As he gears up for the release of new album ‘Free’ on 2 May, Sam McTrusty of melodic Glaswegian alt.rockers Twin Atlantic chats to Bella Todd about learning to party harder, why abrasive is beautiful, and not looking Billy Corgan in the eye…
You marked the release of your debut mini album back in 2009 by getting a tattoo. How will you be celebrating this one?
"Each song on the album is represented by a different icon - ‘Edit Me’ is a typewriter, ‘Free’ is a petrol can - so we might each get the icon of our favourite song tattooed. But just being able to relax is enough of a celebration though. We’ve put so much into this album."
What was it like working with producer Gil Norton?
"It was a great, natural and quite surreal choice for us because he’s worked on so many albums that inspired us to be a band in the first place, like Foo Fighters and Pixies and Feeder. It didn’t feel like we even had to try with him."
What was it that excited him about you?
"He told me he found our music believable. He could tell we were genuine and meant what we sung, and he said that was a turn on, because there aren’t many young bands right now that you can say that about."
"We wanted to make an honest rock record that would have the same impact that The Foo Fighters made on us when we were 15."
You can tell from your lyrics that you’re not a man who goes in for the superficialities. The new album’s title track ‘Free’ has the line ‘I fell in love with rock and roll until I found out it was false / and plastered on a face for me’. What bit you?
"It was disheartening to find out how much of the industry was just smoke and mirrors. And there are so many UK bands who sing like they’re from America. We wanted to make an honest rock record that would have the same impact that The Foo Fighters’ ‘The Colour And The Shape’ made on us when we were 15. An album that people could carry with them through their lives."
You’ve talked about trying to get away from songs about girlfriends. Do you feel like you’ve succeeded?
"That’s really funny because… not at all! ‘Crash Land’ is a relationship song, but buried in a song about me being terrified of flying. I’m so scared of flying that every time I go on a plane I kind of have to accept, right, this is it, I’ve had a pretty good run, there’s a high chance that this plane could explode and I could die, but at least I’m getting on the plane to do something good like make an album or go on tour."
You went to Glasgow School Of Art. Is there any stylistic link between your paintings and your music?
"My personal style of playing guitar and painting are probably quite closely married. I’ve lived in the inner city of Glasgow my whole life and I started painting lots of semi-derelict buildings. Perhaps it was trying to make something degraded look beautiful. As a guitarist, I’m self-taught, and really turned on by things that sound horrible. To me aggressive and abrasive is a great sound."
Are you aware of the Facebook page ‘Sam McTrusty Is the Hottest Man Alive’?
"Ah, God. I am but I’d managed to forget about it! But as much as it freaks us out it’s great that people care enough about our band to want to promote our music. Not that that site is really about the music!"
You’ve said that coming from Glasgow made you instant underdogs - that’s quite an attractive quality for a rock band to have isn’t it?
"A lot of people put musicians on really high pedestals really quickly. Coming from Glasgow it’s difficult to become any sort of ‘rock star’ because the people would just bring you back down so swiftly. If you get a little bit of success everyone’s so encouraging, but if you get past a certain level everybody turns on you."
How integral is your Scottishness to your music?
"Completely essential. Gil actually pointed out that we have real Celtic undertones in our music. I can hear those moments now where, if you transferred it on to folk instruments, there’s a Celtic rhythm going on."
You’ve supported Biffy Clyro, Smashing Pumpkins, Lostprophets, Funeral for a Friend, You Me At Six, Blink 182, My Chemical Romance… Who partied hardest?
"I don’t want to play up the Scottish stereotype, but Biffy really were party animals. They’re not as well known, but Fall Of Troy took us on tour in America and completely changed our attitude to being in a band. They’re the dictionary definition of dysfunctional rock. Our first encounter was driving all the way from Glasgow to Germany and finding only two of the three members there and the next six gigs cancelled because the drummer had put his passport in the microwave - he was trying to disable the chip because he was paranoid about government tracking. They showed us the light - we took ourselves too seriously before we went on tour with them."
Did you learn anything from Billy Corgan?
"It opened up a lot of doors but playing with Smashing Pumpkins was the weirdest experience of our career. We loaded in behind a curtain and it was a closed soundcheck, and we were told we weren’t allowed to look the band in the eye. Who in their right mind would do that? That was a massive eye opener for us. Being a fan of the music you then realize, well, that was all bullshit then wasn’t it?"
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Sam McTrusty’s Life In Music
The first song I remember hearing was… "Boney M’s ‘Rivers Of Babylon’ in my grandpa’s car. My granddad isn’t really inclined to disco soul music, more Willie Nelson, so I don’t know where that one comes from. He’s one of our most avid followers now, he’s got a scrapbook of all our clippings."
My first instrument was… "An electric guitar. I got one for Christmas when I was 15 but I wasn’t allowed to play it in the house for two years because my sister was revising. The first thing I tried to play was ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, in the wrong key and on the wrong notes.
The first gig I went to was… "Boyzone in George Square in Glasgow. My sister dragged me along when I was six. The first rock gig would have been Blink 182, who we later supported. But my memories of Boyzone are of being quite scared by all the nuts girls screaming really loudly."
My musical epiphany was… "Listening to my dad’s Bruce Springsteen, which I always thought was terrible, and suddenly when I was about 12 starting to understand it. I started to get that ‘Born To Run’ was like a collection of stories, and that made me really want to explore music, and guitar music in particular."
The worst gig I’ve ever played was… "At Manchester’s In The City. It got to this moment where I have to play this really dramatic drop down, and I just fell off the front of the stage. The band still roll about laughing about it every now and then. It scarred me!"
My karaoke track of choice would be… "Anything by Elvis Presley."
Want more?
- Check out the band's official site
- Visit Red Bull Records
- Have a look at Twin Atlantic's videos
- Go to RedBull.com's music pages
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