It’s been over four years since an album release, and three years since a headline UK/IE tour, but Glaswegian rockers Twin Atlantic are back with more POWER than ever before. We spoke to Ross McNae, bassist, keyboard and backing vocalist of the band to discuss their new album POWER and the upcoming tour in 2020.
To start off with, Ross, what is in the water this year that is going to make 2020 huge for Twin Atlantic?
The main thing this year is that we are finally going to be out playing new songs to our fans again, that was a massive thing we missed when writing this album. Of course, we got to play Summer Sessions last year with The 1975 and other support acts but it has been too long since we got out and played new songs for the crowds.
We have had, I think, three and a half years since our last record and we have spent all that time writing, recording and building our studio. We’ve been through record label changes, management changes, you name it, we’ve done it these last few years and it has been a rollercoaster of emotions.
You mentioned the Glasgow studio, was that always a dream for the band to have a recording space of your own in your hometown or was that a new-found idea?
Honestly, it was never a set out plan to have our own studio. The idea came about during a type of interim period when we had just ended a deal with our record label and we were searching around for a new label at the time. It felt like we needed a change and that was when we decided to set up a space for us to rehearse and record locally. We wanted to see how far we could take the demos we were writing ourselves before getting someone else involved and it has paid off now.
The songs on this album feel a lot more personal now that it has been released, is that due to how much creative power (to pardon the pun) you all had when writing the music?
Hand on heart, we have had such a good time making this album and it has opened our eyes to so many other things, such as making music with so many other amazing people and our studio has become much more open in the sense that other artists can come and record here with their bands etc. It has reignited the love we have always had for our music and just added an extra spark to us as a band.
Moving onto the music, is there a specific song on the album that you yourself prefer and are looking forward to performing?
Oh, ‘Ultraviolet Truth’ for sure. This song, for me and Sam anyway, is the most direct link back to the spark that made us who we are. There’s a lot of nostalgia in that song, similar to Depeche Mode or New Order, that isn’t necessarily linked to a time, but more a feeling in various periods of time in our lives.
How is this album different from your other records that you’ve released over the years?
This album shows off more of our own personal influences, the likes of U2, Depeche Mode, LCD Soundsystem, we’ve stuck to our own sound while branching out and making more risky, different sounding tracks.
