The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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Collection includes: 'Love It When I Feel Like This' (2007) 2CD Special Edition; 'Jewellery Quarter' (2009); '10:20' (2012); 'Neontwang' (2014).

Blending the big guitars and emotional swagger of Brit-pop with a subtle but clearly felt dance-friendly pulse, the Twang have quickly risen to fame in the U.K. after making a splash on the club scene and earning the respect of the music press. the Twang were formed in 2004 in Birmingham by singer Phil Etheridge and bassist Jon Watkin under the name Neon Twang. Inspired by guitar bands such as Oasis and the Streets as well as "Madchester" acts like Happy Mondays, Neon Twang were created as a reaction to the dance music that was sweeping the U.K. at the time, and the band developed a reputation for melodic but straightforward guitar-based rock and an unpretentious approach. (As Etheridge told a reporter, "I ain't going to sing about rivers, man. I don't live by a river. I live by a canal and there's bikes in it.") Neon Twang also became known as a band not afraid to get rowdy, and as violence among fans became increasingly common at gigs, the band shortened its name to the Twang to help shake off the negative side of its reputation. Adding a second vocalist, Martin Saunders, as well as Stu Hartland on guitar and Matty Clinton on drums, the Twang became a potent live act, and in the fall of 2006 the band came to the attention of the U.K. music press in a big way when James Jam, a writer for New Musical Express, and Edith Bowman, a DJ at Radio One, caught a Twang show in Birmingham. Both left mightily impressed, and Jam gave the band a major write-up while Bowman began playing the group's demos on the air.


By the end of 2006, a bidding war had broken out over the Twang, with B-Unique Recordings (home of the Kaiser Chiefs and Primal Scream) signing the band to a deal. the Twang's first single, Wide Awake, was released in mid-March 2007, with a second single, Either Way, following a few weeks later. Both records reached the British Top 20, and the group's first album, Love It When I Feel Like This, arrived in early June. In early 2008, the band enlisted former Killing Joke member Youth to help them record their second studio album, Jewellery Quarter. Named after the area in Birmingham where they now resided, the record entered the U.K. Top 20 in 2009. The first single to be released from it was Barney Rubble. In 2010, the group announced the departure of guitarist Stu Hartland and the arrival of replacement, Jimmy Jazz – although Hartland continued to play live for the band. It was during this time that they began recording and writing with long-term friend and producer Jon "Simmo" Simcox. In 2011, they announced the details of the EP Guapa. Limited to 1,000 copies, it sold out almost immediately. Toward the end of 2012, they released their third album, 10:20, and announced that original drummer Matty Clinton was sacked (due to theft of the band's equipment) and that Ash Sheehan was to be his replacement. The album – which was funded by the band and recorded in their own studio – was their most daring to date and featured a cover of Durutti Column's "Tomorrow."

Mark Deming, Allmusic.com

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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Being touted as the future of indie music and the next big thing, by the music media is a difficult thing to live up to and the debut album by The Twang, Love It When I Feel Like This arrived in mid 2007 with a lot to prove, but after crashing into the charts at no.3, it quickly plummeted downwards. Produced by Gavin Monaghan at the Magic Garden studios in Wolverhampton it followed the pattern set by the singles "Wide Awake" and "Either Way" with lead guitarist Stuart Hartland sounding like The Edge of U2 and the jangly background guitars are The Happy Mondays circa 1989 particularly on the opening track "Ice Cream Sunday" and "Loosely Dancing." Phil Etheridge wrote about life as he saw it from the working class streets of Birmingham with humour throughout, reminiscent of fellow Brummie Mike Skinner of The Streets, chronicling the ordinary life of lad culture, going out shopping during the day and clubbing by night. There are influences from many guitar led rock bands including Oasis, The Smiths and even Big Country on the track "Push The Ghosts." Virtually all lads use swearing to emphasize their thoughts but as always it loses its impact when used to excess as on the track "The Neighbour." Etheridge also showed he had an ear for a good melody on the track "Don't Wait Up."

