TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB (16/09/16)

Whereas the third album “Gameshow” is about to be released on October 14th, we met the three Irish boys of Two Door Cinema Club in Paris, three weeks after their gig at Rock En Seine. We talked about the break they decided to take in 2013, the new album, the over presence of adverts in our everyday life and pomegranate.  

How was Rock En Seine?

Alex Trimble (vocals/guitar): It was great! One of the best of the summer. We’d been playing for nearly three months at festivals and it was the last weekend so we had a lot of practise and there is like less pressure when it’s the last one. France is always so much fun and we had so many more people came than we thought and everything was just great. I had a really good time.

You played some new songs from “Gameshow”: “Are We Ready? (Wreck)” and “Bad Decisions” you released several weeks before. Why did you choose to play these ones? Do you think they capture the best essence of your new album?

Kevin Baird (bass/vocals/keyboards): It’s the only ones we know. (laughs)

Alex: (laughs) We haven’t rehearsed the other ones so. But since “Are We Ready?” was the first single and “Bad Decisions” was the second, it made sense to play those ones first but honestly the record label chose those two singles. We love every song on the album so we didn’t really care which came first. Next week, we go to rehearsals and we learn how to play everything else. (laughs) So next time we come back we’ll have more.

“Gameshow” seems to be more disco. What were your inspirations for this new album?

Alex: So many things. We listened to some disco: Madonna, Bee Gees, Prince. But we also listened to very different kinds of music as well; we listened to quite a bit of Fela Kuti, Ennio Morricone was another one that kept coming back up. Man, who else? Who else were we listening to in the studio?

Sam Halliday (lead guitar/vocals): J Dilla!

Alex:  J Dilla, yes. A lot of hip hop as well, some Beyoncé. It was everywhere but the disco especially because we always made kind of dance music or at least music that you can dance to. The stuff that was hugely influential was the disco stuff and we love synthesizers so it was always easier to bring disco into the sound but we were listening to something different everyday. Jacknife Lee, the producer, has one of the biggest record collection out of anyone I know and his records are just all over the wall and he has a record player in the middle of the room so either he would just take a record off or one of us could just walk up and find a record so it was just different everyday. That’s what makes it exciting. We were listening to some things totally different from us like Ennio Morricone. And we hear something and were like “oh! yeah! Let’s do something like that”, everyday.

So, what did you feel when you heard that Prince and Bowie were gone? What did they represent for you?

Alex: I love their music and they both had such long careers and they constantly reinvented themselves and they were never afraid to try something different which that, to me, is the most inspirational thing because some bands, some artists, they find a sound and it works and they stick with that so a lot of their records sound the same but that’s not interesting nor exciting to us. We want to try and do something different. I guess it takes courage as well and both Bowie and Prince had so much courage! They just were unafraid. We want to try and achieve something like that.

You were living in different cities when you wrote your album. Did the cities, the music played in these cities you lived in influence you somehow?

Alex: Not for me really.

You were in Portland.

Alex: I was in Portland and I lived across the road from a great record store and I was in there all the time but still, like I was buying all kinds of music and every now and then on the radio I hear good music from Portland but I never go and see local bands in Portland, I mean, I’m hardly ever there. But I haven’t really got become invested in the Portland scene I guess.

And you Sam, you lived in London, did you go to see bands?

Sam: Just friends really. I don’t know, I just did really boring things when I was there.

And how did you manage to create new stuffs while you were apart from each other?

Sam: We just emailed ideas back and forth and we’ve all got set up so we can write music at home. I think it was good because it allowed us to sort of develop things apart and getting ideas we were really happy with before we sort of share them. And I think it led to even more diversity throughout the different songs and it was nice as well being in different time zones sometimes because we had been working 24/7 on our music. I would be working in London and whenever I sent music to those guys they would be waking up and they would work on music through the day and I would be waking up and then. It’s kind of cool.

Was the break you took from the band vital to each of you, the band and your music?

