Phil Etheridge – vocals
Saunders – vocals
Jon Watkin – bass
Stu Hartland – guitar
Matty Clinton - drums
The end of 2006 saw one of those moments in the UK music scene. Unheard of until October of the year, by December, a five piece band called The Twang were the subject of discussion in the pages of the NME, the message boards of a hundred band sites, the A & R departments of pretty much every record label of size in the UK whilst their demos were being played on BBC Radio One in the middle of the day. After some very nice free dinners and compiling an address book filled with the names of the movers and shakers in British music, The Twang signed with B-Unique in December of 2006 and began to record tracks for their debut album.
“He’s got the attitude of Liam Gallagher and the charm of Tom Meighan. Now Phil Etheridge and his band The Twang, are all set to be one of 2007’s rising stars” THE SUN
When Phil Etheridge and Jon Watkin were growing up in Quinton, Birmingham they fell in love with music from an early age. As dance music swept the UK in their early teens the pair turned away from guitars until a band with a similar background to theirs, routed in community, passionate about football, in love with the idea of rock ‘n’ roll and removed from the ‘high art’ of a London centric music scene came along. When the pair heard Oasis for the first time, the idea of forming their own band took hold. Saunders was drafted into this dream via friends as the idea started to take shape, followed by Matty Clinton, a great drummer and a great potential rock’n’roll star. Things still didn’t really make sense until Stu Hartland, a man with a unique ability to make one guitar sound like many, came into the fold two or so years ago. Thus were The Twang born in 2004 and this new five piece band, with two vocalists, set about gigging in their local area. With literally fuck all else to focus on, no other options of making a living available, The Twang managed to mix a fierce dedication to each other and their band with a tendency to squeeze as much fun out of every show as possible.
“If there’s one name to remember from all those January new band lists, make sure it’s The Twang: five baggy loving hooligans from Birmingham who’ve got the swaggering terrace anthems, 24 hour party poetry and the Gallaghers godly melodic touch down pat” UNCUT
From the start, the band’s mates made sure that gigs were a riotous occasion and The Twang quickly became a name within the Midlands. In October of 2006, a landmark show at Birmingham’s Bar Academy saw NME scribe James Jam and Radio One’s Edith Bowman in attendance. James’ placing of the band on the NME stereo (the first of three) and Edith’s description of that gig on her show drew in the attention of the music industry and created a huge level of anticipation for their debut single release, due in March of 2007.
Then came the New Year. Tipped by everyone from the NME to Q, played on Radio One and tipped by their head of music, splashed across the cover of The Sun’s entertainment supplement and identified by all manner of other industry figures as the band to watch this year, it’s fair to say that 2007 is turning into the best year ever for the five lads.
Throughout the storm, the band have kept on doing what they do best, playing shows with the likes of The View, The Charlatans and The Sunshine Underground in addition to their own, increasingly celebratory, headline shows. Now in the studio and working at a lightning pace as they translate all this into the songs that will make that hugely anticipated debut album, The Twang take to the road in February for their first full UK tour which is all set to be one of the events of 2007.
“And when The Twang become the biggest balls-out rock’n’roll People’s Band Of 2007, they can’t help that either, can they? After all, these things just happen.” NME