Twisted Wheel Interview

Johnny – Guitar/vocals

Adam – Drums

Rick – Bass

How’s the tour going so far?

Adam: It’s going brilliant, best one yet... selling out venues we’ve played a few times before.

Johnny: It’s great, all the places we’ve played over the last two years used to be quiet... how it was for us in Manchester a few years ago, it’s like that in places like Brighton now, and down south, which is great for us.

So have you seen the support grow?

Rick: Yeah, it’s really stepped up a gear.

Who’s been the best crowd so far, of the current tour?

Johnny: Wigan was pretty mad... they’re all good in different ways, some are really good ‘cause they really appreciate the music and everyone’s really singing along and others are good ‘cause everyone’s smashing the place to bits.

Adam: We played Scunthorpe...

Rick: And Grimsby...

Adam: They were two venues where bands don’t really go... they appreciate that we made the effort to go, and they were two of the loudest gigs because of that.

How did you find going to Japan a few months ago?

Adam: It was really good yeah.

Johnny: I had the best time of my life. We supported Jet and they’re massive over there. All the gigs were full so it was great. We got to play a headline show in Tokyo and all the people who’d see us play songs with Jet came to that. It’s mad ‘cause they all sing along. Even though they can’t all speak English, they’ve learnt the words.

How’s the work on the new album going – are you finding it hard to balance writing and touring at the same time?

Johnny: The songs you’re writing though, you’re not writing them when you’re touring, you’re writing them on your days off. We’re finishing this tour then we’ve got a whole month in May off just dedicated to rehearsing and recording stuff. And we’ve got some recording equipment on the road so we can record rehearsals. We’ve got a song coming out on free download called “Tell the World”, which is a song we recorded when we did the album. It’s quite a ballady song...

Adam: We’ve sort of put it to one side for a while...

Will it give people an idea of what the new material’s going to be like?

Johnny: No it’s quite on its own.

So is the new album going to be pretty similar to the debut?

Johnny: It’s punk rock ‘n’ roll, yeah... but it’s going to be a bit more musical I think, with maybe another member... to put in bits and maybe do a bit of percussion and a bit of keys so we can perform slower songs. Because sometimes it’s harder to do the slower more ballady songs just the three of us.

What made you decide to give away the free download?

Johnny: People are just downloading anyway, illegally, it’s a big thing now isn’t it.

Adam: It didn’t go on on the first album and it doesn’t really fit in with what we wanna do on the album coming up.

Johnny: I think that song’s just got a label on it and it’s “free download.”

Adam: It’s good to just do something mad though, rather than having a set routine.

Johnny: You’ve gotta give something to the fans.

Any idea of a release date for the new album?

Johnny: We’re thinking maybe around September.

How are you finding being on the road at the moment?

Adam: We’ve got used to it now, it’s been like two and a half years solid... You’ve gotta look after yourself, you can’t just burn out every night. But yeah you have a laugh.

Obviously last year was a really big year for you supporting the likes of Oasis and Paul Weller – do you have anyone else you’d really like the chance to play with?

Adam: We’ve already played with quite a lot of our idols, and a lot of the people we’re into don’t play anymore. We’re quite stuck in the past.

Johnny: I’d support Ray Davies of The Kinks, apparently he does gigs now every now and again. I’d love to support an old punk band as well...

Adam: Like Stiff Middle Finger.

Do you think there’s a need at the moment, what with the new in-genre being synth and electronic, for guitar bands such as yourself to help spur on a sort of punk-revival?

Johnny: Definately, the new stuff’s quite cold and there’s no heart to it.

Rick: It’s quite angular.

Johnny: But us being labelled lad rock is a load of rubbish. Because girls like the same music as boys do. But it’s punk rock ‘n’ roll. People like to go a bit mad to it. It definitely feels like there’s been a gap since that sort of music and it feels like we’re sort of filling that gap.

With Oasis splitting, does it feel like bands such as Kasabian and The Courteeners are trying to fill the gap that’s been left?

Adam: No, I don’t think any of them bands sound like Oasis.

Johnny: I think all the bands are different, you’ve got The Courteeners doing their thing and us doing our thing... I quite like The Maccabees, I think they’re brilliant.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Johnny: I really regret doing an interview with The Daily Star and saying I didn’t like Lady GaGa. Since, I’ve listened to her music and yeah, I like Lady GaGa.

Obviously you’ve seen an acceleration of success – have you found it hard to keep down to earth and also to live up to the pressure?

Adam: It’s never felt like that no. We make an effort to talk to people after the gigs and stuff.

Johnny: It’s good to be in a job where you get to meet people all around the world... you get to chat to them and see what they do.

Listen to the full interview below...

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Thanks very much to Marc Jones

http://www.myspace.com/thetwistedwheel

Follow the link below to download the new, exclusive and FREE track "Tell the World"...

http://twistedwheel.mp3signup.com/subscriber.aspx

By Rosanna Pound-Woods