A few weeks ago,The Twilight Sad ventured away from their home in Glasgow in order to spread their noisy tunes across the U.S. by means of a mini tour. During their visit Andy MacFarlane, the guitarist, spoke with Late Night Wallflower about their involvement in a Radiohead tribute album, their early work as a band, and their respective relationships with America and the U.K. James Graham, the singer, even jumped in to answer a question about why their lyrics are focused on adolescence.

You guys recently covered the Radiohead song “Climbing Up The Walls” for Stereogum as a tribute to Ok Computer’s 10th anniversary. How did that come about?
Andy: That was kinda weird. Stereogum asked us like two weeks before it came out, so, we knocked something together really quickly but it seemed to work out okay.

Why did you choose that particular song to cover?
A: Well, they gave us a choice of a few songs, but, we felt like that one was the most obvious for us to play as far as our sound. We always felt like that song was one of the strongest tracks on Ok Computer anyway, so, we were happy to do it.

For those that may be unfamiliar with The Twilight Sad’s history, can you explain how you guys got started?
A: Me, James, and Mark, the drummer, kinda played and messed about in other bands, and then one day I met the bass player [Craig Orzel] at a bus stop. Together we didn’t play too many gigs. We just didn’t want to get stuck in the gig circuit, playing every night and not being able to develop our sound. We did two gigs and then we recorded a demo. Then, we sent the demo to FatCat and they came to see us at one of our gigs and signed us. It’s been pretty busy ever since.

I read in a previous interview that you guys don’t really tour too much in the U.K. Why is that?
A: I’m not really too sure. It’s probably because of the release dates like here [in the U.S.] we have an EP and an album out. Back home we only have the EP out and a couple of singles.

It’s easier to stay and play in the U.K. but it’s obviously nowhere near as like it is in America. We just want to travel around America for a little bit and make a name for ourselves. We are slightly coming out over there [in the U.K.]. That’s just something we have to keep working on, but definitely a lot more people know us in America.

As far as lyrics are concerned on Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, it’s centralized on adolescence, specifically being 14 and 15 years old. What inspired the band to concentrate on that age range?
James: To be honest, I never really felt it to be about that. All the songs are just pretty much about what’s happened to us, people that I know, and where we live. I didn’t mean it to come across that way but people have taken it that way which is good.

I never really tell anyone what the songs are about because my favorite songs are the ones that I don’t really know the exact meanings too either; I have my own perceptions of those songs and can relate it back to myself. So, it’s just something that I always said, that I would keep what the songs are all about to myself.

I like the artwork for your CD, who did it and why did you choose it for the album?
A: I’ve always liked ‘50’s artwork. It’s very appealing and eye catching so we spoke to the artwork guy at FatCat, he also really likes that kinda stuff. I basically got some stuff together, did some research, and he would do the same. Then, we would piece the stuff together so it looks like instruction manuals. We also thought that it could relate to the music because it looked quite innocent but at the same time kinda sinister.

With The Twilight Sad there seems to be an emphasis on the complete package, like there is a lot of detail in the artwork, lyrics, and instrumentation. How hard is it to reproduce that same sense of unity live?
A: You know, it’s pretty different because there is only one guitar, one bass, the drums, and a singer. We like it better that way though because it’s a big wall of noise. We think that if we try to recreate what’s exactly on the record it will be analogous to the CD. There are a lot of things about us live that’s different than our CD. It’s pretty full on, intense, and just really noisy, but that’s not a bad thing.

Photo by Javier Villegas
The Twilight Sad’s Myspace

Tags: Interview, Twilight Sad //