With their single ‘I Can Talk’ trampling all over Triple J like Peter Jackson did to Lord Of The Rings, Two Door Cinema Club are just plain lovin’ it right now, and they aren’t even at Maccas!
Forming in 2007, this Irish three piece (plus laptop and drummer) have been building up quite a bit of buzz recently, having been featured on the BBC Sound of 2010: The long list, and more importantly Kanye West’s blog.
Their music sits somewhere between early Bloc Party and Death Cab For Cutie, with a little bit of Pac Man thrown in, at least on ‘I Can Talk’. While it’s not exactly pushing the boundaries of artistic expression, or even of pop music, anyone with blood still pumping in their veins and the use of at least one ear would be hard pressed not to get a restless feeling in their pants at hearing their music.
Having been signed to French electro powerhouse Kitsune, the three lads from the land of Eyre haven’t looked back as they are set to release their debut album in March in the UK, with Europe, the US and the rest of us soon to follow.
With this much chatter around them, I caught up with lead singer and guitarist Alex Trimble to find out more about this curiously titled band.
Music Feeds: You’ve been touring with some great bands – Delphic, Foals, the list goes on. How has it been? Is it a bit much at times or are you just lovin’ it?
Alex Trimble: We’re just lovin’ it man, you know we’ve kind of been phased into it pretty well. We weren’t thrown into the deep end or anything. I mean, we started playing shows in Belfast, which is twenty minutes away from where we grew up and formed the band, so we played there for about a year before we branched out and starting going to the UK and then on to Europe. So it’s been kind of a slow progression and we’re just really enjoying it.
MF: Us Aussies have taken to you guys like a Tasmanian to his sister, why do you think that is? Maybe a joined hatred of the English between us and you micks?
AT: Could be (uncertain laugh at subtle racism). I’m not sure though. I think the kind of music we write is pretty accessible, you know it’s pop music at it’s core, so I think it’s fairly easy to listen to and hopefully very easy to like.
MF: Yeah, you should put that on the album cover, ‘easy to listen to, hopefully easy to like.’ Anyway speaking about the record, what can we expect? Is it a progression from what we’ve heard with ‘I Can Talk’?
AT: Yeah well that’s going to be on the record, and I think it’s pretty similar to that stuff; it’s all got the same basis you know it’s all dancey and poppy and it’s got that kind of feel to most of the album, but I think there are definitely different areas that the album goes into. You know, we’ve got some dancey songs, and some more rocky songs and some slower songs and things like that, but yeah at the end of the day it’s a dancey pop record.
MF: So it’s all done then? What was the recording process like for you, daunting being the first time and all?
AT: Sort of. We spent four weeks in a studio in London and just recorded it all and then spent a lot of time just getting it right you know, sounding the way we wanted it to. Then we mixed some of it in London and then we went over and did some more mixing in Paris as well. We were kind of perfectionists about it, you know we wanted it to sound exactly how we wanted it to sound, but it’s actually come out sounding better than we wanted it to. We’re all just really happy with how it’s turned out.
MF: Really? I don’t hear that too often, usually musos are bitching about not having enough time in the studio or whatever.
AT: Yeah you know we couldn’t let it go without being happy. Iit’s our first record, it’s our debut and it’s going to be many peoples first impression of us and we want it to be the best that it could be.
MF: Cool, so you guys are signed to Kitsune, I heard you got booked to play a party of theirs which is how you got the deal, what was that like? Champagne and canapés or cocaine and hookers?
AT: (Another uncertain laugh) I don’t know about that. We just played, but the party was awesome. From the off they were all just kind of all really passionate about the music, you know, they were just genuine fans of us which was something that was really kind of special and important to us. You know it’s ok if you sign to a major label and get shitloads of money and all of that, but they’re just a big marketing machine, they just want to make money whereas with Kitsune it’s more like we’re just working with friends who kind of believe in us and want us to do well and are just genuinely passionate about what we do. That’s where we want to be.
MF: I can totally understand that. So it sounds like you guys are pretty sorted, what’s next on the horizon?
AT: I think just to kind of get our music out to as many people as possible. We’re just planning on playing as many different places as we can. We’re going to release the album in the UK and tour the UK and Ireland and then move on to Europe. The album’s also going to be released in the US shortly after that so hopefully we can get over there before the summer ends and depending on how things go maybe get on down your way, Japan and Australia by the end of the year.
MF: Awesome, sounds like you’ve got a lot of touring ahead. Do you prefer playing live to working in the studio?
AT: I think we always love playing live, no matter what; it’s kind of why we’re in a band. We just love playing our songs and we love playing to people. At the same time we love working in the studio but I think there is only so much time you can spend in the studio before you just go fuckin’ bonkers you know? I think it’s great to spend a couple of weeks in the studio then go out and play for a few months and then after a while you’re just ready to get back into the studio and record some music. Like we all record our own stuff while we’re on the road as well so we like to dip into that a lot of the time.
MF: With the style of music you guys play, I can imagine it could be a bit hard to get the sound from the record to the stage. How do you do it?
AT: Yeah well, when we started out playing, we didn’t have a drummer, so we relied on a laptop for all our kind of drum beats and stuff like that. Then we went and did the record and we got it all sounding the way we wanted our band to sound and that involved a real drummer. So we got a drummer to play with us live, but we didn’t want to lose the laptop cos it brought something to our sound that we really liked, so we were able to just kind of take the laptop to a new level, so it’s able to produce sounds that we either put on the record or that we couldn’t do live with our instruments. So yeah, it’s helped us expand our sound definitely, and it really helps in keeping the sound consistent with the album.
Two Door Cinema Club’s debut album, Tourist History, is out soon. Check their official website for pre-order details, and a free download of their new track ‘Costume Party’.
