Twin Atlantic talk Foo Fighters, The Beatles, tour tales and album secrets

Twin Atlantic have gone deeper than ever on their latest album – Transparency – a dazzling sixth record born out of lockdown chaos.

But it seems the Glaswegian rockers have grown used to chaos these days, because front-man Sam McTrusty says it feels like “the world collapses” every time they try to tour.

The boys have been back on the road this year, firstly in March with their rescheduled run of acoustic shows for Transparency, which they released in January.

READ MORE:Jake Bugg talks joining Liam Gallagher’s band, festival tales and new music

Their second tour was a special one, though, as it celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their life-changing Free album, which caught airtime on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show back in 2011.

Free fires off epic alternative anthems like Make A Beast Of Myself, Time For You to Stand Up and Crash Land, where you’ll hear fans religiously scream back the lyrics: “We’re f***ed” at every show without fail.

Fast-forward a decade, and lead singer Sam is still determined to bring the party at every show with one simple mission; give people “the best gig of their life”.

Sam chatted exclusively to Daily Star’s Sam Huntley about all things music, from The Beatles and Foo Fighters to how he writes songs, lead singer pressures and why it’s so vital to be vulnerable.

How does it feel to be out on tour again?

“It feels strange. We’ve already done a UK tour. I think they were like 1000-cap venues or something like that, so I think we were maybe one of the first bands back after the pandemic to do that, so it feels like we’re spoiled because we’ve already had a shot at being back out there. But everything was kind of still in the balance so it was like tests every day and Covid scares on the crew and things like that.

“The hour that you’re on stage was really enjoyable but the rest of it was quite difficult to manage, but also just the fallout of not seeing people for a couple years. All we spoke about was Covid and how hard hit the industry’s been and things like that. So that tour was quite difficult.

“It feels strange, because it always just feels like whenever we go to do a tour, the world collapses.”

Do you still get nerves before a live show? What’s going through your head before you walk out on stage?

“I do get quite nervous before gigs, but I don’t know if it’s like dread. That type of nerves, and I don’t think it’s excitement, either, because I’ve done it so many times now that like, I know what’s about to happen. I’m still excited, but not because we’re doing anything new.

“It used to be that we would go up a stage or the room would be bigger, and it meant we have more production lights and video screens and stuff like that, so there was an element of the unknown, but now I’ve sort of transitioned by mistake into like a kind of front man who kind of puts on a party atmosphere show.

“I’m not very reserved or trying to be cool about it. We never expected we would be doing it this long – singing in a Scottish accent and playing American-influenced guitar music shouldn’t really last us long.

“So the nerves before a show are kind of like. I think I’m kind of building up into that mode because I’m quite chilled out in normal day-to-day life and kind of reserved, but it maybe takes me two or three hours of slowly ramping up to get into the headspace of like walking out on stage. It’s genuinely my goal to have some people leave and be like ‘that’s the best f***ing gig I’ve ever been to’. We don’t always get it right, but we quite often do hear people say that and it’s not because we’ve got these big heavy-hitting songs. Like we’ve got one or two moderate UK radio singles that did well, but it’s not like we’re a mega band that have got these worldwide songs so that’s maybe why I lean into the show element a bit more.”

“Honestly, if you met me you’d probably think like ‘I bet that guy’s a f***ing nightmare in real life! Look how annoying he is, but that’s part of the process for me. It’s more of a transformation or something.”

“Back in the day I was dead nervous because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I remember the first time we used LED lights and I went out on stage and I could not play guitar because I couldn’t f****ng see what I was doing. There was always elements of the unknown that made me nervous but we’ve kind of been there done that now, so it’s more about making sure some people have the best gig of their life that night. I feel a responsibility to do that.”

You released your album in January and one of your songs, Instigator, talks about the pressure you feel as a frontman. How important is it for you to get vulnerable when writing about your own feelings?

“I think it’s why I write songs, you know. I just have that part of my personality. Even in my friend group or my family I’m like straight away, no filter, talk about my feelings. I’ve always found that quite easy to do. I went to Glasgow School of Art. It’s quite a serious one. They kind of train you to do that. To not just visually express yourself but like vocalise it. And something happened in that moment when I was learning to vocalise it and my music taste was diving deeper into, I was following my own paths through different sub-genres of rock music and punk rock. And instrumental music.

