NEW SINGLE RELEASE – Lauran Hibberd ‘mary’
4 December 2023
Twin Skeletons are a rock band who have been influenced by metal, punk, and even Y2K pop songs. They’re fresh off an EP release and a couple headline shows, starting to make waves across the UK and beyond. Earlier this month I sat down for a zoom call with them where we discussed their music, the atmosphere of their gigs, and the importance of grassroots venues.
I begin with a question that’s been on my mind since I first heard of the band: is their name a Fall Out Boy reference?
“Ah,” says drummer Joe Gorfin, “Yeah, people keep picking up on this… We were actually originally called Decades when we were a cover band and sort of didn’t think it fit the vibe that well so I remember messaging James… going through our playlist looking at song titles and I saw that song… everyone seemed to like it and it kinda stuck so now it’s become the whole theme with all the music and the artwork as well. It’s a bit of a deeper cut. When I was 13/14 I was obsessed with Fall Out Boy.” He even reveals his snapchat username contains a reference to Fall Out Boy but they request I don’t reveal it so you’ll just have to speculate.
In their previous life as a cover band, they remember playing many of the songs that inspire them now (“Muse, Royal Blood, Wolf Alice, bit of Paramore”) but also playing around with genre.
“We love a ‘pop goes rock’ cover,” says lead singer Phoebe Millard. ‘Umbrella’ by Rhianna and a metal version of ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears are both specifically mentioned.
We move onto their EP release show that has just passed. It was their first ever headline show which they impressively managed to sell out.
“Best night of my life!” Says Phoebe. “It was so fun, just having a room full of people all singing the songs back to you… The first single we released ‘Deadweight’, when we played that as the last song, I did a sort of, like, sung a couple of lines and then got the crowd to sing it back to me… when everyone was singing it, it was just amazing!”
James Millard – who is both Phoebe’s brother and the band’s guitarist – chimes in, “It was kind of surreal, as well, because we had like lights that were timed with the music and like, a proper sequenced walk on. And like Joe walked out first. And he leant back, put his arms up and everyone went mad. It felt like a real band.”
Bassist Fred Tilbury nods along: “We all put a lot of work into it and just to see it pay off like it did was really sort of gratifying.”
Despite them doing a great job of explaining the energy of the gig, I ask if they can give us any more details about what they’re like onstage for those of us who haven’t had the chance to see them yet.
Joe starts: “Lots of energy, that’s the main thing… we don’t give people much time to take a break.”
“Be prepared to get sweaty!” Phoebe adds, “It was so hot in that room.”
“I think sweat is definitely a word associated with our gigs,” James replies, “And dirty shoes, don’t wear nice shoes.
I let them know that my favourite song on the EP was ‘Don’t Let It Be The End’ (which seems to catch Phoebe off guard as she audibly gasps) and ask for each of their favourites.
Both James and Phoebe settle on ‘Make Me’. “[It’s] always been my favourite,” she explains, “just because it’s like the most experimental song with all the sort of more electronic stuff. And the sort of screaming, loved getting in the vocal booth in the studio and actually just being told to shriek like I’m getting murdered!”
“‘Deadweight’ and ‘What You Wanted’ were done ages before we started recording but ‘Make Me’ was kinda- we knew we had to finish it for recording. So it was kind of a challenge to get it done. And it went through three iterations, being three completely different songs. [It] started off being a groovy Queens of the Stone Age song. And then we wanted to keep the groovieness in the verses, but then we wanted a massive riff… and probably Joe will say, like, the drums for this one were really challenging to record, but they paid off.” James says.
Joe explains further, “We basically recorded the symbols and the drums separately, to sort of get a better overall sound. So that’s yeah, quite confusing to try and do. But like the guys have said, it was fun to do something a bit different, sonically as well.” However he disagrees with them on his favourite song from the EP: “There’s something about ‘Deadweight’. It was the first one we wrote and released. And, yeah… I think we’re really happy with how it turned out. But also, I think, for me, ‘(Don’t) Let It Be The End’ has also got a bit of a special place, because I think that was the one that I probably wrote the most of out of all the songs. And that was quite fun to sort of experiment with stuff like orchestral elements and things like that.”
Fred agrees with Joe, “It’s hard to choose, but I’d probably say ‘Deadweight’, just ‘cause I think I just love the chorus on it. I think it’s really catchy. And I love the riffs in it… It’s definitely the song I was most comfortable going in to record, which was nice. It took a bit of the pressure off.”
