On The Twang
In the world of music, bands come along and reinvent the wheel all the time. Some create a direct rehash of something that has gone before, some take an old style and make it their own and some take two or three styles and fuse them into something quite uniqe. The Twang fall firmly into the latter category.
Comparisons abound with the best of 90s shoegazers - Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays et al - and melodically such comparisons are reasonably accurate. But it's in the lyrics, and the delivery thereof, that The Twang are strongest. Like a lovechild of Mike Skinner and Carter USM, the songs expound on themes of drinking in pubs, arguing with neighbours and trying to pull birds and are delivered in an unashamedly broad Birmingham accent by Phil and Martin, the co-lead singers. Phil talks and shouts his way through a hell of a lot of lyrics and Martin - inane grin from start to finish - provides chorus singing and refrains. It all looks very Shaun Ryder and Bez. They're the new darlings of the music industry:
'A little over a month ago, a three-song demo by an unjustly unheard Birmingham band called The Twang landed on our desk. It was a collection of songs that stirred a fire in the very pit of our souls. The kind of recording that reminded us why rock'n'fucking roll was, is, and always will be, the greatest form of human expression to have ever existed.' - NME
'Just something for you to look out for. What do they sound like? Think Stone Roses lad stomps with accentuated Mike Skinner lyrics.' - Edith Bowman, Clash Magazine
'Swaggering, big hearted rock'n'roll mischief from Birmingham. Frankly, they make Happy Mondays seem like vestal nuns.' - NME
Last night's gig at The Little Civic in Wolverhampton - attended by myself, Ed and a couple of hundred others - was brilliant. For those of you who don't know, which I suspect is most of you, the Little Civic certainly lives up to its name, sizewise. Basically, it's a room above a pub but it's been going for many years and it's seen gigs by a whole host of acts in the days before they hit the big time. Before The Twang we had two support acts. Sadly I didn't catch the name of the first band but they were pretty good. Kind of Oasis-like, but different enough to be worthwhile. The second band were a local band called The Priory (check out their myspace) 75% skinhead (maybe the bassist cant afford the clippers?) with an indie/electro style which seemed to be a little bit Pixies, a little bit Depeche Mode and dare I say a little bit Placebo - with less mascara, of course. In any case they were ample warmup for The Twang.
As I said in an earlier post, Phil's brother Andy was mates with Ed at university. He was there last night and as he and Ed hadn't seen each other for a year or so they spent a fair amount of time catching up. Andy, like his brother, is a bit of a gobshite but he's always entertaining to be around for a short while. 'I went up to me bruvver's hotel room the uvver day and I thought it was gonna be all like cocaine and hookers and they was all sat round drinking cans and playing the name game.' Rock n Roll indeed. But we got a few inside stories, including the fact that since the NME awards Phil's mom is not speaking to him. Apparently having your son use the word cunt on live TV is not every mother's dream!
So yeah - they came on, they played for just less than an hour, they entertained the crowd and then, they left. The crowd was happy, the band were clearly happy 'it's nice to come back here and play to a packed room. Last time we were here, there were about 20 people all of whom wanted us to fuck off and we ended up getting barred' and it was a good night indeed. There's not much you can get for six quid in this day and age but last night I got an evening of quality entertainment.
They're playing gigs up til the end of May. Check here to see if they're in a town near you and if they haven't sold out yet then I'd heartily recommend them. I liked them enough to come home and immediately book tickets for their gig at the Sanctuary in May. And if you want to try before you buy then you can listen to four of the tracks off their forthcoming album on their myspace page.
Comparisons abound with the best of 90s shoegazers - Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays et al - and melodically such comparisons are reasonably accurate. But it's in the lyrics, and the delivery thereof, that The Twang are strongest. Like a lovechild of Mike Skinner and Carter USM, the songs expound on themes of drinking in pubs, arguing with neighbours and trying to pull birds and are delivered in an unashamedly broad Birmingham accent by Phil and Martin, the co-lead singers. Phil talks and shouts his way through a hell of a lot of lyrics and Martin - inane grin from start to finish - provides chorus singing and refrains. It all looks very Shaun Ryder and Bez. They're the new darlings of the music industry:
'A little over a month ago, a three-song demo by an unjustly unheard Birmingham band called The Twang landed on our desk. It was a collection of songs that stirred a fire in the very pit of our souls. The kind of recording that reminded us why rock'n'fucking roll was, is, and always will be, the greatest form of human expression to have ever existed.' - NME
'Just something for you to look out for. What do they sound like? Think Stone Roses lad stomps with accentuated Mike Skinner lyrics.' - Edith Bowman, Clash Magazine
'Swaggering, big hearted rock'n'roll mischief from Birmingham. Frankly, they make Happy Mondays seem like vestal nuns.' - NME
Last night's gig at The Little Civic in Wolverhampton - attended by myself, Ed and a couple of hundred others - was brilliant. For those of you who don't know, which I suspect is most of you, the Little Civic certainly lives up to its name, sizewise. Basically, it's a room above a pub but it's been going for many years and it's seen gigs by a whole host of acts in the days before they hit the big time. Before The Twang we had two support acts. Sadly I didn't catch the name of the first band but they were pretty good. Kind of Oasis-like, but different enough to be worthwhile. The second band were a local band called The Priory (check out their myspace) 75% skinhead (maybe the bassist cant afford the clippers?) with an indie/electro style which seemed to be a little bit Pixies, a little bit Depeche Mode and dare I say a little bit Placebo - with less mascara, of course. In any case they were ample warmup for The Twang.
As I said in an earlier post, Phil's brother Andy was mates with Ed at university. He was there last night and as he and Ed hadn't seen each other for a year or so they spent a fair amount of time catching up. Andy, like his brother, is a bit of a gobshite but he's always entertaining to be around for a short while. 'I went up to me bruvver's hotel room the uvver day and I thought it was gonna be all like cocaine and hookers and they was all sat round drinking cans and playing the name game.' Rock n Roll indeed. But we got a few inside stories, including the fact that since the NME awards Phil's mom is not speaking to him. Apparently having your son use the word cunt on live TV is not every mother's dream!
So yeah - they came on, they played for just less than an hour, they entertained the crowd and then, they left. The crowd was happy, the band were clearly happy 'it's nice to come back here and play to a packed room. Last time we were here, there were about 20 people all of whom wanted us to fuck off and we ended up getting barred' and it was a good night indeed. There's not much you can get for six quid in this day and age but last night I got an evening of quality entertainment.
They're playing gigs up til the end of May. Check here to see if they're in a town near you and if they haven't sold out yet then I'd heartily recommend them. I liked them enough to come home and immediately book tickets for their gig at the Sanctuary in May. And if you want to try before you buy then you can listen to four of the tracks off their forthcoming album on their myspace page.