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Twin Atlantic: “30 Seconds Of Mars Taught Us About Great Hair”

From new album Great Divide to becoming Scottish fashion icons, we catch up with Twin Atlantic…

By Jennifer Lynn


Having released their new album Great Divide this week, and played a showcase to friends and fans at London’s Red Bull Studios on Wednesday evening, there couldn’t be a better time for MTV UK to catch up with Twin Atlantic.

From their touring experience with 30 Seconds To Mars, to lead vocalist Sam McTrusty’s Scottish Fashion Award nomination, Sam, Barry McKenna, Ross McNae and Craig Kneale certainly had plenty to share. Read our interview now and make sure you check out the Official UK Album Chart on Sunday to see where Great Divide charts – it was loitering around No. 4 in the midweeks…


MTV UK: What was the general feeling when you went in to start recording the new album?

Sam McTrusty: Excitement. We’d been sitting at home for nearly six months, trying to organise going to record it, so by the time we got to the studio we were probably more switched on than we’ve ever been.

Ross McNae: It was a mixture of that and relief, because it’s been a long time between records, so to be finally doing something else felt like a big weight off our shoulders.

MTV UK: Do you think having that gap between albums is why your music has changed quite a lot?

Sam: It’s definitely had an effect, because anything we experience is going to slightly inform or change us in some way, but I think we would have changed without those six months off anyway. We’ve got an inbuilt boredom safety net, a radar, where if we feel unchallenged we assume the music’s not very good so we change it.

MTV UK: You’re a bit more pop now. How have your fans reacted to that?

Sam: Pretty much amazingly well, considering it’s been quite a change, though there were some people who weren’t impressed at first. They’ve gradually came back on board. If you like it, great, but if you don’t we’re not going to look back and care.

Barry McKenna: An important thing to remember is that most fans of rock music are just generally fans of music too. Not many people pigeonhole their tastes into one little niche now.

MTV UK: You’ve spent quite a bit of time in the US recently; how was that?

Sam: It was great, I mean we were there for a couple of weeks with the last record, but now it all feels like that was us doing the groundwork for this album. People are starting to come on board, which is really exciting for the future.

MTV UK: Did you learn anything from touring with 30 Seconds To Mars?

Craig Kneale: They’re the most intense band I’ve ever seen, not in a negative way, but I’ve genuinely never seen a group of fans care so much about the band in front of them. It was like another level. Almost like a cult.

Sam: We learned about great hair. Jared Leto is a man with good hair.

Barry: I think he’s got the world’s best hair. Even better than any women.

Sam: No hair on his body though.

Craig: He has the body of an otter.

Sam: Slick. Maybe he does have hair on his body, but he’s just always wet, so we wouldn’t know.

MTV UK: You’re off on a UK tour now – what are you most looking forward to?

Sam: Well we’ve been to some places like London and Manchester before, and put on some pretty bad gigs, but now that we’re finally playing good gigs it’s almost like a religious experience. The crowds are like, ‘They’ve got it! Finally!’


MTV UK: MTV are heading to Glasgow for the European Music Awards in November. Which other acts from the city should we look out for?

Sam: Prides are at the front of my mind, because they played the closing ceremony at the Commonwealth Games, they were great. Chvrches, everyone knows them and they’re brilliant, but then there’s the more folk-sounding bands like Admiral Fallow and Fatherson. There’s also a rap-rock group of reprobates called The LaFontaines who are quite the live experience.

MTV UK: And finally, Sam we hear you’ve been nominated for a Scottish Fashion Award; how do you feel about your fashion icon status?

Sam: It’s still in the stage of, ‘That’s quite funny’. I’m not taking it particularly seriously. I definitely think about clothes, I grew up with my two sisters and my mum who are all fashion obsessed, so maybe it’s rubbed off a bit. It’s flattering, but an alien concept to get my head around. Maybe I’ll get a job at… what’s it called? Vogue?

Twin Atlantic’s new album Great Divide is out now

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