Sharon Mawer, Allmusic.com

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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Part of the last wave of indie bands to make any kind of impact in the U.K. charts, Wolverhampton five-piece the Twang find themselves in the difficult position of reestablishing their place in a market dominated by urban pop. Unlike the Fratellis, the Pigeon Detectives, and the Enemy, who all struggled to capitalize on their initial success with their second albums, the Twang have changed direction slightly with the follow-up to their Top Five debut, Love It When I Feel Like This. Thankfully, Jewellery Quarter replaces the loud, laddish, and sometimes obnoxious attitude of their first album with a softer, sensitive, and altogether more radio-friendly sound that should finally dispel the Happy Mondays comparisons once and for all. Indeed, lead single "Barney Rubble," full of jangly guitars and Latino rhythms, proves the band is much more convincing when it steps outside its baggy revivalist comfort zone. Elsewhere, "May I Suggest" and "Got No Interest" are melodic bittersweet ballads reminiscent of their only Top Ten hit, "Either Way"; "Twit Twoo" is a Reverend and the Makers-esque slice of synth-led indie pop; and "Williamsburg" is a more than competent attempt at subtle, brooding folk-pop. Lead vocalist Phil Etheridge's West Midlands tones, still as distinct as the Proclaimers' Scottish, John Power's Scouse, and Cerys Matthews' Welsh, can grate over a whole album, but on tracks like the breezy, acoustic "Encouraging Sign," perfectly complement Martin Saunders' more harmonious vocals. Unfortunately, old habits die hard and the likes of "Put It on the Dancefloor" and "Back Where We Started" revert back to the more familiar derivative Danny Dyer movie soundtrack-style terrace songs. However, Jewellery Quarter is a much more palatable listen than their debut, and with several potential singles, it gives them a fighting chance of avoiding the ever-growing British guitar group scrapheap.

Jon O'Brien, Allmusic.com

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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Hyped to the hills when they arrived on the scene with the kind of laddish indie rock that swamped the mid-2000s, Wolverhampton quintet the Twang had pretty much been written off as relics by the time 2009's unfairly maligned Jewellery Quarter failed dismally to reverse the declining fortunes of British guitar bands. Missing in action ever since, there's been little appetite for a follow-up with most, presuming they'd joined the likes of the Fratellis and Dirty Pretty Things on the NME-championed scrapheap. Named after a note that a disgruntled neighbor left on their studio door while they were recording, 10:20 won't rescue them from the irrelevant state that they currently find themselves in, but it does put pay to their unwanted "musical hooligan" reputation once and for all. For lacking anything even resembling a terrace singalong, it's a melancholic and occasionally bleak affair which rather unexpectedly ventures into tender orchestral folk ("Whoa Man"), swoonsome '50s rock & roll ("Strangers"), and most bizarre of all, DJ Shadow-inspired instrumental breakbeat on brief opener "Neptune." Of course, with Phil Etheridge's heavily accented Midlands tones, there's always going to be a slight pub rock element to their sound. But apart from "We're a Crowd," a Brit-pop leftover which lacks the urgency you'd expect, considering it was conceived virtually next door to 2011's U.K. riots, Jon Simcox's production largely manages to keep the aroma of flat beer and stale chips at bay. An inspired but respectful cover of Manchester post-punk veterans the Durutti Column's cult classic "Tomorrow" towers above everything else, but the shimmering, Tarantino-esque "It Ain't You" and the jangly psychedelia of "Beer, Wine and Sunshine" also show that while the Twang may be largely forgotten, they're not an entirely lost cause.

Jon O'Brien, Allmusic.com

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The Twang - Albums Collection 2007-2014 [6CD]

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The Twang return with a new album on 10th March. Neontwang was recorded in London at Rory Attwells Lightship95 with the Warm Brains man on production duties, a combination that has delivered the bands strongest set of songs to date. Neontwang also marks the full debut of new member Jon Simmo Simkins as a full writing member of The Twang. Simmo was also the brains behind the video for album track The Wobble which premiered on The Flys website in October who described it as resembling Ariel Pink doing Tears For Fears. Neontwang marks an important moment for the band. Their fourth album, lead singer Phil Etheridge described making it as easily the most fun we've had in the studio since before the band got a record deal. Having lived through (and survived) the slings and arrows of (much) outrageous fortune, the band have found a space where they are back to the core values that have kept them together as a writing unit for over a decade.