Glasgow o2 ABC / 6th Feb As I approach ABC to interview Glasgow rockers, Twin Atlantic, hours before they are due to take to the stage, I already know tonight is going to be something special. Fans had been queuing up since 9am to get to the front of the line when doors open... at 7pm. It is evident from the beginning of our meeting that Twin Atlantic are a band who haven’t forgotten who they are making the music for. After signing off on new t-shirts for street teamers, recording a few videos and interviews for various unofficial fan website and almost falling out of their window trying, to no avail, to see the end of the growing queue outside, they finally calm down enough for Sam and Craig to sit down and have a chat with me before play ABC tonight and King Tuts tomorrow ahead of a two month long American tour.
How would you describe Twin Atlantics sound? Sam: We make really loud noises. It’s just really loud rock music. We get compared to bands like Biffy Clyro and Idlewild a lot, but even though we’re all Scottish rock bands, we sound the same but different. Craig: Yeh, Idlewild have their sound, Biffy have theirs and we have ours. Sam: Which is loud (laughs) Your playing ABC tonight and King Tuts tomorrow, so which do you prefer – bigger or smaller shows? Sam: I love all shows. Getting out there and performing is what it’s all about, but there’s a massive difference between the bigger and smaller gigs. When your playing a place like the ABC, the crowd are just like bodies, which makes them easier to play to, but when your playing a small gig, you can see them close up, and that when it gets nervous. When you know your playing to actually people and not just bodies in the crowd. Craig: I don’t really feel the difference as much. Behind the drums, I’m kinda hidden away in, like, a world of my own, but I just love playing live.
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Sam: It also depends a lot on the crowds. Last week we played in Newcastle in a thousand person capacity venue to just over two hundred fans, and you would have thought it was sold out. The energy from the crowd is incredible.
What’s been your favourite gig so far? Craig: My favourite was a show we did in Switzerland last year, the drums where right at the front of the stage so I got to see the entire crowd, it was great not being up the back again. Sam: Switzerland was crazy; Craig was sweating so much we were all covered by the sweat being hit off the symbols. It was a pretty damp stage after we left (laughs) but my favourite was QMU last year. It was one of the first gigs in the Glasgow we had done in a while and it was sold out, over a thousand people were in watching us and the crowd were crazy. So was that one of those moments when you realized what you were doing and have to pinch yourselves? Craig: Definitely. I have one of those moments almost every month. I mean, SXSW was one, then getting the album out, massive gigs, touring, even looking out the window at that massive queue. Sam: It’s great when you’ve been lying low for bit though, doing something like writing and recording, and then you get one of those moments. It’s why I love doing this so much. It’s crazy in perspective. Craig: Oh yeah, like three years ago I was going to gigs at the QMU and had just joined the band, now being able to play it to a sold out crowd, definitely “a moment”. You’re heading to America in the next month, how have they reacted to your music in the past? Sam: They’re a pretty great crowd to play to. Craig: We’ve only really played to media crowds in the US before now, but they’ve all been really into it. Sam: I think it’s because American’s are into their hard rock with melodies, which is what we try to incorporate. A lot of the stuff
on the album is really melodic but is still loud rock. That’s why we’re really looking forward to the tour – you can tell they really appreciate the music.
You’ve become pretty infamous for your cover versions, especially the cover you did of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Where did that come from? Sam (laughing): We had no idea it was going to be as big as it was. We were asked by Xfm to record a cover of a track by one of our heroes. We didn’t want to do anything by band like the Foo Fighters or Nirvana, because it would have just sounded... well, like a shit cover. Craig: We had heard the song and just thought, why not? It turned out much better than we expected. Sam: The response we got from it, especially in America, was amazing. Lots of people at SXSW were just thought the way I sang the word “girls” was funny, and it stuck I guess, but my favourite cover we’ve done was of a Beatles song. I remember the day we heard it back for the first time and I just thought to myself, “Fucking hell... we nailed that” (laughs) How well do you think Scottish rock music is being represented in the music industry? Sam: Really well I at the moment. Obviously you’ve got Biffy doing really well, and Idlewild really made a mark and now you’ve got the smaller bands like ourselves, Xcerts, Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit coming through. Craig: I think it’s a really great time to be a young Scottish rock band. You know, after Idlewild’s success and now Biffy, there’s more focus on Scottish rock, which is great, because there’s loads of bands here that deserve attention and success. So where should we expect to see Twin Atlantic in five years time? Sam: Hamden! (laughing) It’s something I’ve dreamt about for ages, we would love to headline Hamden... yeah, Hamden. Twin Atlantic’s debut Vivarium is out now. Ruairidh Pritchard
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