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By: Steve Fallows
Steve Fallows recently caught up with Twitching Tongues vocalist Colin Young after their recent run in the UK with Terror. They had a brief chat about the new album Disharmony, signing to Metal Blade Records and more.
(((o))): First of all, how did tonight’s show go?
Colin: It was pretty good, touring with Terror and Wisdom In Chains in the UK right now. It was cool, almost sold out show. Terror shows are always a sight to behold, and we are definitely the odd band out on a line up like this, but its still pretty cool, we enjoy the challenge.
(((o))): You have a new album (Disharmony), your first for Metal Blade Records. How has being on such an influential label changed things for the band?
Colin: I don’t think much has changed at all to be honest, it’s fine. It’s a great label with an amazing roster that we are honoured to be mentioned in the sentence as. It hasn’t felt like some crazy big change, but it’s awesome to have their logo on the back of our record.
(((o))): The album features quite a diverse selection of songs, and the band have a very wide range of influences. How does that work during the creative process?
Colin: We’ve always worn our influences on our sleeves, and when writing we always go into a song with a goal like “We want this one to sound like Bolt Thrower” or “We want this one to have a Candlemass sound”, so we work with a solid aim, although anything can happen. Every little thing plays a he part in whatever the end result becomes.
(((o))): The lyrics cover a lot of personal issues. Being part of a tour like this with a hardcore crowd, and the energy that brings, it must be quite a cathartic release performing these songs?
Colin: Yes, it is cathartic and it can be quite scary. It’s like, such personal things can have some people starting at me saying “What the fuck is he talking about?”, but when one person comes to me and says “this song speaks to me, I went through the same thing” it makes the experience worthwhile. If I can speak to one person and get that kind of response, then I’ve done my job.
(((o))): The album features an eight-minute-long song in ‘Cruci-Fiction’. Have you played that live yet. I can imagine it being quite odd at a hardcore show?
Colin: We haven’t played it yet, we are definitely planning to at some point. We love that song and we really psyched about the way it came out. One day, we will get round to performing it live.
(((o))): You’ve been quite a prolific band so far in your career (3 albums in 6 years).
Colin: It doesn’t feel like we have, but when you look at other bands taking 5 or 6 years between albums, I suppose we have. I feel pretty good about that; we never stop writing.
(((o))): With the new album still being quite fresh, at what point do you start thinking about the next one.
Colin: It’s already done, it’s a never-ending process. It’s just me and my brother most of the time throwing ideas around. We live together now so we are always going into one another’s room talking about riffs, lyrics and ideas. Then we get some rough demos together until we see the other guys. The writing process for Disharmony started 1 month after our previous album was released. We had our second album written before the first one came out.
(((o))): You’ve been out on the road with some legendary bands and some amazing tour packages. What’s been your highlight so far?
Colin: I always look forward to our annual US headlining tour. Japan was an amazing trip when we first went there and we are really looking forward to going back there again in April. That was the one place that when it was over, we really didn’t want to go home from. It’s so cool.
(((o))): What are your plans for the rest of 2016?
Colin: After Japan, we play the United Blood Festival in Richmond, the West Coast leg of Bane’s final US tour. We got a couple of festivals in California and Seattle, and that’s all we got right now.
