The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
ROCKTALK GIG GUIDE
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• Twin Atlantic are promising an all-out rock offensive in Dundee for Independent Venue Week.
The Glasgow emo outfit debut at Beat Generator on Wednesday to mark their fifth album Power’s release today, and bass and keys maestro Ross Mcnae says the Heart And Soul hitmakers don’t intend to downsize at the Assai Records gig.
“We’re going to go as a full live band and somehow squeeze in,” quips the fatherof-two.
“We’ll approach it as the full undiluted version of ourselves and I’m sure there’s going to be situations where it’s awkward but that’s part of the fun.
“Now and again we go to some countries and play in smaller venues so it’s not alien to us, but we’ve been only really played outdoor festivals the past few years while we’ve been working on the album so Beat Generator’s going to be quite a different experience.
“We’re all looking forward to it. At the end of the day it’s fun to play music with your friends – it doesn’t really matter where it is.”
Formed in 2007, Twin Atlantic gigged in Dundee during their early years and hit Fat Sams in March following their Beat G bow.
“Apart from the Caird Hall, we’ve done nearly all the city’s venues,” adds Ross, 32.
“I’ve personally got quite a link to Dundee because I’ve spent so much time there over the years. My wife’s friend is from Alyth and so many of her friends are from the surrounding area and went to uni or art school in Dundee.
“I’ve actually got a real affinity for the place. I love coming back.”
After setting up their own studio in Glasgow, the threepiece recently completed a switch to recording giant Virgin EMI – with a radical new approach yielding the self-produced Power.
“There’s not a single other thing we could have done to be back in control of our own futures,” explains Ross.
“Historically we’ve always gone to other places to work with other people who’ve been in charge.
“This marked the first time we’ve kind of been in charge of our own destiny and making our own mistakes.
“The way the whole production works from start to finish is something we’ve been interested in for a long time.
“We had a handle on everything from designing the studio to deciding who’d work on the record, plus all the writing and recording. It’s made us fall back in love with creating things again.”
Power has a more electro feel than previous offerings, with New York art rockers LCD Soundsystem and synth pioneers Depeche Mode cited as influences by Ross and bandmates Sam Mctrusty and Craig Kneale.
“The last few years I’ve fallen more in love with synthesisers than ever before, and collecting bits and bobs wherever we can,” says Ross.
“This tied in with not feeling the pressure of having a bigname producer and paying thousands of pounds a day for a studio. So we just got to experiment with all our toys.”
Recent singles Novocaine and Barcelona also owe a debt to The Killers, harnessing Twin Atlantic’s trademark energy against a backdrop that combines pulsating electronic and analogue stylings.
Ross says the reinvention’s almost completely down to the trio – who’ve retained guitarist Barry Mckenna’s services on tour – being holed up in their new HQ.
“We didn’t write any of it outside of our studio,” he reveals.
“We decided we were going to walk inside in the morning, turn everything on and start – and that’d be the limitation for this album.
“We wanted to explore something that was new for us and it was exciting not relying on any homework – just coming in the door and seeing what happens.”
Tickets for Wednesday’s gig are £13 via assai.co.uk
Americana couple My Darling Clementine play Aberdour’s Woodside Hotel tomorrow.
Costello-influenced Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish first united on 2011’s How Do You Plead? LP, with subsequent albums featuring Graham Parker, Kinky Freidman, Brodsky Quartet and author Mark Billingham.
Tickets £10 via the venue’s website.
• Acoustic songsmith Elliott Morris teams up with Glaswegian bassist Alan Thomson at Kinross’s Green Hotel on Sunday.
The duo play works by the Anglo-scot – an ex-danny Kyle Award recipient at Celtic Connections – plus classics made famous by Thomson’s late cohort John Martyn.
Tickets £19.40 via Ticketweb.
• Church hosts alt-metallers From Inside tomorrow.
Formed in 2016, the Liverpool emo outfit have been likened to electro rock luminaries Bring Me The Horizon and Linkin Park.
Support comes from Leeds metalcore merchants Values, plus Dundee headbangers Grievance and Immortal Omen.
Tickets £8 via Skiddle.
• Southern rockers Vincent Flatts ply their Allman Brothers-like blues at Green Hotel next Friday. Tickets £21.50 via Ticketweb.
• Rising noiseniks Follow Deep, Vflambda and Astrophe hit Conroy’s Basement on Sunday. Tickets £3 via Skiddle.
• Live faves Cherry Bombz rock Broughty Ferry’s Anchor tonight, Mcdaniels tomorrow and Tams Bar on Sunday.
• It’s Fife psych rockers Domiciles at Dunfermline’s PJ Molloys tomorrow. Tickets £8 via Ticketweb.
• U2 tribute Rattled and Hummin’ play Beat Generator tomorrow. Tickets £9.50 via Tickets Scotland.
• Number 57 has regulars The Mess Arounds and Chain Gang this weekend.