Alex: Absolutely. I don’t think we would have made another record if we didn’t have the break. It was too difficult by the end. We hadn’t stopped for nearly six years and we were just exhausted. We didn’t even enjoy it anymore and you cannot be productive or creative if you’re not in that place so we had to escape for a while. So it was absolutely necessary for sure.

What did you do for two years, apart from each other, did you do a little bit of music alone?

Kevin: Yeah I think all of us were still playing music, we just didn’t really do it for a purpose other than enjoyment which was nice. It’s kind of a luxury we had and enjoyed for a while. And also trying to be normal for a while, like trying to be at one place for a while, spend time with your girlfriend, your friends, your family, whatever. Just normal things. I think we were really missing doing things like that.

Sam: Yeah, it’s nice to have a minute to create some sort of life sphere outside from just being that guy from that band. I think it’s something we all really missed. With being on the road so much is that the band just came to define you we were as people but we all are very different so we couldn’t really be ourselves entirely. With that time, we sort of created our identity outside of the band. This year, we are not going to tour as much as we have before and we can have a couple of weeks at home, a couple of weeks on the road so it will be a little more balanced.

Do you think it brought some personal stuff on your record?

Alex: Yeah, I mean we finally had personal stuff. We felt almost like we didn’t have many things that were our own before because all we knew was the band, it was our whole life. It was either we lived together or we were on tour together, in the studio together so everything was defined by the band. This time we actually developed lives on our own. So, again it’s how we developed this new sound because we were each working on our own instead of always trying to work together at the same time. It’s a much more personal album for sure.

You were on Kitsuné label for your first two albums and now you’re with Warner, a major label. What did it change for you?

Kevin: We’re still very good friends with Kitsuné and we keep in touch. There was a bit of a transition going on. In terms of just boring business, things of people getting sold, things were moving, our contract was up so we decided to try something different. Luckily we ushered a deal with Parlophone and Warner here in France. It may be a classic sort of thing that people say that major labels make you do this and it’s all about being as commercial as possible. This is our first experience with a major label and we haven’t had that experience because everyone has been really nice and understanding of the kind of band that we built ourselves into and what we were about and they kind of just set us free in a way, to do what we want to do and creatively at least.

Sam: Yeah, I think the one day someone from the label came to the studio and tried to suggest something, Jacknife (ed. the producer) told them: “No”. (laughs)

So you’re as free as before?

Alex: Yeah, creatively, nothing about the music has changed. But the way everything else works is very different. There are so many more people involved in this project now! When we signed with Kitsuné, there were maybe four people working at the office, at the end there were a lot of people. But for the most part we were in charge of everything: we organized the single releases, and the music videos and the artwork and we did everything directly. And we’re still involved in everything but now there are like teams of people, Warner has a video department, a design department, a promotion department. So it’s taking a lot of getting used to this idea of just working with a much bigger organization and in a way, going from being in control of everything to delegating to other people, that wasn’t easy at first, for me at least. But we’re getting used to it. As long as we get to control our music as we do, that’s all that really matters.

It seems more personal, more intimate. What is the album about?

Alex: Every song is different and for me, lyrically it goes to a lot of different places. Some of it is about the break and coming to terms with real life and discovering the world outside of the band. I became fascinated with modern life and how much it has changed since we were kids, like the Internet. And, the world has become a very confusing place. A lot of the record is about that. And also my own journey from not knowing what to do with myself to getting back into the music again.

Concerning “Are We Ready? (Wreck)”, the lyrics and the retro video clip that presents several adverts seem to be a critic of our consumption society, is it also a critic of the consumption of music?

Alex: No.

Like we have music on our phones, we listen to it and then forget it and we download another one.

Alex: It’s definitely changed but I used to be more upset about that than I am now. I accept it, you can’t stop progress and people wanted it this way and ultimately you listen to what the people want. You can’t tell them how they’re going to have it. Especially with the Internet. No, it’s more about the idea of excessive consumption and the advertising. Again, the Internet has become a breeding ground for it. You can’t go to a website without a banner on the top or a video playing or something is being marketed towards you. It’s not a nice feeling to have when you know you can’t escape that.