“I just started doing it because I’m like a vulnerable person, I’m quite an emotional person and I’ve got a bit of a messy upbringing and things like that, so it sort of started as an emotional crutch for me to kind of offload things and then once I got into the habit of doing that. I found new things happened in my life, or someone else’s life that was close to me or I found myself having a really strong opinion about something politically or just what was going on in the world around me and I would kind of channel it into writing a song. So whenever I sit down to write it’s my kind of natural reaction because of the way it all kind of started for me. I find it quite easy to write honestly and, so I’ve started writing songs for other people, too. My favourite thing is finding that one little vulnerable nerve and trying to get as close to that as possible without being brash. I was going to say cheesy there but sometimes cheesy just means honest.”

“I was watching loads of Paul McCartney stuff recently. Like everyone else I watched the Get Back documentary series on Disney+ and I’ve always been like a massive Beatles fan, but I’ve focused on Paul McCartney. He’s more a focus of that documentary. He’s been asked every question under the sun about songwriting and he sort of said something that made me go “Ah!”. He doesn’t want to understand how he does it or why he does it. He says as soon as he starts to analyse that he’s scared he won’t be able to do it anymore. And I kind of live in the same area – I just kind of do it.”

It can be a real strength to open up in your songs, like you do.

“I’m also forced into a corner where because I do sing in my accent, I don’t really hide it at all, something that you would maybe get away with when you’re putting on the generic singing accent. I don’t really get away with it because it’s so obviously contrived or forced or pretending to be something I’m not. Because I’m saying it in my Glaswegian accent so it stands out even more. Again, that’s kind of forced me into a corner where it’s like ‘you just need to write honestly, man.’. A blessing and a curse!”

Like with Biffy, you almost can’t sing the songs without doing the accent yourself.

“When I’m singing along to The Cure, I need to do that accent, or when blink-182 is an obvious one for my age group. So when people say that I totally get it.

“The Biffy guys, they don’t sound as Scottish in their music as they do when they’re just talking, but there’s something about the music they make that sounds more Scottish. So it’s like an interesting thing. They always seem to have a Celtic thread, whether it’s the melody or the rhythm or something. I guess that’s the genius of their band, isn’t it?”

What’s it like touring with Biffy Clyro?

“It’s funny, because they’ve obviously been going for I think maybe double the time that we have. They’re kind of ten years older than we are, so were we just like kids the first time that we toured with them. Was I 19 or something like that? So it’s always been like they’re our big brothers in the music industry. The older we’ve got, the more we talk to each other like contemporaries.

“We’re two bands doing our own things. Simon came up to my student flat years ago and we watched an old firm Celtic Rangers game. Ordered Dominos and just drank tea and there’s other times I’ve been on mental nights out with James [bass] and Ben [drums] we played loads of golf together and stuff like that. The most Scottish thing you’d ever imagine we’d do.

So about those Biffy nights out…

“It’s kind of like being on a night out with anybody from Glasgow. There was a while James and I lived a 30 second walk apart from eachother. In the area that we lived in there’s just loads of bars. I’ve ended up where I’m close to tears and they’re close to tears and I’ve gone back to James’ house and tried to like jam. So I was playing his bass and was he playing guitar or a drum machine? I can’t really remember.

“There was a time where James came to my 23rd or 24th birthday party and it was like Old Vietnam war movies. I themed the whole night and James came dressed as a British soldier. That’s like ten years ago and I hardly see the guys now. They’re too busy and we’re too busy. When they’re on cycle, we make sure that we’re not because they just dominate, do you know what I mean? There’s no point trying to compete with those guys. So we always miss them at festivals and things like that which is a shame, because they’re good guys. We still do the odd text and stuff like that with Simon. But they’re like our big brothers in the music industry and whether we’ve been really stuck and not sure what direction to go in, even a word of encouragement from them gives you confidence because they’re like the godfathers of Scottish rock music, so they’re good guys to have on your side.”

“They get annoyed when I call them that. They say ‘You’re making us sound f****ng old!’ or when I tell people stories of nights out they’re like ‘you’re not meant to tell people that!”

