Twenty Twenty Interview

We arrived at De Monfort Hall on a particularly gloomy day, having luckily avoided the impending rain to have a chat to “Twenty Twenty”, a rock pop group who have been recently snapped up by Geffen . They already have a massive fan base with over 50,000 followers on Facebook and are supporting The Saturdays on their 'Headlines' tour.

Lead singer - Sam Halliday

Bassist -Jack Halliday

Drummer - Sonny Watson-Lang

Rhien: First of all thanks for giving up your time lads. First of all how did the name come around, are you all cricket fans?

Sam: Yeah we all used to play county cricket, no, we're pretty bad at cricket. (Laughs) It was a name that came by accident really. I remember our manager was trying to book us shows at the time we decided to start the band. He was like “I need a name, we can't start doing stuff” so we threw some names about and we all liked the name twenty.

Jack: So we just did it twice.

Sam: It's a lot more for everyone to say

Callum: You've supported some pretty big acts, must have been a great experience did you learn a lot from them?

Everyone: Yeah, yeah.

Sam: We've been lucky to support some big bands like McFly and Scouting for Girls and it's nice to see that they're obviously massive bands but still quite down to earth. For us, it's nice to see that no matter how big they've got and what success they've had they're still quite down to the ground and know what's important to them, that was quite useful for us.

Lindsey: Is it hard to get past the comparisons to established boy bands such as McFly or The Wanted?

Jack: We are a band of boys, but we are different to the 'boy band' if that makes sense. First of all we started from nothing and we put the band together ourselves, we write our own stuff and we do get compared. However, it's not a bad thing because they do so well and they are really successful groups

Sam: We are just trying to make a name for ourselves, but to be honest it's not the worst thing in the world to be compared to massive bands.

Rhien: What's the most enjoyable aspect of performing live?

Jack: The crowd!

Sam: We feed off what they do, what's nice about tonight is that it's a standing show as well and coming from an independent pop rock world we are more used to those type of shows. Hopefully tonight will be a good example of us getting the crowd going.

Jack: In our headline shows it’s cool to see fans singing back your words singing your songs, it's a bit of a weird thing to see, although we've been around for a little while we're still really new to everything so seeing them singing back is great.

Callum: What would be your dream collaboration?

Sam: We've actually said on this tour because she's a bit different and fairly new someone like Jessie J, she's pretty cool and she's a great writer as well.

Jack: And different to us, if we collaborated with a similar act the kind of vibe would be alive, the only reason people collaborate if different things gel together. So Jessie Jay would be cool.

Lindsey: Your debut album is due later this year are you excited?

Everyone: Yeah, Yeah.

Jack: It's kind of scary as well because we've got to make sure everyone gets it,

Sam: It's crunch time for us it's the first one we're putting out, and it's in effect like two years worth of work has gone into it. So really couldn't have done much more to it. If everyone likes it it's great, It's just one of those times where you go, “this is it”.

Rhien: What do when you're not practicing, writing new songs or anything band related?

Jack: We always say in the band that we are always in the band. When we do have time we just go and see our friends, hang out with our friends and play computer games

Sonny: We chill out

Sam: Just see people we don't normally see, catch up with people and things. Including a lot of sleep!

Callum: If you could be any super hero who would you be and why?

Jack: Iron Man, because the chances of it happening are quite realistic, that’s what I like about the film, as a person he hasn’t got any special abilitie,s and everything is shiny in that film, I like shiny things.

Sonny: Erm. Batman.

Sam: Why?

Jack: Because you couldn't think of anyone else.

Sonny: Or how about what's his name Hulk

Sam: The Incredible Hulk, Yeah.

Sonny: Yeah

Jack: Is he a super hero though?

Sonny: What is super hero and what isn't?

Rhien: We could get into a big debate here (Laughs)

Sam: We will give you that because it's part of the marvel comics.

Sonny: Alright he's green, he's good.

Jack: The green machine

Sam: I'd be superman, I've always wanted to be super man since I was younger. I used to bug my parents to get me those really awful superman outfits when I was 8.

Jack: He still tries to wear them now.

Sam: I still try to wear them now but they look at me a bit funny when I go to Toys r us now and try to buy them for myself.

Sonny: Spider Man.

Callum: Changed your mind? (Laughs)

Sonny: Changed my mind, I've picked three now.

Jack: A cross between the Incredible Hulk and Spider Man.

Sonny: Yeah.

Sam: In other words a massive green spider

Sonny: Yeah

Lindsey: Your fan base seems to be getting bigger and bigger, what would you like to say to all those fans out there?

Sam: We love you.

Jack: Couldn't have done it without you and we say that a lot as a band

Sonny: Thanks for all your support, send them lots of TT love.

Sam: We couldn't do it without them, we literally can't, they've built us up to what we are now. At the end of the day no band can play a show with no fans. We owe a lot to them.

We thank the lads for their time get a few pictures and reflect on what was a great interview including Sonny's idea for a brand new super hero. Make sure you check out their Facebook http://www.facebook.com/twentytwentyband and get your free track 'Magic'. Their debut single 'Love To Life' hits the shelves and iTunes on April 3rd this year and looks like it's going to be massive.

Written by Rhien Shephard

Interview by Rhien Shephard, Callum Thorn and Lindsey Tugby.