Thom caught up Sam and Craig from Twin Atlantic to talk about how the band started, touring with Biffy Clyro, Smashing Pumpkins, Enter Shikari and so much more.

So, I'm going to start at the beginning. You're from Glasgow...
(Sam) Yes.

What is the music scene there like? I know a few years ago it was quite indie focussed, or maybe that was just what was making it out of the city?
(Sam) The thing is there's not A music scene, there's several. And they all mix together. It's not like other cities. It's being so far away from the main hub of London, the general central focus of the UK, whatever, people tend to have more comradery about, like, not an indie scene or a metal scene – everyone just sort of knows each other. I don't know it's hard to explain, but there's loads of bars you'd go to if you were a band starting out and wanted to play to people who cared about music – and because of that everyone congregates in the same areas so...

And you were all in other bands before Twin Atlantic, is that how you all met?
(Sam) Well that's what happened.

(Craig) I played with Ross's old band and knew the band and I knew Sam from working in one of the bars.

(Sam) Yeah I worked in one of the bars where his band played.

(Craig) You played an acoustic set too?

(Sam) Let's not talk about that. I was given a really shit guitar to play it was terrible. And that was your first impression of me as a musician. But it's really cool in that way, there's three or four main things but everyone's welcome, there's no division. It's not like “oh you're an electro kid you can't come here,” it's more like “oh you like electro, well tell me about it because I don't know much about it and I'll show you what I like.” Well that's my experience of it anyway.

Sounds pretty good to me. Quite early on in your career as Twin Atlantic you were supporting bands like Biffy Clyro and even the Smashing Pumpkins. How do you feel about, well, within a year, landing such fantastic slots.
(Craig) I remember when we found out about Biffy, I was speechless. And the Smashing Pumpkins one, we just couldn't believe it, it didn't make sense.

(Sam) I couldn't believe it. It took like fifteen minutes. “Oh yeah ha ha very good so what's happening really?” It's ridiculous. Bands that new shouldn't get such opportunities. We were really really lucky.

(Craig) We're really appreciative of the bands because, well, The Smashing Pumpkins... The drummer picked us so. So it was really cool to...

(Sam) Putting ourselves in the right positions, with hard work obviously but then, we got lucky. But we didn't write some shit songs and then get lucky, there was a lot of hard work, putting our EP out with the biggest Scottish promoter and then that's how we got put forward for that gig.

Light Speed is being (kind of) re-released next week, what's the reasoning behind that?
(Sam) Well initially it was released as a free download to say thank you for being patient with us and the new album. Bit of difference between Scotland and England, we've got a bigger fan base, playing bigger venues, blah blah. And people were getting a little impatient with us not having new songs recorded or whatever. So that was the reason that that was brought out like that. And we didn't expect, well, it wasn't that LOADS of people downloaded it, but it was certainly more than we expected. From across the nations, Wales, England, even Ireland. So we have come to the theory that it would be good to re-release it, to get some radio play or whatever, and people like Zane Lowe raised our profile a little bit. It's too good an opportunity to pass up to release Light Speed as an official single. We were a bit dubious because, we've just finished writing fifteen new songs it's not like we don't have new material, and we didn't want people to think we were regurgitating the same thing.

A couple of tracks off of the album were on the EP...
(Sam) Yeah that's right. Because, the reason we got the deal was because of those two songs. They did well across Europe and in America so we wanted to put our best foot forward. We realised people who knew us before might feel a bit cheated, but there were also new songs which they hadn't heard. But our doubts were blown out the water when we gave our album to some promoters and it got radio play the same day on like, Zane Lowe or something. And MTV2 and some other stations so, kinda worthwhile if you know what I mean.

You played Download last year, what was that like?
(Craig) No offence to the festival but it was probably the worst festival we've played. We didn't play that badly but, they put us on like, the classic metal day. It was bands like Def Leppard and stuff and we stuck out like a sore thumb. But we played Sonisphere later that Summer which is kinda the same thing but that was amazing.

Are you playing any of the festivals this year?
(Sam) I hope so yeah we're just scheduling. Because we're a new band there's opportunities that we have to go for that require rescheduling. That's why tonight was rescheduled, because were were offered a full European tour with Enter Shikari. We went to thirteen new countries.