You managed to get a Cameo from your mum on Transparency!

“She’s a typical Glaswegian mother. There’s a few cities in the UK that are like that. Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham. They’ve also got a thread of tough love from mothers. I grew up in a house with my mum and my two sisters and I was the only guy there. I always got the… when my mum tried to discipline me I would always just make her laugh.

“This song in particular, we were right bang on the gong. There’s a total satirical take, we’re totally taking the pi** with this song and we just decided to put other things into it that would make me laugh. We were working with a producer, Jack Knife Lee. My mum had been going through a bit of illness during the lockdown. It was fundamentally to do something fun for her to take her mind off it. My older sister was staying with her at the time.

“I just phoned up my mum and was like ‘right’, Alana, my older sister. ‘Put your voicenotes memo’. I didn’t really tell them what was going on. I just said ‘do this’.

“I said ‘mum, pretend you’re telling me off the way you used to when I was like sixteen, seventeen, and she just did it on the spot. And I was like ‘Right, cool. See you later.’

“And she asked ‘what was that for?’ and I said ‘I’m gonna put it in a song, alright, bye!’.”

The most important lesson you’ve learned as an artist?

“I think I keep learning a new lesson every year. An overriding one is – I’m sure this a Kurt Cobain quote – it’s like a waste of a life pretending to be someone else. Do you know what I mean? I think I’ve misquoted that a little bit. We would probably be a much bigger band if i sang a kind of American twang to what we did or kind of generic [stops]”

“Because we’ve been doing it for so long, it’s probably the thing that I’m proudest of is like no matter… there’s been a heavy weight that’s dragged us down at times. I’ve just kind of stuck to my guns and I’ll be able to back at, even if there’s some songs that are sh**, or embarrassing or cheesy or whatever. I was 100% myself. So It’s quite easy to live with no regrets.

“It’s not just so that you can stand out, it’s so you can look back on what you’ve done and know that you did it all for the right reasons. I think that’s the biggest lesson is like, it’s the hardest thing to do, to be yourself. I’m still trying to figure out who the f*** I am.”

Always changing…

“And don’t be afraid to change. I think as soon as you start making music for your audience, that’s the moment they stop caring about you. As soon as you start giving someone what they want, they lose interest. When you get a new toy as a kid, that becomes your new favourite. It’s the things that challenge your imagination and your musical ear that kind of stay with you, so yeah. Be yourself. Don’t be afraid of change.”

One of the wackiest moments from a tour or gig?

“So many, man. Being in a guitar band, chaos just follows you around. High energy shows, your adrenaline’s up, then before you know it you’ve had three or four beers and the adrenaline crashes and everyone gets emotional and you’re onto the next place and it’s exciting again. It’s a real f***ing messy cauldron.

“Every single tour we’ve had something. We’ve been punching eachother in the face, we’ve been punched by people in the face. I’ve had people off their heads on god-knows what try to grab me on stage. I’ve been crowdsurfing and had my body pulled in like four different directions and ripped all my skin under here. I’ve had like my idols, blink-182 watch me at the side of the stage. Or going on tour with the Biffy guys and turning round and Neil’s watching me the side of the stage. They’re the biggest, craziest things ‘cos I’m like ‘What the f***, why me? This is amazing but why me?’”

“We’ve had bus drivers pull over to the side of the road ‘cos we’re singing football songs too loud in the middle of the night. We’ve ran through airports and missed flights, we’ve turned up to play in America so my pedalboard’s not there, and we’ve had to borrow off other bands, then I have a temper-tantrum during the gig and smash my guitar. We’ve done it all, man.”

“Met Dave Grohl a couple of times at festivals. We’ve been in a tornado. Kansas, where like we had to pull over to the side of the road and we were reading this tornado helpline number ‘cos I guess it’s such a common thing there. It was on a road sign. Someone in the van that we were working with was phoning their wife like ‘I love you, if I don’t see you again…’ it was terrifying. We were reading this number off this road sign and it started vibrating and it just f***ing took off into the sky. Things that you see in movies have happened to us in real life because of the experiences we’ve had in this band. So, so lucky, man.”

Transparency is out now.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk