Twenty Twenty
Just coming back off tour with the Saturdays and with some fantastic festival performances under their belt, Twenty Twenty are a group quickly on the rise. We talk to the band about learning dance moves, go-carting and time travel.
-It’s been a quick rise to fame for you guys... any highlights so far?
Jack – signing the record deal was a big highlight, it was a dream come true for a lot of bands, ever since then the things we have been doing have been exciting, it’s like a new chapter. We formed 20 20 in February 2009 so we just celebrated our 2nd anniversary.
Sonny – we were all in bands previously, in our own projects. Me personally it was quite a different style, I was originally in a fast pop-punk band so it’s a bit more mellow now.
Sam – We were all in different bands, none of them got the same profile has 20 20 has. Growing up in school I did a lot of solo acoustic performances, played with Jack for a few years while we were at school together with other friends. Mainly in the pop rock world.
Jack – we had been in similar bands before, but 20 20 was something different, it was a chance to have a fresh start and give it a real go.
- Obviously being brothers (Jack and Sam), have you been playing together for years?
Jack – We have a loft in our house, one of us would be upstairs playing and the other one would hear the other person playing.. You would hear the ladder and then we would be jamming to our favourite songs.
- A question for Sonny... as brothers do they get along? Is there ever a problem on tour?
Sonny - No they generally get on really well, they are quite normal, they are themselves and they don’t row at all, I joined as their stepbrother.
Jack – Sonny’s pretty much a brother to us now.
- Have you noticed a difference in popularity from when you first started out?
Sonny – Yeah because as times gone on the crowds have generally got bigger, gained more fans and screams just get that little bit louder every time.
Sam – On our headline shows when the fans are singing our words back it’s an amazing feeling and I don’t think you can ever get used to it.
- You’ve played with some impressive names, JLS, McFly and the Saturdays; do you hang around backstage afterwards?
Sam – all the bands we play with we make sure we say hi, we had a long chat with Danny from McFly when we played with them, he was really funny. With the Saturdays on tour we got to know them really well. We had an after party in Dublin, the end of tour party and after a few drinks they were teaching us their best dance moves.
- Who do you listen to when you were growing up? Who were your main influences?
Jack - When we were 13 – 14 the bands were blink 182 and green day, so we were heavily influenced by them. Our tastes have developed though so we listen to everything from alternative right the way through to Uber-pop.
Sonny – now we listen to a lot of the stuff that’s in the charts at the moment.
Who would you want to play with? Who would be your ideal support slot?
Jack – It would be cool to play with all time low.
Sam – as a fantasy gig that would obviously never happen, it would be great to open for a band like Queen. They were just amazing. When they were in their prime it would have been amazing.
Jack – We have all the DVDs at home, they are wicked.
So what do you do in your spare time?
Jack – we spend a lot of time visiting friends actually we are quite sociable and like doing stuff
Sonny – and family... we are sociable but we like spending time in bed.
Sam – there is nothing you miss more on tour than your own bed. We stay in hotels, they are nice beds but it’s not the same.
- So the mini-album ‘Small Talk’ is 8 tracks that’s almost a full size album! What was the thought behind that?
Jack - Well there are a few songs on that album that we have been playing for a while and some that we have only been playing for a month, so even for the new fans it’s nice to get something out there and listened to.
Sam – we are always recording and we are always writing, so maybe sometime soon it won’t be long before there are more songs, we never stop we are so busy.
Jack – we are really happy with it, we are excited to get it out there.
Sam – you can spend so much time on something but as a musician you can never be 100 percent happy about it, we always want to better ourselves and make the next one better than the previous one.
- I’ve seen the video of the go karts racing for the single... who won in the end?
Sonny – Sonny
Jack and Sam – No chance!
Jack – I think we need to go back there and do our lap times because the wanted and Chris Moyles race there and set lap times, so we need to go back and then we will really know. But in the video I think actually I won.
- So you are going on tour with the wanted soon, that should be fun?
Sonny – wicked guys
Jack – we played a couple of shows with them actually, they are pranksters as well so that will be fun.
