Established back in 2004, The Twang‘s five studio albums have helped to shape the sound of modern British indie. Their sound is filled with optimism in its sound and realism in its lyricism. Eighteen years after their debut album, ‘Love It When I Feel Like This’, the band has cemented their importance in the scene they helped bring to life. As part of Music Is To Blame‘s What’s to Blame? interview series, vocalist and guitarist Phil Etheridge sat down with us at Y Not Festival to talk all things social media.

Introduce yourself and where you’re from.

I’m Phil from The Twang. From Birmingham. 

Talk to us about your band’s name. What’s to blame for its inception?

Well, we were initially called Neon Twang. It was just a saying, just the Brummie thing. We were just called Neon Twang for years, but everyone called us The Twang, so it just stuck. 

When you think about your music when you started in comparison to now, what do you think has been the biggest change so far?

It’s definitely social media and Spotify, and just the internet in general. We were the last, in 2007/2008, to sell a lot of records. I know people sell a lot of vinyl now, but there were CDs and then everything else. It was just before it all got ruined, really, wasn’t it?

You could say that! How do you think festivals compare to other gigs you play throughout the year?

I think it’s a great opportunity to play in front of a load of people who wouldn’t normally come and see you, you know? You can go out, be nice, and put on a good show. I think it’s a great opportunity to win new fans. I really enjoy it, but I enjoy every show. I enjoy travelling around with my friends and playing our tunes. It’s a beautiful thing. 

Are you watching any of the other artists at Y-Not this year, and if so, who are you most excited for?

I mean, a couple of the lads came down last night to watch The Prodigy, but I’m in and out nowadays. I’ll do our set and then go back to Brum and have a beer around our way. I don’t even know who’s on today!

It’s Courteeners headlining tonight! With us being over halfway through the year now, I want to know what’s been the highlight so far for you?

The highlight of this year so far? We’ve done an acoustic tour at the start of summer, around May. We played Birmingham Town Hall, which was just beautiful, and I kind of didn’t realise how great it would feel to play that town hall. The history of it, and we’ve played virtually all the venues in town, but we’d never done that. It was really special, man. Really beautiful. It felt really lovely and to do that acoustic just with us on a stool and nine hundred people or whatever it was, it was just lovely, man. So that was a moment. 

Then we played it in the Round (Exchange) in Manchester, in the theatre area there. It’s called playing in the Round, and that was bizarre, but it was beautiful as well. Yeah, we’ve had a good summer; it’s been a lot of fun. Hopefully, today will be the highlight. That’s what I’m hoping. 

Definitely. I’ll be there!

Thank you, man. Have fun.

Emily Teague 

Image: Tim Firth

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