Interviews

Twerps answer the Questions of Doom

Its been snowing lately. Endlessly cold. For a few days, the cold backed off and the sun came out and it was almost summer. Felt euphoric with the change of weather (and for no particular reason). Probably the best analogy for hearing the Twerps' debut record. Twerps' are kinda like everything to the Bad Vibes crew at the moment. Srsly. Their sound is fresh and summery, and all built on the classic rock template, dunno ... its a bit like hearing the Byrds or Felt for the first time. Everything else is made redundant. Kinda think Twerps are '4 real' in this hyped up blog buzz band world. Their story is interesting, moving from help from Chapter Music and Night People and then Underwater People, they captured imagination with strummed up perfect love songs. Yeah we took 'whatever means necessary' to get Twerps involved in our interview series 'Questions of Doom'.

What are the secret origins of Twerps?

RIck and I had had a couple of beers on a Sunday and i was like hey let’s write a song and he was like hey thats a great idea and then it just kind of went from there…x

What are you referencing with the name ‘Twerps’?  Does the name have any significance for you?

I guess so.. I have been called a twerp a few times in life but I have also been called a lot worse!! We sure have copped a lot of flack over the past few years for the name, a lot of people don’t understand what it means and I kind of like that, most interviews start with so what does the band name mean? I feel like saying ‘who cares… do you like what you hear’? I liked finding out that my Grandmother thought it was a cute name.

Do you feel the landscape of Australian music is changing?

Mmm, not so much. maybe from an international perspective you see it in another way, but there is always still Metal bands, Hip Hop acts, Psych bands and DJ’s. It is definitely really exciting to see a bunch of our friends’ bands and bands that we admire getting more exposure, but it still feels like here there are a lot of other bands getting attention not cause they are talented but because they may have a more marketable future. I don’t want to sound negative, it is awesome seeing acts you know coming up and starting great little scenes and bands exposing friends’ bands.

Do you think because the musical scene of Melbourne isn’t ‘hyped’, is the reason why its been able to grow and become diverse and interesting?

Well, it is probably the most hyped scene in Australia but we still are just a little country that probably a lot of people forget about, I think because of how many people there are in the music scene in Melbourne and how a lot of the people know each other, help each other out, start projects together, it’s helping to make a really strong and diverse amount of bands, everyone is just psyched on being part of what others are doing and also sticking it to the man!!

How important was Night People in launching the Twerps in the USA?

Ah man, it was probably the most important thing that has happened to us yet! When Shawn contacted us, we never thought by putting out a tape with him would help us out as much as it did. To be honest, if he hadn’t of emailed I probably wouldn’t be sitting here answering these questions. We’re so thankful to Night People, it was also cool to tour with Wet Hair when we were in the USA last and now we are all great friends! Shit is just good, ya know!

You’ve been written about - what do you feel has been the greatest misconception about your music?

UMMMMMMMM, most of the Australian reviews of our records have misunderstood us a little bit, but I have been surprised by the maybe some of the international reviews understanding it a bit more. There ain’t much to understand about the music, they are more or less just love songs. We are usually stamped as bratty drunk teens, but we are far from that - we drink and we enjoy others’ company, we like the night life and sometimes we have found ourselves in some tricky situations, but nothing to write home about. Most of the time they just get our names wrong…. ‘my name is not FUCKING Michael!!!”

How do you feel the album was received?

Well we certainly weren’t expecting as much attention as it got so we have been psyched on that, and for people to dig it just makes it that much better! Everyone has trouble with love and i guess everyone can relate to that. We are all over the moon that so many people like it.

What is the secret influence on your music?

FRIENDS. KEEP PEOPLE YOU LOVE OR WHO MEAN LOTS TO YOU CLOSE!!

What bands/records should we be checking out?

(AUS)
Geoffrey O’Connor, Beaches, Boomgates, Panel Of Judges, Dick Diver, Total Control, Super Wild Horses, Lost Animal, Full Ugly, Fabulous Diamonds, Scott and Charlenes Wedding that’s just who i spat out, the list could be endless im sorry if I forgot anyone! I love them all.