodes of "Nemesis Rising" can be ordered through iTunes or from Logo online.