Had you been to Europe previously?
(Sam) Yeah, we went with Subways to Germany and Fall of Troy, kinda to Germany but six of the gigs got cancelled because the drummer set fire to his passport. And we found that out when we got to Germany so we sat in Germany for a week doing nothing.

(Craig) We played in Cologne though.

(Sam) Yeah, we're going back in two weeks to do out first run of headline shows in Germany. It's incredible. You kinda of dream about, yeah we'll do this and yeah we'll have our own shows in Europe but it's kinda cool that it's all come together.

Do you know how the record has been received in Europe?
(Sam) I honestly don't know.

(Craig) I don't know but, when we were out with Enter Shikari there were people singing along to all our songs, and I remember playing gigs in England where nobody sang along. And that was in countries we'd never even been to.

And you've got a tour coming up in America with Fall Of Troy and Envy On The Coast... What are you expecting?
(Sam) You know what, I'm expecting a lot of confusion. I don't think people are going to be expecting, well, obviously I'm very Scottish. So they'll be like “oh it's kind of like American rock in some places, but he's still singing with that Scottish accent!” I think we'll win over a lot of fans. We played South By South West there before and, they really aren't expecting it.

Out of all the bands you've supported, who have been the best? In terms of, I know some bands like to keep themselves to themselves, who were the nicest people?
(Sam) Biffy were nice guys, we've stayed in touch and even become better friends since the tour. Enter Shikari were really nice actually, they were the first band we've toured with who were closer to our age, whereas other bands are older. We're only 22, 23. We tend to get on better with the crew – the guitar techs, the tour managers and stuff.

What kind of music is influencing you at the moment. Is there anything that is around right now that you're liking?
(Craig) I really like Noah & The Whale's new record. I really like it. The orchestral stuff, it's not so folky, it's far more epic. He used to go out with this girl, Laura Marling, and the whole album is about breaking up with her and the band's support and that. But I love the orchestral stuff, I'd like to incorporate that more. They went from being a really folky band to something different, and we need to write songs that don't sound like Vivarium pt 2, but we need to do it in a way that, a natural progression.

Vivarium peaked at #148 in the UK.
(Sam) Did it? I didn't know that.

Now you do, how do you feel about that?
(Sam) I don't know. That's pretty cool. I honestly didn't know that. There are loads of albums and we're a pretty small new bands so, that's pretty cool. Respectable. But I don't want to get big straight away, we need to do it gradually. You hear of people going straight in at number six and then there's a massive expectation on them. I'm only 22, I've got a lot to learn about song-writing and about life. I've written songs about stuff on Vivarium that I'll probably have completely different opinions on in two or three years.

Favourite track on the album, and if so, why?
(Sam) Caribbean War Syndrome, because, I think we really nailed the marriage between the music and the lyrical content as well. It's about a soldier going to war with conflicting opinions and the music reflects that with loud and quiet and light and dark, etc.

(Craig) Mine is Light Speed. Not just because it's coming out. Vivarium is supposed to be an introduction to our band, and Light Speed is the first song Sam and Ross wrote together. It was the first song of theirs I'd heard and I loved it. But it's changed a lot. It's taken us two and a half years to get it to how we want it to sound. It just reminds me of where we've come from. But if you heard the original version you wouldn't believe it was the same song.

How is this tour going? I couldn't work out where you are with your touring because so many things are starting and finishing around now.
(Sam) Well we had Cardiff, London, tonight here Southampton. That's it. Then we've got one show in Germany with White Lies, five headline shows in Europe and then off to America for fifty shows in fifty-four days. So that's what we've got lined up. I don't know what else to say I've shocked myself.

(Craig) It's nice to know we're busy up until May though. Sometimes you're in a band and you never know when your next tour is going to be.

How have the new gigs gone?
(Sam) Amazing. Really, really good. I spoke about the difference between Scotland and England, well we sold out a show in Glasgow with 1300 people, and that was a real life changing moment. But then, we sold out a show in Leeds, and that was only 130 people but it's a big thing for a band to have people outside trying to buy tickets. The shows are more exciting and the number of people has doubled since the last time we were there.

Your support tonight are Canterbury and Viva Sleep.
(Sam) Yeah Canterbury are following us around all tour. They're great guys. We've been learning a lot about vocal harmonies from them. Which is cool to get along with a band but also have total respect for their band too.

(Craig) If you asked the question who were our best support band, these guys would be up there. I feel like they're an English version of us.

Thank you guys.

Interview By Thom Curtis