Twin Studies’ Jacob Armando talks house shows, Slowdive, and Atlanta’s flourishing music scene

Twin Studies plays the Mammal Gallery Fri., Nov. 21, with Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden, Triathalon, Fake Flowers

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Someone in radio once said that the East Coast, specifically Atlanta, was about four years ahead of the rest of the country in terms of musical trends. For 2014, “shoegaze” has surfaced as a music industry buzzword since the reactivation of legacy bands such as Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. Niche artists that had immersed themselves in the meditative wall of reverb since its inception now find themselves in a sea of first-timers and bandwagon jumpers. Jacob Armando, former Lucy Dreams drummer and Twin Studies brainchild, took a few minutes to talk about the revival of shoegaze in the mainstream, punk music in Atlanta, house shows as a safe-haven for artist exposure, and how the Atlanta music scene is putting out many shiny new things.

Twin Studies has an EP, but no full-length. Do expect to have one out soon?

It’s tentative. We went back in August and recorded eight tracks that we want to put on a full-length but we’re going through a transitional period where ... we have this new guy Stephen Lewis coming in who’s been doing really well. We’re trying to get him to know all the songs we’ve already written, at the same time playing shows and trying to write new songs, and also trying to record. So it’s a hectic period, but after November 21, our next show, we’re going to take December off and try to just write and record. That’s the plan.

Do you know what the record’s going to be called?

There’s no name yet. It does have one of the songs from the EP redone — but yeah, there’s no title yet.

If you could pick a headliner to tour with, who would it be?

That’s realistic or completely a dream?

Both.

Okay, as far as realistic goes, man that’s tough. I really like this band from Birmingham, they’re called Sunshine Factory. They kinda got that MBV thing going on, I really like them. And then, as far as big amazing dream tour — can we come back to that one?


Yeah, that’s fine. How is the house show circuit different from playing a venue? You guys play a lot of house shows.

Yeah, it seems that way, but I played way more house shows in Lucy Dreams. I, honestly, enjoy it so much more playing house shows, it’s so much more intimate, usually it’s a lot more carefree. I’m not saying you just get drunk and say, “Whatever, I’m just gonna play and it’s gonna be fun,” but it feels less stressful because it’s people you’re good friends with that you’re working with to put the show on. But I mean, you can’t get past the fact that the sound is terrible. Playing venues, I think it’s a little tougher only because you have to pick and choose the right shows to play. I handle all of our booking and I don’t like to book a show where it’s not gonna have a good turnout. Ultimately it’s a business event for the venue — I don’t like to disappoint, ya know?

Do you think there are more house shows now than there were two years ago?

When I was playing in Lucy Dreams, I feel like Adam Waldorf and Sriracha House were putting on a ton more stuff. And I know he had to stop because his landlord was getting complaints from the neighbors — totally understandable. Those shows would go until like 4 in the morning. I feel like we played a lot more then at house shows, and Twin Studies has definitely been playing more bar shows, definitely more of like 529 and Mammal Gallery. But, like I said earlier, there’s only two houses that I think of: Adam’s house occasionally puts on shows now and Parts Unknown, that we played at the other night. There’s not really a “house show” house anymore. But it does happen. I hope that more come about.

Yeah, cause venues in this city are the gate keepers.

Absolutely. With house shows, you can get those little guys on the bill and people will go because it’s a party. There’s gonna be people at the house show regardless, whereas at a venue there’s not, except for maybe 529 because they’ve got a built-in crowd.

Image Precious Places EP by Twin Studies

What are Twin Studies’ influences, and what are you listening to right now?

We definitely draw a lot from Cocteau Twins, and even a little bit from Slowdive. We also draw a lot of the noisier elements from Sonic Youth and the like. Yeah, I often find that some of our heavier rhythmic stuff draws a little bit from Killing Joke. But I mean, it’s still got a very poppy and melodic sound, which a lot of people equate to Slowdive and Cocteau Twins.

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I think it’s the ethereal girl vocals.

