I’ve been horribly amiss in getting around to these questions. It is not for lack of interest. Ever since I purchased ‘Falling Down’ for the princely sum of one pound last year, you’ve been very high on my list of bands to pursue. I just noticed that I have 6 other songs entitled ‘Falling Down’. – The Gresham Flyers, James, Lodger, Muse, Oasis, Tim Booth (well that’s actually just 5 then ) Without question – yours is the best of the lot. Could you retell the story within the song?
“Thanks for that – it’s not often we’re valued above the likes of James and Muse, even if it’s just when it comes to a songs that share the same title. Have you heard Tom Waits’ ‘Falling Down’ though? Incredible song, beautifully covered by Scarlett Johansson. I’m not even joking. Either way, the story in the song is, as Brian says in the first line, just between the two of us, sorry!”
My first impression of the band was that it reminded me of Over the Wall. ‘Grand Defeat’ – best ever Over the Wall song? I’ve taken the evening to listen to your soundcloud offerings. Obviously the Over the Wall comparison doesn’t hold up quite so much. How would you describe your music? http://www.soundcloud.com/tmtatc
“Over The Wall are a great band, we had the pleasure of supporting them last August but would agree we don’t sound like them – we’re electro-indie-pop, I suppose. There are elements of all these styles in the songs.”
I am looking forward to the April EP/Single. Is there a track listing yet? Do you have any surprises in store? Is it realistic to hope for a full length this year? Will ‘I’ll Play God’ be on it? Is this song fairly representative of the newer material?
“With the April EP, no track listing yet – we’ve only got 2 songs for it so far! We work best under pressure though and we can get songs written, recorded and mixed pretty quickly since we do it all from home and have nothing better to do with our sorry little lives. As for an LP, we’re probably still a good way off this – we want to get this perfect so we’ll continue writing and touring until we feel we’re in the best place to do this. Again, no track listing but ‘I’ll Play God’ is a nod in the direction that we’re going in. We used to just be 2 guys with a laptop, guitar and vocals but we’re bringing live drums into it now for that extra bit of power.”
Since you are comfortably removed from this dilemma perhaps you could lend some sound advice. On March 8, we are faced with choosing between The Twilight Sad and Twin Atlantic. This is, of course, horrifically cruel since the last Scottish show was the Jetpacks back on Nov 11. What should we do?
“Twilight Sad are a great band but we’ve known the Twin team for a while and it’s incredible to see them playing such massive venues these days – it was only 4 years ago I saw them playing to a near empty 13th Note. They’re the hardest working band I’ve ever known and seeing a band like that reaping the rewards of their hard labour can be just as exciting for the fan as it is for the band.”
Assuming more than a few of your influences are Scottish, could you be so kind as to share some. We’d be especially interested in learning why you like the particular bands you’d like to bring to our attention.
“We have loads of inspirations but not a great deal of them are Scottish – this is a country very much in love with rock and folk music. We love these styles but we wanted to get away from guitar based music (I’d have someone play my guitar parts if I could, I’m stick of playing it) and do something a little different after the other acts we’ve been in. Most of our influence comes from the likes of TV On The Radio, Yeasayer, Idiot Pilot – we love electronic music that does something a little different but maintains a distinct pop characteristic.”
What is your favourite instrument at the moment? Which instrument (primarily as abused by other bands) are you deathly sick of?
“For myself, this is pretty boring but my favourite instrument is the guitar, despite the previous hatred I displayed towards it. With electronic music dominating the charts, it can be easy to forget how dynamic they are, but we’re seeing the likes of Twin Atlantic and Gotye seeing success with 6-strings, using them in completely different ways. As for the instrument I’m sick of…same as everyone, auto-tuning. Auto-tuning was devised as an effect, to tidy up vocals but for some reason, some idiot decided to crank the response time on the effect up and use it as an instrument. It sounds fucking awful, it’s nothing more than a quick, soul-destroying way to prove just how badly you sing. I blame Cher. Cow.”
We’d love to read your take on the current Glasgow music scene. How do you see yourselves fitting into it?
“With the Glasgow music scene, it’s great, no matter what type of music you’re into. I could go into all the different bands there are locally but I think the success of the Scottish Alternative Music Awards do all the necessary talking – of course, not all the bands are from Glasgow but there is a significant number from here.”
Could you clarify the Dykeenies connection. Is the TMTATC a side project or is it a completely separate venture?
“Where TMTATC and The Dykeenies go together, this was always just set up so myself and Bri could make music a little different from our main acts.”
Lastly, to shamelessly turn a lyric into a question: looking back – what squares have you, perhaps ill advisedly, tried to force through a circle?
“And lastly, Brian was a slow learner. He actually attempted to fit every shape bar the circle through the circle before, through nothing more than process of elimination, he got the correct one. His doctor often refers to this as one of the longest days of his career. All this was omitted from the song, naturally, as it was a little too wordy.”
T&P
A little Corner of Scotland 