- Where do you see yourself in five years time?
Sam – I don’t know, hopefully still doing this, we always try and push to do things on a bigger and larger scale every time we do something so it would be great to headline some of the venues we were at but on support slots. Definitely releasing new albums and new songs.
Sonny – Doing what we are doing now but on a large scale.
- If you could go back five years and tell yourself one thing about your future... what would it be?
Sam – You know what, I think about this quite a lot. You know what I would say? I would go back and tell myself to just keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t want to change the past because it would affect your future... if I went back and told myself You are going to be in a pop band and do this and that, I may change the future. I’m a big back to the future fan, and I’ve seen the mistakes you can make. I would pat myself on the shoulder and say keep going son, keep going!
Mini-album ‘Small Talk’ will be available through Geffen Records on May 2nd. You can see the band on tour with the Wanted. The single is 'Love To Life' - out April 17th (can preorder now on iTunes)
Female First - Edward Lewis
Just coming back off tour with the Saturdays and with some fantastic festival performances under their belt, Twenty Twenty are a group quickly on the rise. We talk to the band about learning dance moves, go-carting and time travel.
-It’s been a quick rise to fame for you guys... any highlights so far?
Jack – signing the record deal was a big highlight, it was a dream come true for a lot of bands, ever since then the things we have been doing have been exciting, it’s like a new chapter. We formed 20 20 in February 2009 so we just celebrated our 2nd anniversary.
Sonny – we were all in bands previously, in our own projects. Me personally it was quite a different style, I was originally in a fast pop-punk band so it’s a bit more mellow now.
Sam – We were all in different bands, none of them got the same profile has 20 20 has. Growing up in school I did a lot of solo acoustic performances, played with Jack for a few years while we were at school together with other friends. Mainly in the pop rock world.
Jack – we had been in similar bands before, but 20 20 was something different, it was a chance to have a fresh start and give it a real go.
- Obviously being brothers (Jack and Sam), have you been playing together for years?
Jack – We have a loft in our house, one of us would be upstairs playing and the other one would hear the other person playing.. You would hear the ladder and then we would be jamming to our favourite songs.
- A question for Sonny... as brothers do they get along? Is there ever a problem on tour?
Sonny - No they generally get on really well, they are quite normal, they are themselves and they don’t row at all, I joined as their stepbrother.
Jack – Sonny’s pretty much a brother to us now.
- Have you noticed a difference in popularity from when you first started out?
Sonny – Yeah because as times gone on the crowds have generally got bigger, gained more fans and screams just get that little bit louder every time.
Sam – On our headline shows when the fans are singing our words back it’s an amazing feeling and I don’t think you can ever get used to it.
- You’ve played with some impressive names, JLS, McFly and the Saturdays; do you hang around backstage afterwards?
Sam – all the bands we play with we make sure we say hi, we had a long chat with Danny from McFly when we played with them, he was really funny. With the Saturdays on tour we got to know them really well. We had an after party in Dublin, the end of tour party and after a few drinks they were teaching us their best dance moves.
- Who do you listen to when you were growing up? Who were your main influences?
Jack - When we were 13 – 14 the bands were blink 182 and green day, so we were heavily influenced by them. Our tastes have developed though so we listen to everything from alternative right the way through to Uber-pop.
Sonny – now we listen to a lot of the stuff that’s in the charts at the moment.
Who would you want to play with? Who would be your ideal support slot?
Jack – It would be cool to play with all time low.
Sam – as a fantasy gig that would obviously never happen, it would be great to open for a band like Queen. They were just amazing. When they were in their prime it would have been amazing.
Jack – We have all the DVDs at home, they are wicked.
So what do you do in your spare time?
Jack – we spend a lot of time visiting friends actually we are quite sociable and like doing stuff
Sonny – and family... we are sociable but we like spending time in bed.
Sam – there is nothing you miss more on tour than your own bed. We stay in hotels, they are nice beds but it’s not the same.
- So the mini-album ‘Small Talk’ is 8 tracks that’s almost a full size album! What was the thought behind that?