Is there really any point in doing an introductory paragraph for Two Door Cinema Club at this stage? I suppose for the four people who’ve never heard of the Northern Ireland trio, I really should. On the go since 2007, Two Door Cinema Club play an impossibly catchy variety of indie-pop; the kind to get crowds dancing, feet tapping, housewives singing and grown men crying. Well maybe not that last one but for a band with one excellent – albeit brief – album to their name they really aren’t doing too bad. It also helps that the debut album has gone platinum in both Ireland and the UK. Oh and there’s also the extensive useage of their songs in advertising and video game soundtracks. GoldenPlec caught up with the the three guys for a chat earlier this month (on GoldenPlec’s 10th birthday of all days) for a chat about the new album, Guinness, why they now have a drummer at their gigs and of course their upcoming intimate Academy show.
As we all know, second albums can be difficult. Get it right and it will broaden your appeal, reveal a new side to the band and open yourself up to a new fan base, but get it wrong and you could be labelled one hit wonders with a sloppy mess on your hands. With that in mind it’s safe to say that Two Door Cinema Club are under a fair amount of pressure to get it right. We got bass player Kevin Baird’s thoughts on the pressures: “We didn’t feel pressure from anyone else really. We’d been on tour for quite a long time and by that time we actually had time to stop touring and really focus one hundred percent on all the ideas we’d been having and collating all the experiences we’d had.” Baird explains: “I think we were just so excited to finally get back and start writing something new, and excited at the prospect of recording again, and excited at the prospect of having some new things to play”.
As anyone who’s seen TDCC live before they became international stars and the soundtrack to a serious amount of mobile phone adverts will know that they used to play live with a drum machine. They’ve since turned to having a fourth member on drums for their live shows. We were curious if they’d ever involve a drummer in the writing process frontman Alex Trimble had this to say: “Well we kind of did in a way in this record with the drummer being me. That was a different thing that came into the writing process this time . . . so instead of always trying to program something to write along with we would get a riff and I would sit down at the kit. It would always generate different ideas that wouldn’t happen on a computer. But in terms of actually adding another member in, the three of us have written together since I can remember and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
But after dozens of shows being backed by a drum machine, what was it that made them take the leap to working with a live sticksmith? “We decided just after we recorded the first album”, explained Kevin. “We were playing in tiny little bars and tiny little clubs and it really worked for us at the time and we had a conversation where we talked about where we imagined ourselves being. We couldn’t imagine if for example we were playing a theatre that it would still just be the three of us with a laptop. We started to feel like the laptop provided no depth to what we were doing and not just physically – like looking at us we were three in a line and there was lots of blank gaps behind us and there was no depth to the stage. Also in the sound swell we felt that we could use that massive punch that a real drum kit could do for us”.
As is common knowledge now, Two Door are pencilled in to play Dublin’s largest venue, The O2, in January but at the time the only show they had announced was next week’s Academy. Pressing them to find out which Dublin venues they think they could fill, all we got were cheshire cat grins and some subtle giggles, but now we know that venue is indeed the O2. It seems however that they’re a little more excited about their intimate Academy show. “Playing in the Academy feels like having fun with your mates. It doesn’t feel like a show”, smiles Alex. Explaining his love for the venue he continues: “We get in, we get on the Guinness and it’s always a nice little break when we get back to Ireland cos we get all the stuff that we have when we’re home, all the stuff we can’t get anymore, the food, the drink and the Guinness especially. So we usually have a few Guinness and just get up there and most of it’s just chatting and having a laugh with everyone in the crowd, playing some songs and it doesn’t feel like any other gig and the Academy to me is always been that venue, for that kind of show.”
So with Beacon’s release just around the corner what does the future hold for Bangor’s hottest export and what do the band themselves aspire to: “We don’t aspire to be any kind of band apart from being our own favorite band,” explains Alex. “It’s a case of learning what to do in order to make us our own favorite band in a way. How to take our influences and combine them, put everything together in a way that best represents us. we haven’t reached the end goal but we’re one step closer to finding our feet and finding our true identity as a band”.