Following on from their heavily praised 2018 debut album 'Ouseburn', which went onto receive acclaim from the likes of PRS’ M Magazine, With Guitars, and NARC Magazine, and garnered comparisons to Depeche Mode and Peaches, Newcastle-via-Alicante-based outfit Twist Helix are now readying us for their long-awaited follow-up full-length with their blistering new single 'Louder'.
With frontwoman Bea Garcia soaring over a bed of bold and euphoric synths, 'Louder' sees the band return in stellar form, capitalising on their post-punk-meets-synthwave aesthetic.
Discussing the new track, the band added, "Louder is about our frustrations with the industry. It’s our response to the pressure to always toe someone else’s line and to never speak out for fear of causing offence. This song goes out to anyone who has had to bite their tongue and put up with someone else’s conceited attitude... which is about 48% of the country right now.”
So with their name back on our radar, we decided to sit down with the group and find out more about their influences and what made them pursue a career in music in the first place.
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What were the first instruments you fell in love with?
Annoyingly Bea was like some sort of child prodigy, who could play classical music note for note on a grand piano at a ridiculously young age. She actually fell out of love with piano until she got her first synth as a teen. James' mam had an antique Gong in their house which he absolutely was not allowed to touch, but kids being kids did anyway and so a drummer was born. Bazz started out playing saxophone in a quintet that did jazz standards. Eventually he got bored of it but now he wishes he'd bothered to keep at it and learn Going Home by Mark Knopfler. He's pretty happy playing bass now though.
What has been the most prominent inspiration behind your music so far?
Without wanting to do too much navel-gazing, we try and let the music be its own source of inspiration if that makes sense? So the last album Ouseburn was about being part of a scene built around a geographic location and now with the new single “Louder” we’re channelling more of our thoughts and experiences on the industry as a whole.
What kind of music did you love as teenagers?
Oh absolutely everything. We were lucky to hit our teens in the early 00’s just when the Post Punk revival started to kick off. That quickly morphed into Nu-Rave, and newer-wave and all of a sudden it seemed like electronica was cool again. Bands like White Lies, Ladytron, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric, Shiny Toy Guns, Klaxons, the Knife… you get the idea we loved them all.
When you wake up in the morning, what kind of music do you like to listen to?
I don’t know if ‘like’ is the correct word but James started a tradition on the last tour. Every morning the three of us are together, he wakes us up by playing Scooter’s "Ramp! (The Logical Song)" as loud as possible, fast-forwarding the track so the first thing we hear is H.P. Baxxter yelling “GOOD MORNING!”
How many of your songs have you written about people in your life?
Very few surprisingly. I think the new single “Louder” is a bit of a turning point for that. It’s quite a vocal show of solidarity with other female led groups we know who are too often overlooked. It's actually something we’ll be doing more of on the new record. Reaching out beyond our own experience and drawing on those of our friends.
What has been the most memorable moment in your career so far?
We played at a Take That concert last year… that was pretty memorable. I’m not sure if the sea of people in Gary Barlow masks enjoyed our set about the demise of grassroots music venues and encroaching gentrification… but we certainly had fun.
If you weren’t musicians, what other path do you think you might have taken?
Well not to brag or anything but we’ve invented our own sport ‘Water Lacrosse’; and because we made up the rules we’re actually pretty good. It’s early days yet, but once we get a league together and sell the TV rights I think we could definitely turn pro.
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Twist Helix's latest single 'Louder' is available to stream and download now, which their second studio album expected to arrive in September. Have a listen to 'Louder' in the player below.