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Surely a Twin Peaks Aus tour is on its way?!
Fans of Chicago’s Twin Peaks were hit with a double-whammy of good news a week ago, when the country-flavoured rock and rollers dropped their fourth record Lookout Low along with a creepy clip for party tune ‘Oh Mama’. The record marks the group’s most interesting and refined work to date, complete with horn arrangements and an advanced level of songwriting that sees them firmly stake their claim as one of the world’s most captivating acts.
The ten tracks on Lookout Low were widdled down from a whopping 27 recordings, all of which were predominantly tracked live in the studio. Legendary producer Ethan Johns (Paul McCartney, U2, Kings of Leon), who the group worked with on the record, described TP as “the best Rock and Roll band I’ve heard for a very long time” – not too shabby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUtytLS5YMg&feature=youtu.be
We caught up with them recently to get a taste of what the recording process was like, what “maturing” as a band has meant, and the inside word on their clip for ‘Oh Mama’. Chuck on the record while you have a geez at their answers from singer/guitarist Cadien Lake James below, and cross your toes and fingers that we’ll be catching them live Down Under soon:
Firstly congratulations on ‘Lookout Low’. How do you feel having the record out there in the world? Relieved? Excited?
Definitely excited. It takes so long to get the record out sometimes, we were really antsy to get the ball rolling and get back on the road.
The clip for ‘Oh Mama’ looks like it was a lot of fun to shoot. Was that the case or are you guys just really good actors? Or both?
Both! Haha! Naw, it really was pretty fun, it was easy to tackle because our studio/rehearsal space is in the same building we shot it in, so it was the simplest execution of a video we’ve done yet. Our friends in the costumes were cracking us up.
I’ve watched it a few times and I’m still not sure what the moral of the story is… Can you help us out there?
Only psychedelic research can help you there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U12MYd1DtOs
You recorded a lot of the album live. Why was important for you guys to do that?
We really were just curious about trying it out, seeing if it got us closer to the vibe of the records that influence a lot of our sound. Ethan Johns, who produced the record, does 95% of everything including vocals live so we just dived right in. It was super rewarding.
It’s a bit of a cliche, but this does feel like the most mature and refined record you guys have produced in my opinion. What’s changed since ‘Down In Heaven’?
I think it can largely be attributed to the sheer amount of shows we’ve played and how much we’ve grown as musicians. We’re always getting better and it increases our arsenal. I feel like it’s more “intentional” than “mature” but however you wanna mince it.
I can definitely hear a little bit of The Band sprinkled throughout the record. If you could collab with any musician featured in ‘The Last Waltz’ who would it be?
Neil Young!! We love Neil. I’d love to play with Van Morrison or Joni Mitchell too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xez6urA5c
There’s a nice gap in your US/EU tour dates. Any chance you’ll be heading to Australia sometime soon?
ASAP!
What else is coming up for you guys in 2019?
Just a bunch of touring, our favorite way to pass the time :)