Yeah, super reverbed out. We used to do vocals with Jay Stanley, and that was not good. As far as stuff that I’m listening to now, I’ve been listening to more twee stuff. A lot of people have compared us to Field Mice. And also some newer bands like, A Frames and the Intelligence. I guess I draw a lot from the noisier side of things and Jay brings more of the spacey, pretty stuff, which works together. I listen to a lot more punk than he does. That’s one of the easiest things to listen to in Atlanta because there’s such a plethora of punk bands. It’s cool to see people I’ve come to know over the past four or five years doing new projects just like they see me doing Twin Studies now instead of Lucy Dreams. That’s pretty fun. Like seeing bands like Del Venicci because I knew Jonathan Merenivitch when he played in Shepherds, and Shepherds is still going on, and they’re fantastic but it’s also cool to see him in a new light. So, it’s pretty interesting.

Since we’re talking about local bands, like Del Venicci and Shepherds, do you have any other favorites?

Let’s see, I’m digging Shampoo a lot. Rush Myers does such a pretty job with his vocals. GG King. I’m trying to think of bands that have been really doing it for me. I really liked Chris Daresta’s project with Matt Weiner, I thought that was really cool. It was just nice, kinda housey, kinda like acid. It was awesome. I like everything he Chris Daresta has been putting out too, like the High Functioning Flesh is awesome, even though they’re not from here.

His label, DKA Records, is happening. It’s great.

Yeah, he’s killing it. And I like Slugga, that new off-shoot. And like Bryan Scherer from Cheap Art’s new band, Nurse, is awesome. I saw them at Estoria the other night, they’re pretty sick. Just great hardcore.

Any releases that came out this year that you’re totally digging?

The GG King LP which is still not pressed. Warehouse of course. I’m excited to see what they’re going to be doing in the future. The Del Venicci EP was great. Honestly, most of what I’ve been listening to recently is from here...

Cool, support!

Yeah! I want people to come and do the same for me — there’s so much of it local music. I think everybody I know in Atlanta is in a band, at least one if not three.

So, tell me about the show on November 21.

Mammal Gallery. Friday, November 21 at 8pm. We’ll be playing a show with Fake Flowers, which is an Athens-Atlanta dream-pop band. Triathlon, which is from Savannah, then Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden from Seattle, and I assume we’re headlining. Should be pretty fun, they’re all kinda dream-poppy, indie shoegaze whatever. This is our only show in November and we won’t have another one until January. It’s great that there are four bands of a similar genre, when does that ever happen anymore?

It is kinda rare for four to be lined up like that.

Yeah, it’s really rare. That’s why I’m excited about it. And also the fact that we don’t have anything booked for a month on either side of it is really nice...

What do you think of shoegaze and dream-pop pushing into the mainstream the way it has?

I’m not surprised because it’s really pretty.

Like Slowdive playing Pitchfork.

I think it’s awesome, and they deserve to be recognized. At the same time, there’s going to be a ton of rip-offs. I hope that we’re not a rip-off of any classic shoegaze band. At the same time, that’s just gonna force the people that are really really into it to make something that’s stretching the limits more than just classic reverby girl and guy vocals and the distorted tremolo guitar. It’s awesome when people take that and push it to the next level in a different way. Take those textural elements and really expand upon them rather than recycle them.

What’s your other band?

I’m playing with Ryan DiDio and we’re trying to do something that’s faster, post-punky, noisy, kinda like A Frames a little bit. We’re just working on songwriting right now, we’re not stressing too much on it. It’s a side-project right now, but I hope when we start playing shows it will be something different. I’ve been doing the shoegaze thing for four years. I’m always going to love it, but it’s fun to expand and try something different There’s all this punk and post-punk that I listen to and I haven’t had an outlet to play something like that in a long time. I was doing that a little bit with Adam Waldorf in Gibberish Fuckattack, but it just wasn’t quite there. Getting to play this style with guys that have a similar taste in music as I do, it’s great, and we’re really getting to go for exactly what we want.

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Jacob later admitted that his dream tour would be with Asobi Seksu.

Twin Studies plays the Mammal Gallery Fri., Nov. 21. $5. 8 p.m. With Fake Flowers, Triathlon, and Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden. 91 Broad St SW.