Twin Haus have released their debut EP Waxen Myriad – seven tracks of decently ambient, delay driven rock music. Tomatrax caught up with the Brisbanites to discuss the life and times of Twin Haus.
TRAX: How did the band form?
HAUS: Things tended to fluctuate quite a bit during our first jams, there wasn’t much that had been solidified in the way of sound, members or name until Iti began making music with us in late July of 2012. We’d all been reasonably friendly on a school/football basis until then so making music together gelled really well; we found ourselves forming a reasonably established sound early on, well, at least a sound that portrayed our process at the time fairly accurately.
TRAX: What’s it like to have your debut EP out?
HAUS: Pretty rad. It’s nice being able to hold a piece of your own musical work in your hands. Having other people hold it in their hands tends to be even nicer.
TRAX: Was it hard to pick what went onto the EP?
HAUS: No, not particularly. We’d been playing quite a few of the songs live for the better part of a year before beginning the process of recording the EP which I think allowed us to refine the tracks to what they are now. It was important for us to showcase the majority of our early jams, that way people would be able to follow the story right from the beginning.
TRAX: The EP works as a continuous piece, was this an important thing to achieve?
HAUS: Absolutely. For us, whether it’s amidst a single track or the chaos of an entire set, the contour of our music has always been very important in our minds. Although it’s never been a conscious focus during jams, our writing style, or process, has managed to lend itself to the concept reasonably well. Successfully portrayed continuity I believe goes a long way in taking an audience on some sort of, perhaps, journey. We like things that flow.
TRAX: What inspired you to write a song about Mark Twain?
HAUS: Mark Twain was the first song we wrote together, hence the somewhat confused sound. The concept stemmed from having my father often quote ‘Mark Twain’ (or so he thought) during his discipline lectures and life lessons of wisdom to me. I found this rather ironic considering his most used quote actually originated from George Bernard Shaw.
TRAX: You’ve just gone on tour with the Dune Rats, how did that go?
HAUS: Our Brisbane show with Dune Rats was a really good show to play. Being able to share the bill with a band who hold such a strong image and presence at the moment was a great privilege and they’re heaps of fun and incredibly supportive. They’d probably be the only band that could have an entire under age crowd chanting “cunt” instead of “encore” and yet remain completely compelling and professional. It’s pretty awesome.
TRAX: You’ve entered songs on Triple J’s Unearthed page, has this had any impact on your music’s exposure?
HAUS: Yeah, I mean, unearthed is a great way for musicians to have their tracks heard by industry giants like Triple J, which, whether you like it or not is pretty essential to successful exposure. Whether or not the charts are a representation of how many school friends you’ve managed to convince to vote for you at the time, is beyond me.
TRAX: Do you ever listen to your own music?
HAUS: Reflection is certainly important. I personally prefer to press skip if any of our tracks pop up during an iTunes shuffle.
TRAX: What music do you listen to?
HAUS: As a collective our music choices differ quite substantially. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of ambient electronic and deep house – artists like DARKSIDE or Bonobo. Nick tends to rep a lot of old jams, whereas Zach is usually the one showing us new music. It’s refreshing to make music with people that have such varied influences.
TRAX: Now that the EP is out what do you plan on doing next?
HAUS: We’ve got a few things in the works, whether it’s a music video or another single, I’m not sure. It could be both, but then again I’m not sure.
Waxen Myriad is out now, listen via their Soundcloud and pick up a copy from their Bandcamp.
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