Since their emergence in 2012, Los Angeles’ Twitching Tongues have carved out a nice little niche for themselves in the hardcore scene. With a new album Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred out now and an appearance at Outbreak Festival in the pipeline, Chris caught up with vocalist Colin Young for a chat.
Interview by Chris Andrews
MM: You started out in LA’s hardcore scene. What were the bands collective influences when you started out and do they differ to what influences you now?
CY: Overall, they’re still very similar, just with more mosh parts.
MM: When I first heard TT I was taken by your vocal style. You reminded me of a young Paul Bearer or Keith Caputo. Was that sound/style/delivery you were going for?
CY: They were certainly two of the big ones for me and I appreciate the comparison. Them and bands like Only Living Witness, Section 8 and Type O were the other ones that made me want to give clean singing over hard music a shot.
MM: After the release of Disharmony, two members of the band left. What happened there and how has that affected the band?
CY: They didn’t feel like they contributed enough creatively, totally understandable. It’s led us to my favourite line up of the band yet. Sean Martin ripping lead guitar, Cayle the drumming robot, and Alec the spirit of hardcore on bass.
MM: How does the song writing process in TT work? Is it mainly you and your brother?
CY: It is still mostly Taylor and I, but this time we had Sean to sprinkle in some ideas to polish off some things that we started. It was awesome, that’s something I feel we’d always been missing.
MM: The album has its epic moments such as the piano led Long Gone. Was writing this much of a departure from your usual writing process and can we expect more tracks like this in the future?
CY: Long Gone was collaboration between my mother and I, which she and I had never done before in terms of a full song. That’s something we’ll definitely be doing again, as that one seemed to just fall together.
MM: The artwork on the new album depicts the classic black panther tattoo style over the TT logo. The panther tattoo traditionally symbolizes power, strength and aggressiveness. Was that the thinking behind the artwork?
CY: 100%. We wanted to symbolize the title in a living object, with our own symbol of power behind it. Double power. It was important that we switch up the vibe from our previous records, since this is sort of a restarting point for our band, and it was the perfect chance to restart things aesthetically as well.
MM: There are also political undertones on this album. What are your thoughts on the current administration in the U.S?
CY: It’s dog shit and it’s worse every day.
MM: The blood soaked video for Harikiri is out now. Was that fun to film?
CY: It was a blast. So far the first and only time I’ve enjoyed myself at a video shoot. Brodsky did a great job and really brought my vision to life and improved it.
MM: What’s in store for the rest of the year for TT, any plans to hit the U.K this year?
CY: Touring like animals. We’ll be playing Outbreak Festival in Leeds towards the middle of the June and possibly a secret gig in London the next day. See you all soon.
Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred is out now
Be the first to comment on "Twitching Tongues"