Birmingham indie types The Twang were forced to head back to the studio after their label rejected the band’s second album.
The Twang formed in Birmingham, a group of lads looking to rejuvenate the city’s flagging live music scene. Almost immediately attracting trouble, the band’s terrace anthems seemed destined to come attached with a bad boy element.
Using two frontmen, The Twang visually recall The Happy Mondays. Bad to the bone, the group’s baggy shuffle blends dance rhythms with rock guitars while frequently displaying signs of a love of reggae.
However in a new interview with BBC Newsbeat the band deny that they are hooligans. “Every conversation was ‘Baggy lovin’ hooligans’ – I tried so hard to get away from that,” says lead singer Phil Etheridge.
“It was never like, ‘Lads that practise three nights a week and love playing live shows’.”
“We are a bit more mature, and we wanted to make a great record that was a bit more about songs rather than people saying, ‘It’s all about drink and lads'” adds Jon Watkin.
Debut album ‘Love It When I Feel Like This’ was released in 2007 and became an immediate commercial success. However the group found themselves lambasted by critics who believed the album did little more than rehash the poorer elements of 90s guitar pop.
Huddled away in a rehearsal studio, the band began to piece together a follow up yet were left stunned after their label B-Unique told them they still had much more to do.
“It weren’t up to our standards man,” says Etheridge. “They (B-Unique) knew we could write a better record.”
“I knew after the second or third day it wasn’t right… It was really important to come back and not be one of those bands which writes one record then disappears.”
The resulting album is named ‘Jewellery Quarter’. Not much has been heard of The Twang’s new material, with the group remaining tight-lipped. An upcoming UK tour could see new songs being debuted, but fans may have to wait until the release of upcoming single ‘Barney Rubble’ to be a glimpse of the new album.
The Twang are set to release their new album ‘Jewellery Quarter’ on July 20th.
