Glasgow’s Twin Atlantic will play their first ever shows in New York this week for the CMJ music festival. The band will play two free gigs on Wednesday and Friday ahead of their official showcase on Saturday night. Full details on the CMJ gigs and additional dates in LA and Europe below:
Barry and Ross from Twin Atlantic recently did an interview with Sphere Magazine where they talked about being from Scotland and their song “You’re Turning Into John Wayne”.
Sphere] You’ve said that you are very close to your family and your home surroundings – to what extent do these things influence your material especially in your earlier days?
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Barry] I think that coming from Glasgow definitely influences the music. We are all very proud of where we come from and you can really tell that from the fact that Sam sings in his natural accent and it’s the same with the backing vocals – so it definitely carries an influence over our sound and we have never wanted to sound fake. But also, coming from Glasgow – the music scene there is so strong and the are so many good bands and we grew up listening to a lot of great Scottish and English bands so of course, that influenced our music as well but on top of that, coming from Scotland, having the shi**y weather has an effect on everyone. Also, being from Scotland it seems like there is a sense that you are always the underdog and I guess that maybe comes across.
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Ross] I think that idea comes across without us really noticing. I mean our music goes from having one guitar playing the quietest thing ever to everybody playing as much as they possibly can – it’s like almost like we are striving to be heard and maybe we don’t realise it but perhaps it’s all about us trying to say, ‘Look at us’ and trying to make a real impact. If you are from Scotland you are always the underdog and you just have to try harder.
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Sphere] We saw you guys at Sonisphere which was a few months back now, and one song really hit us, a track called, ‘You’re Turning Into John Wayne’ what inspired that track and the lyrics?
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Ross] Some people think it’s an anti-American song and some people think it’s anti-the rest of the world. However it’s more a reflection on American culture and the fact that whether we like it or not – it has taken over the world and it’s in every person’s life. So, it’s more a commentary on that. It’s not really anti or pro anything. It’s just about making people aware that it’s in every film you watch and every TV program and even the majority of bands that you like.
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Barry] Yeah, but it’s not about us pointing the finger at everyone else though because that would be hypocritical but that’s why the song also has the lyric, “Every song I own is made in the USA”, so it’s pointing out the fact that all the stuff that we watch and listen to alongside the clothes that we wear are all related to what’s going on stateside.
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Ross] It’s kind of embarrassing to think that we don’t use our own minds enough to do our own thing really.
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Extract from Sphere Interview by Dom Smith, October 4, 2009. Full interview here.
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Behind the Scenes of “You’re Turning Into John Wayne” music video.
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdbf8yiDS1Y
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Photo credit: Highland Cow