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Somewhere In Between Twist Igroove Recordings 2000 Tracks
The Center for Reuniting Families | Dr. Peter Huber |
We're in the basement of one of the seediest hotels in the seediest part of Vancouver, British Columbia. The hotel is acting as a set for the video of the first released Twist single, "Nobody Feels." As far as video sets go, this one feels pretty normal. Over here the lights, hot and bright. There the director, wringing his hands as though it will bring the desired look, feel and balance. Makeup people, camera people, models, art directors, the dude who delivers the sandwiches... all of it contributing to the feeling of ordered tension. The band, however, seems beyond the tension. They are racehorses: set and ready to go. As racehorses, they don't see the need for apprehension or nervousness. They've trained for this, they're ready and they're determined to have a good time. It's not a party. Twist is here to work. But the underlying feeling on talking with them is that this is just the latest in a series of steps that has led them right here: exactly where they want to be. "We're all really excited," says frontman Blaine Braun. "It's going to be stellar." In many ways, it already is. Twist's first CD, a seven song EP called Somewhere In Between, is solid, tight and the first single, "Nobody Feels," is starting to get regular rotation at some key stations in their market. More importantly, perhaps, is that the band is confident that the early interest is the tip of the iceberg. "The publishing deal is a three year deal worth a serious sum of money and I was very, very happy," says Steve Ricker who plays guitar, wrote all of the songs on Somewhere In Between and, basically, was responsible for getting Twist together. "So for an independent band to be offered a major publishing deal before a recording contract was awesome. It's almost unheard of for somebody to sign a publishing deal before a recording contract. So, it's sorta cool and we'll see how things transpire, but right now we're concentrating and gigging." Ricker feels that one of the band's best breaks was in its formation. "I basically put everybody together; rounded them up when opportunity arose with Kenny [Fleming, bass] and Bob [Wagner, drums]. Both Bob and Ken were with Econoline Crush and they exited the band at different times. Kenny was in the band first and he really wanted to work with Bob again. And, obviously, having the most successful rhythm section from Econoline was a dynamite thing, so we hooked it up." That left a hole in front of the mike. After a couple of false starts filling that spot, Twist was able to secure Braun. Braun says that he "started off in acting first. I was finding that I wasn't being able to give my own creativity as much as I wanted to." That was about a decade ago. He started working with a few local bands and, "generally worked my way up to where I got noticed enough to come into this project. So I'm really excited. It's great." One of the things all four Twist members are enjoying is the freedom to create that their collective has provided. "I get to add my own creativity and I get to test out the old skills I was trying to hone earlier," in his acting, says Braun. "It's really a lot of fun. You've got to keep it fun. Keep it real." Ken Fleming agrees. The bass player has been a working musician for the last couple of decades. In addition to Econoline Crush, he's recorded or toured with SNFU, Chicken Hawk and others, "but I've never been in a band where I started to write and actually got into some form of the creation process, you know what I mean? That's kind of why this band happened, I think. Steve had a bunch of songs and we all got to put in our five cents." It's massive understatement, but not far from the mark. "I've been in other bands and everyone always wants to try and follow a formula," says Ricker. "And honest to God, when I was working on writing the stuff it was just about writing the music, it wasn't about trying to write hit songs. When I was writing it was about trying to experiment and playing different chords and stretching the fingers and all about just doing it for fun and experimentation. And if it flew, great and if not, then it was about doing it for me." According to Ricker, the songs on Somewhere In Between were pretty much finished before the band was actually assembled. Once they were, the guys "added the driving backbone. You know, Kenny is a great bass player. Bob slams and drives really hard; he plays to a click track. He's got the electronic vibe happening, so he's got a million things going on. It's not just a matter of sit there and play with the drums. So, we're lucky, because he does his job well. That's what they brought to Econoline and that's what they bring to this band." Somewhere In Between was mastered in Los Angeles by Tom Baker who also mastered the latest Nine Inch Nails recording. "But we had something," says Ricker. "The bottom line is when you have an album recorded either it's good or, you know: the guy who masters it can't polish a turd. Bottom line: if you're giving him shit he can't make it sound good. But he did a really good job on the record and things sort of came into play." Once they'd signed with their label, iGroove Recordings, things started to buzz. Although the album art for Somewhere In Between has an inexplicably rockabilly feel, Twist definitely doesn't fall into that category. Their deliciously layered first recording would peg them somewhere into post-punk metal with a dash of electronica, if such a category existed. Not surprisingly, all of the band members falter when asked to define their music. Braun attempts it, "Modern rock is kind of where we're close to." "It's like modern heavy music with a bit of the Euro-techno in the digital realm," says Ricker. "Some people hear 'Nobody Feels,' and they're like, 'Oh man, it's modern rave.' And I'm like, 'Cool.' But I would say modern heavy music with a bit of electronica." To the members of Twist, however, categorization is probably moot. Sums Ricker, "You know, we're still a rock band. At the end of the day it's music. Really it is. Everybody wants to be something in a category, but at the end of the day it's music." | November 2000
Linda Richards is the editor of Blue Coupe magazine. |
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