At Clapham Common underground station, in London, artists from Glimpse replaced the adverts by pictures of cats for two weeks.

Kevin: I saw that! (ndlr : he explains to Alex and Sam) In escalators, every thirty centimeters there is an ad and they put posters of different cats, cute cats stuck at every billboard.

So it upsets other people than you it seems, it upsets everybody.

Alex: The thing that is scary is that a lot of people don’t really realize that. Because we’re used to it, if you go to a website, it’s normal to have a banner. Nowadays, it’s normal for a company to be involved in an event, a festival, a TV show, there is always some big company putting money into it and getting advertising out of it. But luckily, there are people who are trying to draw attention to this. Because it’s how the world works, advertising is great but when it starts to feed in everyday life, that’s no good.

Kevin: It’s also really scary because if you’re walking past a poster on the wall, maybe you don’t like actively go “that’s an advert” but there is a part of you that knows that it is. There is maybe old institutions that you would have trusted say “The New York Times”, “The Guardian” but everything has shifted online and I’m sure you know, being in this industry of journalism, that these promoted stories, when you’re reading it, you have to have magnifying glasses to be able to read “promoted story by some broadcasting company”.

Alex: Sponsored content.

Kevin: Sponsored content, where you trust these institutions to give you the news and suddenly the news is becoming Buzzfeed and is becoming: how quickly can I get you in and how they keep you, there are also companies paying to be in the news. It sets a kind of crazy, scary future where the news is just what someone says it is and some people think that already exist with certain old Australian bold people. (laughs)

And so why did you choose this subject in particular? Was it something you wanted your listeners to be aware of that?

Alex: At the time, it wasn’t necessarily making a statement although it’s always great that we can use our music and our platform to draw attention to certain things but it was more something that I noticed and that interested me and I wrote about it. It wasn’t much more than that. I was just discovering things about the world that I hadn’t noticed before and I was trying to figure stuff out and that was something that I found kind of concerning. It’s a good way to put an opinion or a message out there especially since we have young fans who have been growing up with The Internet and who might not be so aware. For us, we can see it, it’s right there in front of us because when we were kids, there was no Internet so we know when things aren’t right in a way. But a lot of other kids won’t have that same opportunity. It has just always been there so it’s a great opportunity but we’re not trying to tell kids to stop buying things and stop going on the Internet. It’s just to be a little more aware of what’s going on and notice what’s happening and you can choose wether or not to be involved.

Last question: as our website is called “RockUrLife”, what rocks your life?

Kevin: Pomegranate is rocking my life.

What is this?

Kevin: Pomegranate, a fruit with seeds, a big red fruit. (ed. He shows us a picture on his phone). What do you call it in French? Pomegranate? (laughs)

it’s called “grenade”.

Alex: Yes, there you go. I knew that!

Kevin: What? Grenate? Grenade? (laughs)

Sam: That’s where grenade come from because it’s shaped like the fruit.

And you Sam?

Sam: I love playing football at the minute because we have been away all summer at festival all the weekends and I play a game with my friends on Saturday mornings but I’ve missed it for teh past three months because I was at festival. And I’ve been playing for the past two weeks so that’s rocking my world at the minute.

What about you Alex?

Alex: It’s such a difficult question, I don’t know.

Kevin: There is no wrong answer. (laughs)

Alex: There is no wrong answer. We went to the Tate Modern gallery last week to do some promo and we got to see the new wing which is amazing. And I went to see their Louise Bourgeois collection, she is one of my favourite artist, and I saw some pieces I had never seen in real life like the mass metallic spider. Her art just blows my mind every time I see it. That rocks my life a little bit. Rock my world. Rock my day. It rocks it all. (laughs)

Website : twodoorcinemaclub.com