Twin Atlantic - Interview

We saw Twin Atlantic some time ago, chatted away for a while in a quiet Rock City before they were due on stage, and there was something about them that just made me think that this was a band that meant business and were gonig to do well. In fact, we wanted them to do well, because when we were chatting to them, their relaxed nature, willingness to talk openly just won us over. We saw them play in Lock 42, and I've not seen a Leicester audience “go for it" like they did that night in a very long time, so much so I decided to stay at the back of the room and chat a bit with their tour manager. It was definitely safer there! With the recent release of the excellent new album, “Free", we chat to Ross McNae.

We saw you play at Leicester's new venue, Lock 42 earlier this year, where you nearly took the roof off (or rather hit that beam just above where the drum kits sits, and it was an bloody awesome gig by the way), and got a great reception. How does it feel to get such great audience responses and having built such a passionate fan base? And has it taken you by surprise a little?

We've been lucky enough to get to play in front of amazing audiences all over the country recently which has really taken us by surprise. In the back of your head you always dream of playing in front of people but it was always more of a dream in my head than a reality. There's not really a better feeling than seeing people really enjoy your music and wanting to support your band.

The last time we chatted it was at Nottingham's Rock City about a year ago or so (and it was a pleasure to interview you by the way), I'm just wondering, over the past year or so, have your perceptions / expectations been altered at all, and are there any things you look back and think that it if you had the chance you'd do them differently?

I think we've all grown up an awful lot and got back to the reason we made Twin Atlantic in the first place over the last year or so. I wouldn't change anything at all because the slight mistakes we feel we've made along the way have morphed us into the band that I think we now are. I reckon we had to go through the things we did to get to the point where we could happily write our new record “free" and be really proud of it. As far as expectations go, we just want to keep reaching new people and playing our songs in more venues in more countries. I think we've realised that if you put in the hard work that you can start to see it paying off in a really small grassroots kind of way.

And following on from that, over the past year or so, how do you think you have developed musically as individuals and as a band?

I think we've all just started to take music more seriously and the idea of being in a band less seriously and because of that we've relaxed and made something that was much more natural to get too.

I have family from Dennistoun, and when I head up to visit them always notice the great music scene that Glasgow has. Just wondering if you had any thoughts on why Glasgow has this and yet there are other cities where not so much is happening?

Glasgow is where everybody tends to flock to in Scotland to start their musical career. I suppose because of that it's where most of the talent is nourtured and that's where most bands seem to come out of.

You worked with Gil Norton on “Free", how much did he influence and did he challenge you to approach it in a different way? Do you hope to work with Gil again in the future, or do you have some other names you'd like to work with too?

We actually had a really healthy relationship with Gil and our songs. It wasn't a break down and build back up kind of album really. We just made subtle changes that were right for the song.

On the subject of “Free", that took 18 months to write, whereas Vivarium took a “bit longer". Given the difference in time to produce each record did you approach the song writing differently, and if so, how?

Well the first record wasn't written as a whole piece of work at the same time so I suppose the main difference between the records is that “free" is more of a whole. We just approached it with a fresh mind too. We tried to cover different subjects that perhaps were slightly less personal to Sam.

Are there any personal favourites on “Free", and if so can you tell us a bit about how that track came about (and why it's a favourite)?

All the songs we're playing on this tour have become favourites already but I don't know if I could pick one in particular. They all have their own character.

Loved the video for “Free", looked like you really got into doing it! Who came up with the idea for that video and who shot / directed it for you? Whereabouts was it shot?

The video was shot by Howard Greenhaugh in London a few months ago. We were really struggling for ideas that were actually achievable and wouldn't cost 500 million pounds. We just saw something slightly different in his treatment so went for it.

We know that Sam studied art, and photography seems to be a common interest amongst the band. Do any of you have work featured online (sites such as Flickr), or do you prefer to keep that to yourselves? And are there any artists / photographers who's work you particularly like?

Yea, Sam studied fine art and architecture and I studied photography. Craig's really got into photography since we've been touring as this band and is building up a fairly amazing blog and record of our travels around the world on his blogspot. You can find it at craigernestkneale.blogspot.com http://craigernestkneale.blogspot.com

For more information, their website is here: http://twinatlanticonline.com/

and of course, Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/twinatlantic