Twin Atlantic
Alternative ° Glasgow/Scotland
Gorgeous Scottish vowels
In the last couple of decades, the city of Glasgow has shone as one of the world’s most vibrant and diverse music scenes. Twin Atlantic – a young four-piece whose ambitious debut mini-album, Vivarium, is packed with enormous sweeping riffs, moods that flit from light to shade, and impassioned vocals dripping with gorgeous Scottish vowels – are powering out of that creative hub of a hometown to take on the world. “If you’re from Scotland you’re pretty much an underdog from the start because everything’s going on in London. I think it’s awesome that there’s loads of amazing music getting made in Glasgow.” Since those early days, they have evolved into one of the UK’s most exciting new rock bands, poppy melodies twisted with a metallic crunch and shades of prog experimentation. After an ambitious EP, A Guidance From Colour, and show-stopping support slots with alt-rock legends Smashing Pumpkins and like-minded American prog rockers Circa Survive, fans are already showing up at gigs with their logo and lyrics tattooed to their bodies. In March 2009, Twin Atlantic headed over the ocean to the crazed streets of Austin, Texas to play four blistering shows at South by Southwest. Their American adventure took them to LA shortly afterwards to record ‘Vivarium’ with producer John Travis, who has worked with Kid Rock, Sugar Ray, Static X and Social Distortion.
The group of fans who once held them as their little secret is growing like a virus, the word of mouth buzz about their intense live shows building a rock solid base that the band can rely on. And for Sam McTrusty, it’s a state of affairs he’s been sure of for as long as they have been playing together. “We’re some of those people who just totally believe in ourselves,” Sam smiles. “If people don’t like our ideas we always think it’s not that they don’t like them, they just don’t understand them. We’re convinced by that wholeheartedly and determined to just keep on going and going, and that’s why we’ve lost friends and girlfriends, fallen out with friends and family and got kicked out of flats to be in this band. So when we see other people believing in a wee story that we’ve written, that keeps pushing us.” But this, more than ever, is no time for complacency. After the summer festivals have been shaken to their foundations, it’s time for the band to start thinking really big. “My ambition is so great for this band that I’m never going to be really happy until we’re one of the big guys,” says Sam. “I don’t really care what people think of that. I would love for our band to be one of the biggest bands in the world because I believe in myself and the other guys in the band so much. I believe we can do that.”
[ Twin Atlantic @ myspace ]
