Twin Atlantic @ Copper Rooms, Coventry, 20th May 2017
Twin Atlantic signalled my first time at the Copper Rooms tonight and I was very impressed with the venue. It’s a good size, sound is impressive and the lighting was a delight.
Darlia took to the stage with a notable amount of intrigue from the audience. The British rock band formed in Blackpool have toured with some big names, including Gerard Way, The Wombats, playing Reading Festival and even Glastonbury. They played at the NME Awards Tour in 2015 and did all of this without releasing a debut album as of yet. They have released 3 EP’s and five singles.
Their sound is brooding and edgy; reminiscient of a more rock’n’roll version of Arctic Monkeys with some Nirvana thrown in. The lead singer Nathan Day supplies notable amount of mystique about the band with his non-chalant body language and the bass is deep and beefy; with some fast punky drumming cutting through the grungy aspects. I appreciate them doing their own thing rather than being in the countless other bands I’ve seen trying to be the new Nirvana. ‘Queen of Hearts’ and ‘Napalm’ are bloody great songs!
Twin Atlantic arrived on stage with cheers from the crowd. The popular Scottish Rock band have developed a strong and loyal fanbase after supporting the likes of Blink-182, The Smashing Pumpkins and Biffy Clyro. Their homeland of Scotland became a beacon of success regarding shows for the band; live shows in Scotland often being intense and well received.
Tonight they’re touring promoting their new album ‘GLA’ (2016), in which they played 10 songs from, opening with ‘Valhalla’, intention was made early on to show off the new material. They then delved into slightly older stuff with the catchy single ‘Free’ (2011); with talked verses and loud, intense choruses comparisons can be made with Foo Fighters and even the Biff.
The band tinkered early on with these two albums, ‘Ghost of Eddie’ and ‘Overthinking’ being nicely slotted in and the crowd showing their vocal appreciation. ‘Make a Beast of Myself’ dropped like an atom bomb in the room and everyone had their hands in the air.
Lyrically they deal with drinking problems and issues in relationships; with being lost and finding meaning being key themes in their songs. ‘Yes, I Was Drunk’ from ‘Free’ (2011) captivated the audience once more. Their most popular song was placed in the middle of their setlist for good reason; it kept the crowd going and the energy in the venue reached new heights. They were smashing it at this point.
They then played a song from an older record, ‘Old Grey Face’ from ‘Vivarium’ (2009) (their second album). The raw, direct nature of their earlier material gave their set a different a punkier aspect. I enjoyed this song a lot.
‘A Scar to Hide’ and ‘Crash Land’ assured a swift return to ‘GLA’ (2016), with ‘Crash Land’ being an acoustic gem amongst the loud and hard-hitting rocky nature of the band. The story of a man being stuck on island after a plane crash really sums up the thematic nature of the band; exploring the ideas of finding hope in terrible situations.
Towards the end of their set they played ‘No Sleep’ from their newest album and it featured some very groovy bass; reminiscient of Royal Blood and Muse. The distortion adds a buzz to the vocals which just works and the drums giving a punchy backbone.
They came and they conquered. Twin Atlantic are a great rock band.
Review and photographs: Neale Hayes