We put some questions to the electro-pop three-piece who will be playing two sets on Sunday...
Hi Twin Kidd, can you introduce yourselves for us?
Twin Kidd are Stef on vocals, Rich on keys and guitar and myself (Sam) on drums.
How did you all meet and what brought you all to Nottingham?
Stef and I met at school (despite what the Nottingham Post says, we are definitely NOT siblings). Then we met Rich on an online band forum – luckily he liked a demo we had put up. Rich is a local lad and Stef and I moved to Notts when she started uni here.
When you started the band did you have an idea of how you wanted to sound or is that something that happened organically once you started playing with each other?
We’ve changed a lot between the time we met and the time we had our first gig. We had been making more guitar-focused music, but then Stef started playing around with synths a lot more and we moved further over towards the synth-pop side. Luckily Rich is a tech genius which really allowed us to expand our musical horizons and bring electronic elements in.
How does the songwriting work within the band?
Stef is the songwriter. She writes vocals and then builds the track from there with lots of lovely harmonies and counter melodies on pretty synths. Then we all hang out at Rich’s and he uses his tech knowledge to make the tracks sound a million times better. I tend to write the drums through programming them while we’re building the track then the first time I actually play them is when we get to the practice room, and I tweak them from there.
As a new band starting out in Nottingham how did you go about getting shows?
Just by pestering people really and talking to other bands and people at gigs. We really lucked out in getting offered a support slot at The Bodega for our first gig - I think doing something like that gave us a really good platform. We also had lovely support from Dean Jackson at BBC Introducing. From there it’s just been about playing and chatting to people.
What has been your favourite gigs to play in Nottingham?
We played a really great gig at Nottingham Contemporary last month – the crowd were amazing and the other bands playing, Cherry Hex and Vera Gull, are two of our faves. Another highlight was playing The Great Notts Show in the sunshine last year.
For anyone reading this why should they listen to Twin Kidd?
I’d say we have really nice catchy melodies. I think we’re pretty poppy and accessible, but that there’s also a lot meat on the bones to keep you interested in terms of the instrumentation. We also have a lot of variety in our live set, so something for everyone.
Your EP Fold was released almost a year ago. When can we expect some new music?
We certainly like to take our time! We’ve got a new single Retrograde which is out next month. We got to work with some great people for this one, it was produced Kris Harris who’s worked with Ghostpoet and Bear’s Den and it’s been mastered by John Davis who’s done Led Zeppelin, Gorillaz and XX records, so that’s pretty mind-blowing. We’ve just made a sweet video for it too, so we’re pretty excited.
If we were to take a look into your Spotify / iTunes / record collections what kind of stuff would we find?
You’d find all sorts, a bit of Arcade Fire, Gorillaz, CHVRCHES, Haim, Lorde, Of Montreal, P.O.S., Aesop Rock, the list could go on for a while.
What other music coming out of Nottingham would you recommend?
The Nottingham scene is phenomenal right now. Some of our faves are Cherry Hex, Vera Gull, Super Furniture, Ashfields and Eyre Llew.
What can expect from your set at this year’s Dot To Dot Festival?
You’ll get a blend of live instruments and electronic elements that sits somewhere between CHVRCHES, XX and Haim. You’ll also get to see Rich and Stef pulling some slick moves. We’ll be playing a set in the afternoon and evening and Stef’s doing her solo Prima Hera thing in between, so I think you can also expect an increasingly Bob Dylan style vocal as Stef’s voice takes a beating over the day.
Have you been to the festival before?
We went back when we lived in Manchester (and randomly, we actually watched the guy’s band who just produced our single). This is our first time at Notts though so we are so excited to be opening the Stealth stage, playing later in the night at Baresca and to be in the big writing on the poster.
What do you like to get up to when not making music?
We’re big coffee lovers, so sitting in cafes and reading LeftLion, obviously.
Any final words for the LeftLion readers?
Keep supporting the scene – you are awesome.
Dot To Dot Festival takes place at various venues around Nottingham on Sunday 28 May 2017. Full line-up available on the Dot To Dot Festival website.
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