Jen chats to Twin Atlantic about their new album released today. (9/9)

UK band Twin Atlantic, are set to release their brand new album, ‘GLA’, on September 9^th through      Red Bull Records / Sony Music Australia.

The forthcoming album ‘GLA’ was written in the band’s hometown of Glasgow, before repairing to Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles to record.  The band worked with Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Two Door Cinema Club) who also helmed their 2014 album ‘Great Divide’, which reached #6 on the UK album charts, while their dream mixer Alan Moulder (best known for his unforgettable work with Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Foo Fighters and My Bloody Valentine) came on board to give the album the essential finishing touch.

Twin Atlantic are: Sam McTrusty, Barry McKenna, Ross McNae and Craig Kneale.

Hi, thanks for taking some time to answer some questions.

– No worries.

Last year you were part of the last ever Soundwave, I have great memories of that weekend, I hope you guys did too and were one of the bands that we paid that year. Can you share with us a funny story or two that happened when you were on that tour?

:: Yeah, that was our first trip to Australia – we all loved it. Really fond memories, and we’re desperate to get back. I’m not sure if there was anything really funny that happened to us, but i’m sure for the locals at the festivals it would have been amusing to watch pasty Scottish guys trying to adapt to the heat (and failing)…

You guys worked really hard to get started and spent three years of writing, recording and touring the UK in a van like so many young bands here that are doing the same. Although here it is 2/3 days drive to the next gig! Do you look back fondly at those days and forget the sweat and tears that went into achieving those first three records?

:: Yeah, absolutely. It was great – there were lots of bad gigs at the start where it felt like we were making no progress at all, but those are the times that probably strengthened us the most. It made us appreciate all the small victories along the way. Wouldn’t change a single thing – we were so excited to be away from home and everything felt like an adventure.

By then you found yourselves in a rut and that you had become the best version of your band and decided to shake things up rather than call it quits. Listening to your new record I am really glad that you did not break up! 

:: Ha ha, we are too. 

You decided to ditch the escapism, one of the reasons that you wanted to be in the band, to travel the world and escape from the day to day life back then. It is true as you say in your press release that “Who you are is where you’re from” Your new album GLA reflects this. 

Firstly is GLA short for Glasgow?

:: It is indeed. Well, it’s the airport code for the city.

Secondly to write a record with the intention of being done with trying to be someone else or go somewhere else shows a real maturity that some bands never actually achieve. Is there on particular on the album that encompasses that?  I was thinking ‘Mother Tongue’.

:: Well, hopefully the whole album does – it was all written in that frame of mind. Sam and Ross wrote all the songs free from worry about what people would think about them. I think it was so liberating when they wrote the first few songs that way that it made the whole album relatively easy to continue in that vein.

Interesting that you say that the weather in Glasgow gets people down as we experience this in Melbourne. ‘The Chaser ‘ is written about this, but the on the other hand you have ‘Whispers’ that is an uplifting muse on loss and grief. Can you take us through the journey that you went through to write such contrasting songs?

:: Well, i’m sure Sam and Ross would be able to answer this a lot better than I could. It’s perhaps more apparent on this album as the songwriting between the two of them is much more collaborative than it has been before. They were both bringing individually written songs to the table and then working on them together. Those are good examples as The Chaser was initially written by Sam, and Whispers initially written by Ross. 

For your fourth album you claim that you have made the album you always wanted to make, using life experiences “We could  never  have  made  this  album  before,”  adds  McNae, “because  we  hadn’ t  had  all  our  experiences,  we hadn’ t made all the right mistakes. We have finally made the album we wanted to make.” Please don’t tell us that now you have done that you are thinking that this one might be your last??? 

:: Ha ha, who knows at this point? We’ll hopefully keep doing it as long as we feel we have something interesting to say, and we definitely feel like we do on GLA – but who knows what’ll happen after this. That’s what keeps it exciting I suppose. 

I really like ‘No Sleep’, it is one of those songs that gets stuck in my head but it a good way not an achy breaky heart way! I like the use of the pauses, the guitar riffs and of course the lyrics. It is a song that people can connect to. I certainly do. Can you run through the inspiration behind it?

:: Well, it definitely seems to be going down well live – and that’s the real litmus test for songs when you’re in a rock band I suppose? The song was written by Ross in his house – and I think it might have been the first song he wrote for the album? I think Sam wrote the lyrics over the music. I’m not completely sure actually – or it’s inspiration. All I know is that I really like it.

The music video for ‘No Sleep’ is awesome, loads of energy and colour. Why go with a live scene and how long did it take to shoot and did anything go wrong during that time?

:: It just felt right for the song. It’s an energetic sounding song, and the nightmarish visuals on the projections seem to complement it really well. The video shoot was a breeze actually – we don’t really enjoy shooting videos if we’re being honest – it can be very boring and a lot of the time the end result is really underwhelming. But this is one that we actually all like – hurrah.

I was looking through your facebook and notice you are doing LOADS of instore signings, is this something that you love to do, meeting your fans and hearing their stories? 

:: It’s something that the fans of our band seem to really enjoy, and it’s always quite humbling to meet some of the people that your music has effected. I can’t say it’s my favourite part of being in a band, but it does usually leave you feeling pretty happy after the experience. 

You have an upcoming tour with a few dates sold out already. What would you like to tell people what to expect from this tour?

:: An extremely solid, above par rock performance. 98% guarantee you will want to come and see us again after it. That’s not me boasting, that’s just solid stats. 

Sweet! I love solid stats! Thanks heaps for your time, I really love GLA and I hope to see you touring down here real soon!

:: Thanks! See you in Oz very soon we hope.