The Twang

The British indie-rock group The Twang was assembled in Birmingham in 2001 by vocalist Phil Etheridge and bassist Jon Watkin. Both had been long-term friends and shared the same interests. Apart from soccer, this, of course, was music. While in the early nineties their passion was drawn towards dance rhythms that flooded British stage and radio space, the young men were greeting the up-coming millennium with totally new priorities. Being heavily influenced by the worldwide known Oasis, the two decided to form their own group and play a guitar music that was already defined universally as indie-rock. Initially called Neon Twang, this group also included the second vocalist Martin Saunders, guitarist Stu Hartland and drummer Matty Clinton. The material these lads began making from the start matched perfectly their gigs. Fusing truly rock noisy guitars with dance rhythms, these musicians raised hell during their live shows, which was also backed up by their action on the stage and audacious words in the interviews.

That was exactly what youth were after and Neon Twang’s concerts became soon aggravated by conflicts among the wildest spectators. This quickly brought the band a nasty reputation and the musicians came to a conclusion to work out a new image. The first step they made in that direction was reducing the name to The Twang. It never made them a less welcomed act on the stage. The word of mouth about the young talents from Birmingham reached fast London wherefrom the leading periodicals sent their agents to see the emerging stars. It was no surprise that in 2006, even before the release of the group’s first official album, the influential NME magazine gifted them with a large praiseful article while their songs invaded the airplay of the biggest national stations. Later the same year, several sound recording companies ignited an all-out war for the right to sign the promising outfit. In the end, the victory ran to B-Unique Recordings, a partner of such celebrated acts as Kaiser Chiefs, and Primal Scream.

In the spring of 2007, The Twang issued two impressive singles, Wide Awake, and Either Way. Both rushed into the British Top 20. Early in the summer, the group prepared their debut long player under the title Love It When I Feel Like This. Featuring the two abovementioned singles, this record sold two hundred thousand copies in a blink of an eye and occupied the third position in the charts. Before the musicians realized an accomplishment they had made, they began getting offers on joint performances from the groups they could only watch on TV just yesterday. The army of loyal following was growing steadily while there were multitudes of those who were eager to attend the band’s concerts just to hear Wide Awake, and Either Way live. Aware of explosive temper and childish attitude of the members, many deduced that the young musicians would not deal with the fame that had crashed onto them out of the blue sky and were going to hard their own career. However, The Twang seemed to know well what they had to do next. After a successful tour arranged to promote the first effort, they came back to the studio really fast and began preparing the new record. This time the process of making was not a rush like in the previous case as the musicians revealed true maturity and seriousness in respect of the up-coming product. Called Jewellery Quarter, the album arrived in the summer of 2009.