Scottish epic-rock foursome The Twilight Sad are currently working on the follow-up to their stunning 2007 debut LP, ‘Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters’.
Clash asked the band if they’d drop us an update on their progress, and they kindly agreed. The following words comes courtesy of frontman James Graham.
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So, we headed in to Chem19 studios with Paul Savage (Delgados) at the start of January to record our second record which, as of yet, is unnamed. We like to wait until the record is finished before giving it a title.
There are a few themes with this record, and one main theme binding it together. As with the last record, we aren’t giving much away with the themes because we like the listener to relate the songs back themselves and maybe try and figure it all out on their own. Plus, it’s personal. I would like to keep it close to my chest. Maybe one day I will reveal all, if anyone actually gives a fuck.
What I will say is that it’s lyrically based around where we live, people we know, and the antics I have got up to and the situations I have found myself in, and being none too proud and a bit ashamed of myself over the past two years. It’s also about finding and losing people, friends and loved ones. The songs are all stories where a situation is created and it all seems a bit innocent, but as the song goes on you realise it’s the complete opposite. The listener might have to look into the lyrics a bit more this time. It’s all pretty dark with not a lot of hope… but that’s all you’re getting!
All the songs were written at home when we came off tour. We don’t write on the road – we’re too busy drinking and trying not to kill each other. We have taken our time with the writing process because we wanted to get everything right and not ruin all the hard work we had put into making/promoting the first record, plus we wanted to move on from ‘Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters’. In an ideal world the new record would have been out a wee while ago, but I feel the time is now right for a second Twilight Sad album.
We spent five weeks in the studio and it was not without some drama to be honest. We blew up three bass heads and the rest of the band decided to fuck with me quite a lot. For example, have a wee look at this…
We used a lot of instruments and experimented with a lot of different sounds, including hitting fire extinguishers! There will definitely be a version of the songs with me swearing all over them floating around at one point as we discovered I have Tourette’s!
As for song titles, they might not be as long this time, and as for the artwork – we are working with Dave Thomas at FatCat again. We feel that it’s important to keep that relationship going through each of our albums.
We are definitely making a ‘record’ and not a bunch of singles put together! It will be a listener, but maybe a bit more instant than the first album. We hope to make a record that pushes its way through all the shite that is out there these days and take a step forward as a band in this shite industry!
Ultimately we want to make a record that is big, noisy as fuck and is better than ‘Use Your Illusion’ I and II put together, and to make a record that we are proud of, that will be ours and nobody else’s!
We are now at the mixing stage and it will all be done in the next month or so! We head off on tour with our good friends Mogwai in America and hope to have something out by the time we fuck off to America. We are looking forward to taking these new songs out on the road. We are also looking forward to playing live a lot more these days as we feel like a proper band now. When we hit the road now, we will be five piece with Dok (formerly of Aereogramme) playing guitar, keys, loops. When we first started, we were thrown out to America, in front of people, before we really knew what the fuck was going on. We were four friends who enjoyed jamming in a rehearsal room who had only played three gigs in three years. Then we were suddenly playing with bands like Beriut, Mogwai, Battles, Micah P Hinson, Idlewild, Aereogramme, Smashing Pumpkins (shite) and playing the 02 Arena in a support slot.
Now we feel we are ready and able to put on great gigs and play at our best!
We are still shite though!
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Comedy gold. Find the band on MySpace HERE.
See exclusive photographs from the band’s recording sessions HERE.
