Scotland’s Twilight Sad released its second album Forget the Night Ahead in September and hits New York City tonight with a show at Southpaw (the band also plays Bowery Ballroom on Oct. 6). Rebecca Huval check in with singer James Graham.
I'm a bit of a regionalist, so pardon the generalization, but Scottish rock sounds foggy to my American ears— the disaffected vocals, the warped drones. What do you think Twilight Sad shares in common with fellow Fat Cat label countrymen, such as Frightened Rabbits and We Were Promised Jetpacks?
The obvious comparison would be that we sing with our own accents and don't try to hide that the fact we are from Scotland. There are a few similarities between the bands but we are all very different in many ways too. We are all from different areas in Scotland and you can tell that with our accents too. We all sing very personnel songs and are very honest in our songwriting.
Andy met Craig at a bus stop, is that right? What does it say about your band's attitude that you'll pick up any old bassist off the sidewalk?
Yeah Craig and Andy met at a bus top and I think they just started talking rubbish to each other. Then the next day Craig was at practice. Maybe the next time we need a new member of the band we will hold American Idol-style auditions!
James, you told The Skinny that your lyrics in the new album, Forget the Night Ahead, are darker than your last album, Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, and that they are "based around things that have happened to me over the past two years, revolving mainly around losing people and being none too proud or happy with myself about my antics and situations I’ve found myself in." Would you mind telling us what some of those antics were?
To be honest I don't really like talking about my lyrics too much. That quote was probably the most I have ever told anybody about any of my lyrics. My favorite songs are the ones where I don't know what they are about and that means I can relate the song back to myself. Certain songs remind me of places, people and things that have happened in my life and if I actually find out what they are about it could ruin that illusion in my head. So I like to think that other people can do the same with our songs.
In songs such as "Reflection of the Television" and "I Became a Prostitute," it sounds like you channel the wallflower power of Morrissey more than you did in your first album. How does Forget the Night Ahead mark a new direction for the band's sound?
I am a big fan of Morrissey and the smiths but it wasn’t a conscious decision to sing in that style. It’s funny that you say that because Barry and Stuart from Mogwai have been taking the piss out of me when we have been on tour with them by calling me McMorrissey. This new record is a lot rougher round the edges than the first record and a lot more intense. We didn’t want to make a nice sounding album and we wanted to challenge the listener and ourselves. I also feel the song writing has progressed. The songs on the first record were the first songs we had ever written so after 2 years touring and playing music every night we were always going to move forward. We have also grown up a lot and that was always going to influence the song writing.
What's your crowd-pleaser song for a New York audience, and why?
I have never really thought of any of our songs being crowd pleasers, but if I had to say one of them it would be either "I Became A Prostitute" or "Cold Days From the Birdhouse" people seem to sing along to those songs.
Photo by Nic Shonfeld © 2009 - www.nicshonfeld.com
