Chosen by Monk
Our latest choice sees us being ushered into the company of the #KingAndQueen by a band who may bear a name that is new to us but have been around the block more than a time or three, as until recently they went by the monicker of Twister.
To help put things into perspective, main man Stevie Stoker said of the name change:
This is probably the biggest decision we’ve ever made as a band, having gone under the Twister banner for so long. But following the completion of our new album with Romesh (Dodangoda, as producer) it just felt time to evolve, to kick it up, to create a brand that better represents our sound. It was hard to take the plunge but now it’s done it feels great. We love our new name and I now need another tattoo!
Speaking about the single, the third to be taken from their recently recorded second album, ‘The World Is Ours‘, which is due for released in February, Stoker told me:
What I love about [it] musically is just how relentless it is. It just starts and is full on until the end. It’s a million miles an hour. Even when we were demoing it, you could feel how it would sound finished. It has this infectious energy about it that really reflects us as a band.
Musically its ‘feel good’ song but it also has a message behind it, that you should surround yourself with people who make you a better person but also accept you at your worst. We can’t all be 100 per cent all the time. We will have our wild moments, our down moments [and] we need the people around us to accept that and roll with it. Sometimes they will add to the madness, and sometimes they will be the calm we were looking for.
Going on to talk about the album, he says:
I love this album, not only do I think it’s the best music we’ve ever written, but it was also the most enjoyable writing and recording process I’ve ever been a part of. Jack [Corbett – drums] and I wrote for most of 2023. We were even recording demos while on tour around Europe. From the get go we knew what we wanted to say with this collection of songs. As a band you come up against so many challenges and we wanted this album to reflect all of the emotions, difficult decisions, and strong bonds we’ve made over the last couple of years.
Getting the songs ready to record for the final time is always my favourite part of the process but also one of the most tricky. We demo them fully so every layer and part is where it should be and critique and change bits until we are happy with it. However it’s sometimes difficult to know when you’re done. Thankfully we had the right production team behind it, approaching it with a clear view of what we wanted the final result to be. Romesh (Dodangoda) and the boys at Longwave made our job easy and we literally smiled and laughed our way through it. We hope anyone who hears it will hear the joy behind the music no matter the subject.
Juliet’s Not Dead are taking their show on the road this month, visiting Stornoway this coming Saturday (9 November) and then playing the Cart & Horses, London, on Sunday 17 November, the Corporation in Sheffield on Friday 22, Audio in Glasgow on Sunday 24 and Riverside in Newcastle on Saturday 30, with more shows to be added.
Stoker finished off by revealing a little of what can be expected from the live shows:
We will still be playing Twister songs, they are now just Juliet’s Not Dead songs and when coupled with the new material folks will see that growth and natural progression. These are exciting times for us, not that we were jaded or treading water but the new material sounds fresh and takes us to another level. Now we get to show our fans and hopefully gain some new ones too. We’ve spent so long perfecting this show and now we absolutely can’t wait to get out there and play for everyone.