Probably the closest thing to a super group in Ireland at the moment, sovaldi sale All Tvvins is one of the most exciting groups to emerging from Ireland this year. Formed by members of Cast of Cheers and Adebsi Shank, recipe Tvvins unique blend of spacey synth pop and guitar rock immediately makes them stand out. We recently sat down with Lar Kaye and Conor Adams.
So how did the idea of Tvvins come about? Was it a case that you knew each other and wanted to jam or where you fans of each others music?
Lar: It was a bit of both. We’ve known each other since we were about fifteen. Conor and I just got into different bands and they both became successful.We always talked about doing stuff and we finally had a moment of time where we were both available.
Conor: You were available, I was available, we were drunk, I looked you up in the yellow pages!
Is that one of the best things about the Irish music scene, that’s its so small that people know each other?
Lar: Oh yeah definitely. We see a lot of bands and get inspired by a lot of bands, so actually getting to talk to them about things is pretty good.
Conor: Its cool, its real close knit, because its such a small country, and a lot of it falls in Dublin. You talk to people and it doesn’t matter what level the band is at, its cool like that. There isn’t any hierarchy, we’re all Irish so we can’t be full of ourselves. Its all cool. You get to jam with people.
Tvvins is a two piece, is that more liberating or confining to your other bands?
Lar: well a friend of ours Louis plays drums live for us.
Conor: He’s a session drummer, he plays live with us. Writing wise we are a two piece, put were more live puppies. We write in mind as being a three piece.
Lar: Louis is a bad ass drummer, so we get a good vibe playing with him as well.
In terms of writing, do you bring ideas individually or is it all done together.
L: Sometimes we bring pieces in but its very much done together. We have a studio in Portobello, so we just go in and vibe out for a while.
C: I’ll say “check this cajone beat Lar”. And he’ll say “yeah”.
L: It can start from anywhere, it could be a vocal or a drum loop or a dog noise on my phone. It’s a bit like that episode of Friends where Ross has a keyboard that makes dog noises. We have a room with a computer so we record it and loop it and stuff.
When you write do you write in different mindsets to you other bands, or is it just the same?
L: Its really just wanting to write good stuff.
C: “Do you like it?” “Yeah I like it”. In terms of the other bands we just will sound different. Lar playing guitar and me playing bass will be different. Adebsi do different vocals. Me and Neil playing guitar will sound different to me and Lar. It’s a different combo of…
L: Weapons! In our arsenal
C: “You have a mean axe” It’s never going to sound like the other bands.
L: There’ll definitely be elements, because that’s who we are but that’s allowed to happen you know.
Is it tough to split the time with Tvvins and your other bands:
Lar: I’m not in No Spill Blood anymore, they have a new badass drummer and Adebsi obviously finished up so this is really my main gig now.
Conor: I’m really focusing all on Tvvins at the moment as well.
Lar: Even when we did that stuff we just worked on this at the time.
Conor: We are full time musicians, which gives us a lot of freedom
Lar: Yeah, so we feel bad if we don’t get shit done.
Conor: We’re pretty much Monday to Friday, in our studio just jamming away and writing.
Is it hard to get to that stage in Ireland to be able to do music full time?
Lar: You just really have to work your ass of at it.
Conor: I remember when I started to play guitar, about thirteen or fourteen, this was my dream and I’ve worked hard to get here. I’ve worked a lot of jobs in my days but I’ve had a lot of belief, and a lot of people have said “come on now, cop on, you need to be a real person”, but you have to dig deep.
Lar: There’s points of touring when you play to about three people and there’s no money, that you question yourself. But you just have to do it.
Conor: When it comes to me and Lar, we both have that same drive, and this makes us really happy. It’s the only thing we think we can do properly, there’s much of a choice this is what we do. Sometimes your dead poor, sometimes you’re not.
Lar: We get to travel the world performing, which is a reward in itself.
Conor: Yeah its things like that, its not always financial gain but its what we love. Cast of Cheers got to Australia and all over the world, we can really trade that for anything. You can’t buy that as a holiday.
Lar: Even the downs, you just have to laugh at them.
Conor: you just have to eat it up, and get on with it, because if you don’t it’ll just bring you down. Its not for every body as well. You know everybody thinks that its going to be great travelling the world, getting to be a big rockstar, but it can be tough. Even the big bands, they might have comfier pillows, but touring can be the same, it can just be a job. A lot of travelling and a lack of sleep.
You were both in established bands before Tvvins, bands that were pretty big, so did you feel a weight of expectation going into Tvvins?
L: No, we just decided if we didn’t like it we won’t show anyone. I don’t mind if people don’t like it, you can’t please everyone.
C: We don’t try and please people. We are more pop orientated, but that’s not really a conscious decision. Like it is harder to write a catchy chorus. It’s just sort of what floats our boat at the moment, we did some heavy rock, and we can still do that, there isn’t any pressure, but this is what excites us at the moment. We haven’t do it before.
L: It doesn’t make sense to just do what we already did as well.
You guys opened up electric picnic this year, what was that like?
L: Yeah, I mean it was a bit weird but we just did a good show. We met Blondie after, so that’s a reward it itself, and then we had a lot of fun for four days.
C: It’s a bit surreal when someone from Blondie says your set was awesome. Its deadly. Opening a festival is a bit weird because punters aren’t that buzzed yet. The guarantee with a festival is that people will be drunk and having a laugh, but not write at the start. It’s a challenge, you go “we have to win these sober people at three in the day”.
Where do you hope to go with Tvvins now?
C: To the moon.
L: We just want to tour, that’s why we started.
C: We just want an excuse to tour really. Play to as many people we can in as many places as possible. Japan.
Like in Spinal Tap, crack Japan and you’re sorted.
L: Adebesi was big in Japan, that’s what I used to tell my mam. We might be unknown here, but Japan like us!
C: Cheers was big in Australia…
