TVVINS members, Conor Adams and Lar Kaye, got together at the beginning of last summer. The long-term friends began collaborating after their already-productive bands took a little downtime. Conor, the gent that he is, took a few minutes out to chat to us about coffee, songwriting and the band’s love for Phil Collins.
Originally from Sligo but living in Swords for the majority of his life, Conor has received acclaim as a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist for successful band, The Cast Of Cheer.
“This year we were both afforded some time off. We took some down time with our normal bands for different reasons. Lar and myself are a bit more restless than the rest of them and it was just a perfect time,” Conor explained of the project.
Wexford native Lar, a guitar and effects specialist, has notably worked his magic with groups, Adebisi Shank and No Spill Blood.
“It was something we’d always wanted to do. They bands we’re both in are similar in sound; they’re both guitar bands.”
“When we first got together in the summer for about a week or two we were writing these loud guitar songs. Then we thought what was the point because we both have those kinds of bands anyway, so we consciously put the guitars down and thought what else can we do, and ‘You Better’ comes from that.”
The band establishes itself in a different realm from previous projects via treated vocal effects – vocoder, tropical pop rhythms, and vintage synth-rock sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR2dYEyxAKk
It was that “spark” from writing their first track that kept the momentum going for the friends.
Hitting the recording studio in September, the pair have began settling back into the “default setting” picking back up the guitars, with new material promising to be “a bit more rocky”.
“We both grew up in 80’s and 90s listening to a lot of grunge, then developed through the years and branched out to what people call now, math-rock, which is a ridiculous name for it. If you combine maths and music all you’re going to get is a headache.
“In the last years we’ve gone back to our early childhood, looked at 80s music, it’s always been there. I always loved Queen, I know they’re not particularly 80s but they did branch out a bit.”
Freddie Mercury isn’t the only man from that era Conor has a soft musical spot for…
“Phil Collins too, I know he’s super uncool apparently, but we think he’s brilliant.” We couldn’t agree more, Conor.
First going by the name ‘Twins’ until later realising two twin sisters from Japan had that title pretty much covered, the lads played around and from that came TVVINS, (yes, it is still pronounced the same), a name that suggests Conor and Lar are happy just as a twosome.
“It’s kind of cool, it’s nearly symbolism for two people. We’re happy being a duo.”
When playing live the band does include two honorary members, a drummer and sound engineer.
“We don’t want to sit behind a laptop and just have beats playing out.”
The bands remains in talks for several of the summer festivals and will headline Dublin’s reknowned musical haunt, Whelan’s, next week.
“We’ve had some good supports, we’ve been really lucky with that, it’s all been gearing towards our own show. Hopefully that does well, and we’ll have a few more.”
Tickets for the TVVINS gig in Whelan’s February 27th can be purchased from the venue’s website and MCD.ie.
If you’re like us, and you can’t wait that long, TVVINS’ single ‘YouBetter’ can be bought here on iTunes.
For more info and all of the band’s updates check out their official Facebook page and Twitter.
We’ll leave you with the lads’ B-side single, ‘Two Worlds’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRmi1rmHkXI
A huge thanks to Conor for letting his coffee go cold to chat to us.