Despite the fact they’re still early in their careers, they’ve already made an impact with their sold-out EP release show, Radio 1 single premiere, and a strong fan base already screaming their lyrics back to them. I ask if there’s any advice that they would give to anyone else thinking of starting a band right now.
Fred’s advice is simply to get advice, “We’ve got a manager called Kai [Marsh, musician/producer] that helps us out a lot with how to promote the singles and how to kind of use our socials. And he also did the production for our songs as well. So massive shout out to him, because we probably wouldn’t be where we are at the moment without him because I think he’s really helped us a lot with- with just everything. And I think getting someone like that and networking about the scene to find someone that can kind of give you that advice is very useful.”
“That’s another thing is just, you know, going out, playing shows,” Joe says. “Getting that exposure, just meeting new people, because that’s how we met Kai, we supported his band a while back and yeah, you just gotta network and meet some experienced people.”
Phoebe brings up social media, and how some other musicians are unsure of it: “Social media is actually such a huge part of it now. As much as you can think, like take Muse for example, you think ‘oh, well, they never had to post TikToks to get big’ but things have changed.”
James also stresses the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with your bandmates as it makes for more authentic work: “Just be comfortable with your band. Apart from me and Phoebe, who are brother and sister, we actually didn’t know each other until we started as a band. But then we didn’t try and go straight into writing originals and playing shows. We actually just had practices in a practice room for, like, a couple months, playing covers, before we even played a show. And then it was basically a year until we played our first original song live. And we had loads of nights out and just time hanging out with each other. And I think that made it way easier actually writing the songs because you want to be honest to each other. If we didn’t like something that someone had written, it’s a lot easier to tell that to someone who you’re close with.”
Joe adds to his point, explaining that although they felt “a bit of pressure” while competing with many other bands who only played original songs and went to their same university, he’s happy about how things have turned out: “I’m glad that we didn’t rush it. And we worked out where our influences were, how we work together as a band, before we even started writing”.
We come to the topic of grassroots venues. As lead singer of fellow female-led band English Teacher Lily Fontaine discussed in parliament a few weeks ago, the closing of these smaller venues has a detrimental effect on the smaller artists who rely on them. Twin Skeletons themselves made an Instagram post on the closure of Bath venue Moles which they refer to as their “second home” and I ask if there’s anything further they’d like to say.
“I try not to not to get too heated.” says Joe after a brief pause, “It’s pretty disgraceful, the lack of support for grassroots venues… Bands like Enter Shikari doing the £1 ticket levy, little things like that can make such a huge difference and prevent such amazing venues like Moles closing down. So hopefully we’ll see a bit more support in future because it’s gonna be a bit of a struggle otherwise.”
Fred continues, reflecting on how it’s affected them personally: “I mean, we wouldn’t even be able to probably play together much at all without Moles there. It’s where we gigged countless times… without that it’d be a real struggle, so it’s a real shame.”
I ask if there are any bands that they would love to go on tour with and it’s clearly a struggle for them to answer. Dead Pony, South Arcade and Wargasm are all recurring names (and it seems like Joe would love to do something with Enter Shikari) but they explain that they’re trying not to shoot too high just yet.
“It’s hard to know how far away we are from these sorts of things so it’s sort of taking it step by step. But yeah, hopefully at some point soon, you know, the likes of Dead Pony and South Arcade might be possible!” says Joe.
Phoebe smiles, “I mean Muse, if you’re listening…”
Finally I ask if there’s anything exciting they have coming up this year and Phoebe jumps straight in: “We’re on like a mini tour right now. So we did London last night, doing Bristol tonight, and Southampton tomorrow. And then we have a couple more gigs coming up in April, May… and then we got shortlisted for Y Not Festival and we’re really hoping to have won the public vote and panel side of that… But if that’s not possible, I guess a big thing would be getting on festivals for 2025.”
“I think we spent a lot of time this year sort of building up our CV,” Joe adds, “So it kind of puts us in a good position, especially for next year, like Phoebe said, to be applying for these big festivals. So yeah, that’s the plan.”
Twin Skeletons are undeniably talented, carving out a place in a crowded market by playing around with a variety of genres. They speak on the importance of working together as a band and while frontwoman Phoebe’s vocals definitely stand out, the effort the entire band has put into working together is clear to see in the strength of their music. I’m sure their EP release show won’t be their last sell out.
