This summer, Matthew Rain is replacing the itemized check for an electric guitar. Rain is lead singer/guitarist and co-founder of Twin Tigers, a “dream noise” band out of Athens which thrives in melodic interludes and blistering guitar riffs, and the heady musical stew is finding an audience. Twin Tigers was chosen to open for not one but two dynamic bands this summer, as The Hold Steady and Interpol tapped the group for dates across the United States. Armed with a new album (Gray Waves) and a new drummer (it’s 10th!), Rain sat down to discuss touring, the importance of records, and not working at Applebee’s.
Matthew Rain with the Twin Tigers at the 40 Watt Club opening for The Hold Steady.
I imagine you have a lot to do as you head on tour.
There’s a lot to do in a little bit. We’re going out with The Hold Steady briefly then we come home for a couple of weeks then we go out with Interpol for the summer
That’s one helluva a summer you guys have planned out? How we’re you able to get out on tour with The Hold Steady and Interpol?
With The Hold Steady we were one of those bands on that long list of bands that wanted to be on the tour and they picked us so I plan to find out more when I meet them. And then with Interpol Sam Fogarino who is the drummer for Interpol is just a big fan of the band so he convinced the rest of the group to take us. Apparently they all like the record. The Interpol thing I know more for certain how that worked out. With tours like this it’s a whole competitive thing not in the sense like your competing against each other, but there are a lot of people who want the opportunity that you do. With The Hold Steady it’s a Southeastern tour and that’s the area where we are the most know so I’m sure that played into it but at the end of the day the music has to speak for itself so we’re grateful to get to be a part of it.
How does the band take to touring?
Last year we did about 75 to 80 shows and this year the expect us to do over a 100 so that’s kind of our thing and as the band’s gained more of a reputation the tours get better it’s only more of an interest for us because it’s the thing you always wanted to do forever and through different bands and different things I’ve done or the group has done separately before we were together most of that stuff wasn’t nearly as fun. There’s nothing quite like opening for a band that you respect
So you guys embrace the grind of the road
I mean if you don’t embrace tour and that’s not your thing you probably should just stay out of rock n roll because that’s the only thing going right now especially if you want to have a career. People don’t buy music the way that they used to so you’re really in a situation where you have to be about tour and creating that experience with people otherwise there’s really nothing there
What is your overall take on the industry today, is making records not the end all that it used to be?
No I disagree I think that making records is everything it used to be. I think that people sit at desks and talk on telephones have less to gain, but as an artist even when bands who were selling four times as many records that’s not where people typically make their money you have to be a really world top selling artist to make a notable amount of money from record sales so since nobody in their right mind goes out thinking that’s going to be us for sure. You don’t sit there and write these songs and create these things thinking that this is just this product I’m going to tun over, It’s just like any other piece of art it’s your experiences and your creation and you’re trying to reach out and let people have that so I don’t think that changed too much I think that if anything it’s become cheaper to make records so people are able to realize their vision without the expense that was kind of frequently the problem before. I think that for making records that the ceiling is just constantly rising
Well that brings me to the new record Gray Waves. One of the things that impresses me about the album is how much it feels like a cohesive album from start to finish even though some of the songs are a couple years old.
When you put the track listing together you consider the emotional flow and the sonic emphasis that goes between the tracks, but it’s still the same band and it’s still that same story, The songs that we recorded stuff before we changed a good little bit, some of them have very different dynamic shifts and with the songs that were re recorded the reason that we wanted to do that is that we didn’t feel like we had the time or the recording situation into making the songs what we wanted them to be in the first place so for us it was just part of what needed to happen and of course there were three songs that went in that didn’t make it to the record. We were really happy with the way it came off
Do you think some of the songs adjusted as you changed personnel. I know it’s been you and Aimee but are you set with the lineup you have with Forrest and Doug
Actually Doug’s not playing with us anymore so, no, we’re not all set (laughing)
Well that’s why I asked
We have had a lot of personnel changes we’ve played with nine different drummers. Forrest Hall will be with us for as long as he chooses to be and we really like working with him but I think that the main thing goes back to what you were talking about with tour. A lot of people have this idea this fantasy in their minds they saw rock and roll documentaries from the 70s and then they saw Almost Famous and they have this idea that it’s one big party and all these glamourous things and its not any of that. For the most part you have to first and foremost enjoy music but you have to keep in mind when your going out, especially like what we’re doing with support slots you’re onstage for 45 minutes a day but your out 24 hours a day so you have to enjoy the travel quick changes and different cultures and environments and the company of different strangers that you come across along the way. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact when your kind of a smaller indie band and if you don’t have all these luxuries and comforts that would make it this sort of vacation you would like it to be. It’s not so much an issue that we have people that don’t like each other I think that people struggle with the financial reality of tour and with the personal reality of being away from girlfriends or family.
With Athens everyone is in a bunch of different bands, and you’ve been writing music with Aimee for a couple of years, there must be a certain dynamic between the two of you which allows you continue this relationship of playing together
As long as the two of us are doing it it is Twin Tigers that’s how it started was me and her playing songs. We had a house that we were living in and we were both playing in different bands and then started playing together for fun and it sounded really good so we went with it. Like anything it grows, I imagine that will go on for a long time. We’re happy making the stuff that we’re doing right now and the opportunities seem to be growing.
How does the writing process work, is it a lyric or riff or beat you hear in you head.
I create the stuff first I come in with the initial idea and then the sound is important but the emotion is in the words and so I’ll have this idea for a lyric and melody and I’ll shape that up a little bit and once that’s a coherent thought or there’s a couple of pieces that fit together I’ll bring that into Aimee and then we take it to the whole band. Sometimes the song ends up being this thing that you had in your mind and it’s really close to that and sometimes it becomes this thing that’s completely different and you only hold onto this little bit of nuance of what led you there to begin with, but that’s really not what’s important all that really matters is the end product
Part of an interesting aspect of Gray Waves is how your voice is sometimes clear, sometimes with fuzz or distortion.
As far as the way I sing the lyrics that’s more about the emotion that I want to come out but as far as the textures a vocal is just like any other instrument. People effect guitars all the time and with vocals sometimes you add a little grit to it and it feels better and gets the idea out better
I read somewhere where your goal is not to be serving tables at the end of the year, how is that goal coming along?
I’m getting closer and closer, it’s not like we’re making so much more money we’re just out touring so much that we don’t get to work too much so that’s OK
Are you guys sick of the Golden Bowl by now?
No, we love the Golden Bowl.
It is one of the great dishes on Earth, it should have a shrine.
It’s not like we have to wait tables at some sort of Applebee’s we get to work in a restaurant with a lot of really creative intelligent people, not to say that would not be the case at a corporate chain restaurant but you do get to work with more artistic personalities and people who might not be able to hold down a job at a different environment
This article is appearing in INsite Atlanta Magazine
Yo guys! I think you certainly are insane.