The Twilight of this Scottish band’s career is a long way away...

Support tour with The Cure opens up new doors for James Graham and co as their 15 years of graft begins to pay off

Their name and selfconfessed “dark songs” gives off a vibe of everything being all doom and gloom, but the future appears bright for this hardworking Scottish band.

After 15 years of hard slog, The Twilight Sad (TTS) look fast on their way becoming a proverbial overnight success – thanks in no small way to their support slot on The Cure’s North American and European tour in 2018.

It always felt like up until now TTS were one of the best kept secrets in the indie music scene. But the tour was a major breakthrough with it introducing them to a much wider audience.

There’s a real buzz about them at the moment. Cure frontman Robert Smith (circled) has been singing their praises. Not only did he cover one of their tracks but he also hailed them as his favourite band.

Smith said: “(The Twilight Sad are) the best band playing the best songs – consistently brilliant, emotional, intense, inspiring, entertaining.”

It’s high praise indeed. And after listening to their latest album out on January 18, it’s easy to appreciate why Smith is such a huge fan of these guys.

We’ve only just begun the new year but it’s safe to say that their fifth album entitled ‘It Won/t Be Like This All The Time’ is going to be in the mix when it comes to compiling a list of the best releases of 2019.

The album is trademark TTS with its raw and moody Lo-fi approach best described as misery pop – but this time they have upped their game with an added dynamic, or “energetic” sound, as they put it themselves.

With this album, TSS are at their peak of creativity – firing on all cylinders and not once hitting a bum note on it.

The album has their own unique stamp on it, but, at the same time,

TTS are sometimes reminiscent of Joy

Division and Tinderstick.

While there’s also even a hint of The Cure about them. All of which is certainly no bad thing.

But what really makes TSS stand out from others is how their vocalist James Graham sings his deep lyrics in such an unadulterated Scottish accent. It will remind you of how Damien Dempsey employs his Dublin vernacular to convey such strong emotions.

James (inset) told Beat: “I thought if I’m writing about myself and where I’m from and things that have happened to me, I’ve just got to sing naturally and sing the way that I am. If I was to be true and honest to my stories then I had to be myself.”

It is easy to imagine it can be difficult for overseas audiences to understand him. James nods in agreement. “Something I’ve noticed when we play in different countries they haven’t got a clue what you’re saying because they can’t understand your accent,” he said, pausing to laugh.

“But they say, ‘I can feel it from they way you’re singing it’. I thought that was really cool. Even though people couldn’t understand the actual words they could understand the feelings coming across.”

Asked exactly what type of feelings he was attempting to convey on the new album, James replied: “Not very happy ones!

“The year that I wrote the record is reflected in the album title – I had some of the best times in my life and I had some of the worst times in my life.

“And being a Scotsman and being from Glasgow, I like to focus on the worst times more than the better ones. The glass is half empty!”

Opening up more, he confessed: “I see writing as a therapy session – it gets things off my chest I wouldn’t be able to say in every day life to even the people closet to me. Some of it was beating myself up, to be honest.

“My outlet is music. I’m lucky that I have this outlet in my life to get it out of my system and not let it burn away at me.

“But there were some really dark days, to be honest. I wasn’t going through the best of times, but I was trying to see the good in things. It’s about trying to find the hope in things.

“It’s dark album but there’s an element of looking for better. I won’t say upbeat, but it’s the most energetic album we’ve ever done.”

Since touring with The Cure, James now describes Robert Smith as a mentor and even credits him for helping TSS to produce what is their best album to date.

He told Beat: “I can lift the phone and ask him for advice – like we did with the new record.

“We sent him all the demos and he was rating them out of 10 and telling us to try this, try that. He was just helping us.

“To have one of the best songwriters of all time to champion you and want to help you is an absolutely mind blowing thing.”

James still can’t believe how he can now count such a music icon as a close friend.

He admitted: “It’s mind blowing. If I was to go back to when I was 18 and talk to myself and tell myself that, I would’ve told myself to f **** off! There would be no chance that

something like that would happen.

“On the tour we did with him, I constantly had to pinch myself that it was happening. I also had to pinch myself over how good he was to us and how much he carried about us.

“I don’t take it for granted. I’m constantly like, ‘Why us?’ There’s thousand of bands out there, but Robert just saw something in us.

“He really wants to see our band succeed – not just to succeed but for our music to reach people. I can’t put in words how much it means to me. He’s a good friend now, which is amazing.”

James, who describes himself as a “quarter Irish”, is planning to bring his old man over with him to Ireland next time he plays here.

He explained: “I’ve got very close ties to Ireland. My grandmother is from Dublin. And my father is going to come over for the first time to Ireland to go and visit the street she was born on.”

James promises Irish audiences will get more than one chance to check them out this year too.

“I think there’s something in the summer that we’re not announced for yet, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it,” he teased.

This comment makes it sound like TTS will be the special guest when The Cure perform at Malahide Castle on June 8. When pushed on the matter, he added: “I’m not allowed to say! But maybe if you put two and two together with other things we’ve talked about that might become clearer!

“But we want to do our own shows there as well. I think there’s some Irish gigs lined up this year that we haven’t announced yet.”

Reading between the lines, it certainly sounds like you can beat your house on TTS being in Malahide come June 8 for one of the most anticipated gigs of the year. Just remember that you read it here first.

lit Won/t Be Like This All The Time is out January 18 on Rock Action Records

My outlet is music. I’m lucky that I have this outlet in my life to get it out of my system and not let it burn away at me’