Pair plucked from YouTube by Elton John smash myth of the mellow cello

LUKA Sulic and Stjepan Hauser have their hearts set on a pair of very old and very expensive Guadagnini cellos

LUKA Sulic and Stjepan Hauser have their hearts set on a pair of very old and very expensive Guadagnini cellos.

"They burn much better than these plastic ones we play," jokes 25-year-old Hauser.

Dressed head to toe in black, and reclining lazily in a palatial Sydney harbour-view hotel suite, the Croatian musicians who comprise 2Cellos are the very picture of rock 'n' roll. But despite the pair's rock-star nonchalance (resting their feet in the hollow bodies of their state-of-the-art Yamaha electric cellos), time is in short supply.

"Today, we are having a lunch - with Elton," says Sulic, 24.

The musicians, who arrange and play rock songs for the traditionally classical instrument, have been supporting Elton John since June on the 64-year-old's world tour, which reaches Brisbane tomorrow.

Earlier this year, John saw a video on YouTube featuring the pair performing Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal - it's now had more then two million views - and picked up the phone.

"I was in London, and he called me," Sulic says. "It was Elton John, there on the phone."

Sulic and Hauser, classically trained in Zagreb and London, play support for John as part of the 11-piece ensemble for the duration of the veteran entertainer's show.

"Elton likes to go nuts on stage, and so do we," Hauser says.

Sulic and Hauser play Yamaha electric "silent" cellos, a neck and plastic bulbous outline the only hint of the instrument's identity. And they play con brio: with vigour. Serious vigour.

In the corner of the room rest the victims of the pair's playing style: manes of errant horsehair flow from two beaten bows. "We should have our own horse on tour," Hauser says.

Watching 2Cellos - heads and arms flailing - play rock standards from AC/DC, Nirvana, U2 and Guns 'n Roses, it's easy to see why.

"We are emotionally attached to our music," Sulic says. "We'd love to smash a cello after a show, but we're not rich enough for that yet."

Before joining forces last year, Sulic and Hauser were concert and competition rivals in Croatia, where they are now household names.

"We wanted to do something to attract younger people to the cello," Hauser says. "People don't really know what the cello is capable of. By only playing classical music, you don't really use the instrument."

Hauser smiles and thinks how life has changed. "A few years ago, we were playing to an audience of five old grandmas," he says.

"Those grandmas are still at our concerts, you know; they're just having more fun now."