two door cinema club interview0

I got a chance to stalk catch up with Northern Ireland’s Two Door Cinema Club just before they played at The Portland Arms in Cambridge. Alex, Kev and Sam looked back on 2009 and we got a glimpse into the band’s plan for the future.

2009′s been a hell of a year…what have been your highlights?

Alex: I dunno, it’s been reasonably hard to pick one highlights. There have been ups and downs but it’s been really good. We’ve gotten a team to work with and we’ve built up a fanbase… there’ve been loads of bits of good news along the way.
Sam: For me, it was the Les Inrocks tour in place of La Roux- I really enjoyed that. We got the opportunity to play bigger places which is awesome.
Alex: It’s good to be on tour for a while with bands. We’ve gotten friendships out of it and we’ve gotten stuff out of it, we’ve been invited to do shows with them as well. I guess signing our record deal was pretty cool as well (signing with the uber hip label Kitsune Maison).

TDCC have said in previous interviews about the fact you didn’t want a drummer in the band but on live shows now we see you’ve recruited someone… why the change of heart? Were the drunk guys shouting “drum solo” at gigs too much to handle?

Alex: I think because we didn’t have a drummer, we wanted to prove a point we didn’t need one: and to some extent, that’s still true. We don’t need a drummer in every sense. The three of us work really well creatively in the studio so I think bringing an extra person into there at this stage wouldn’t really be right. I think, however, playing live there’s definately a void there when you don’t have a drummer. We thought sometime along the line we would eventually get a drummer, it was just a question of sooner rather than later.
Kev: It’s all about enhancing the live show.
Alex: Since we’ve been working hard this year, we’ve signed the record deal, we can afford to pay people to come on tour with us- none of our mates play drums.
Kev: We have no mates at all, really. *laughter*

Are you based in England now?

Kev: We’ve been floating around everywhere.
Alex: Well, we’ve got a flat in London now. Sam wanted to stay in Ireland, Kev and I wanted to move to London but when we’ve got time off Sam’s spending as much time in London as either of us.
Sam: It’s just handy, you know? Ideally, I’d love to stay in Bangor. But when you think about forking out for flights and stuff…
Alex: It’s a lot easier when you’re on tour when you can just get back to London and crash.

So, the first major release on Kitsune “I Can Talk” has just been unleashed and has a pretty spectacular video. What was it like shooting it?

Alex: it was really good fun, but it was a 23 hour shift, starting at 4am in the morning and then finishing about 3 or 4 the next morning. It was our first real experience of a major production.
Kev: It was really daunting- we rolled up bleary eyed, not really knowing what to expect, then we saw all the catering and production vans and thought.. “Is this for us?” “I’m pretty sure we’re not allowed this..”
Alex: it’s hilarious, the makeup artists are waiting for you and the stylists are upstairs.. it’s just a new experience when we get the extra wee bits. When we get a good rider it’s amazing.
Kev: It just makes your day!

Signing with Kitsune, playing all the major shows, being a hit on the blogosphere… do you feel the pressure?

Kev: We try not to think about it, just concentrating on recording the songs we’d already written. If someone turned round and said that if you release this album, nobody’s going to like it, we’d have done it anyway. It’s as much for us as it is for anyone else.
Alex: We wanted to write songs we were happy with. We wanted to make an album that we loved and we think we’ve done that with this album. If it’s something we’re going to love then we think some other people are going to love it as well.

And a release date for this album…
Alex: Early in the new year.

Will we see songs that were on Four Words To Stand On (TDCC’s debut EP) ?

Kev: Yeah. I think a lot of bands when they record early stuff they feel they have to move on from it. We’re not going backwards, really, we just decided to record the best 12 songs we had.
Alex: If we’re not completely happy with a song, we make a point of not releasing it or not letting people hear it. If we’re not happy with it, we won’t let it get out there. When we released the EP it was the same idea. We still like those songs. Two or three tracks from there will be on the album.

How did the BBC Introducing gig go in Mandela Hall?

Alex: It was kinda weird, we haven’t played a lot of big shows in Belfast. When we released our EP it was our biggest show to date. We didn’t overplay it in Belfast. It was really strange to go back to this big venue and headline. It’s just great rocking back up to Belfast.
Sam: It’s great in the sense that when you tour around, you’re mostly playing to strangers. When you go back to Belfast, you get to play to your friends.
Kev: As well as getting your mum and dad a few cheeky tickets.
Alex: We played for a year and a half in Belfast, knocking about the local scene. It’s great to just come back and see your mates dancing away to your songs.

Kev, with your brother in Kowalski (Paddy Baird) and the quick rise of Two Door Cinema Club, is there any tension at all in the Baird household?

Kev: Not at all! We’re doing different things. Paddy and I are very close, there’s a lot of mutual respect there. We’re good friends with Kowalski, we love what they do, it’s a case of them helping us out at the time and we’ll help them out.
Alex: I think that’s one of the good things about the scene. There’s no jealousy or rivalry between bands, everyone’s just happy to see a band do well. If a band’s doing well from Belfast, guys feel proud that they’re flying the flag for the Belfast music scene.

Playing at Belsonic, Electric Picnic, Leeds, Glastonbury has been pretty special: are there any festivals you really want to play?

Kev: Reading, for sure.

Reading?

Kev: Yeah, of course!
Sam: We really want to play Benicassim.
Alex: We really want to hit up the European festivals. We haven’t had a chance to play Oxegen or T yet, those are the ones we really want to play.
Kev: Glasgowbury.

That was literally my next question…

Alex: Absolutely. We always want to play Forfey as well but we’ve missed the deadline in the past two years. Hopefully this year we can play!

Final question: where would you like to be five years from now?

Kev: Greatest Hits. Nah, we don’t really think about the future- it’s a business where you can be here one day and gone the next. We’re just planning what we’re doing in the near future and enjoying ourselves. We try to take each day as it comes because you’re setting yourself for a fall. Concentrating on writing, playing shows, that’s what we enjoy and look forward to.