An Interview with Two Weeks in Nashville - 45 mins of indie rock drenched in a glossy pop varnish..

Miyuki Wang
Jul 24, 2023
6 min read

Review and Images by Hannah (@hantakesph0tos)

Interview by Emma Bowen

While some people simply get keychains from a trip, others feel so inspired by a place they visited that they have to take its name for their band name.

Two Weeks In Nashville (TWIN), consisting of Billy LeRiff (lead singer/guitarist), Marc De Luca (guitarist) and Ian Wilson (drummer), was named after the two weeks the band spent in Nashville in 2018. After playing multiple sell-out shows at venues such as O2 Academy Islington and Camden Assembly in 2020, their plan got interrupted by lockdown, just like anyone else. Part of it was their first-ever European support tour with Bang Bang Romeo. Fortunately enough, Covid didn't put an absolute pause on their productivity.

Since they had started living together before the lockdown, they could still work on songwriting, recordings and music videos along with weekly 20-minute live-stream shows while building an even more solid bond in the band by spending a lot of time together. Perhaps this is why they could find their way back to the usual conduct with ease soon after.

We caught TWIN for the first time at Hoxton Underbelly in London in January 2022 when they were playing to win a slot to play at The Isle of Wright Festival. I didn't know about them before that gig but I was mesmerised by their energy and the warmth of the crowd they brought with them. They were one of the most welcoming crowds I've seen. Sometimes the easiest way to tell if the band is something special is to look at their crowds enjoying themselves at the gigs.

Not winning the festival slot despite the odds didn't stop their breakthrough; soon after in February 2022, they released their debut album Paper Planes And Razor Blades. Neon Pop is their second born which was released just a few weeks ago. It was nice to re-encounter songs such as 'Pipe Dreams' and 'Overdose' that I remember hearing it when I saw them.

One of our guest photographers and hardcore TWIN fan - Hannah, had a chat with us about what makes this band so special for her..

'I first discovered TWIN during Summer last year and was so glad when I finally saw them live! Seeing them live in London was amazing and such a fun time (I live so far away so I don’t get too see them very often!) and the atmosphere was amazing! Everyone in the room was there to have the best time of their life and it definitely showed!

The lads give such an amazing set each time, and hearing new songs live for the first time felt so surreal due to only ever hearing them on Spotify! My favourite song of the set was ‘The Way That It Is’ due to the amount of tears I cried! It’s such a special song, however, all of the songs were literally my favourite!

I’ve met a lot of people due to TWIN having this amazing community of fans, and I will forever be grateful! The lads made the Hoxton Underbelly their home for the night and I can’t wait for them to be headlining stadiums in the near future! An honourable mention was giving Ian my cowboy hat to wear during the encore of ‘Be Happy’ - easily my favourite gig moment that I have ever seen, the country-ness of it all really lived up to their name. I would 2828282% recommend a London Two Weeks In Nashville gig to anyone! Here’s to TWIN world domination!💜'

And now for the main act! We spoke to the band about the journey of Two Weeks In Nashville - from daydreamy lockdowns to jacket potatoes to their brand new album, treat yourself to a read about where it all began..

- Can you tell us about how Two Weeks in Nashville started and where the band name came from? How did you all meet and decide to start making music together?

We started Two Weeks In Nashville after literally spending two weeks out there. We were overwhelmed by the music and energy out there, feeling inspired to try and harness that vibe when we returned.

- Are there any particular creative processes you go through when writing your songs? How has your sound evolved since you first started making music together as a band?

So we all approach songwriting in different ways, for different songs. Whether it's a riff that comes first or a specific lyric - but once a rough demo is completed we bring it to the rest of the guys in the band and take it to the studio.

Our sound has changed massively since the start, not only from our own tastes changing but also as a product of our situation. Pre-COVID we leaned towards a much rougher, unpolished vibe. However, during lockdown, we didn't have access to the usual set-up. We learnt to do a lot alongside and under the Dunking Brookfield cape and the result was Neon Pop.

- Congratulations on the release of your new album Neon Pop! How does it finally feel to have your second album out in the world? Can you describe the feel of this album for people that might not have listened yet?

Thank you very much! It feels great, we started recording it two years ago so to finally get it out feels very surreal. For us, it's a real-time stamp of what was going on in our lives, with some golden memories from the recording process. I would describe this album as 45 minutes of Indie Rock that's been drenched in a glossy pop varnish (with a slice of country for the namesake).

- How would you describe the journey to Neon Pop - what was the inspiration for this album? Are there any particular artists you're musically influenced by?

The journey to Neon Pop was very much that! We began recording it in early 2021 but the writing process started in early 2020 inspired by the lockdowns. It was basically a pipe dream of how we were imagining life outside of COVID! We dreamt of a road trip in a convertible Mustang through the US. We were also reminiscing on past experiences and times that we hadn't yet written about or thought about writing about before! Musically we were really influenced by where the song took us, which was quite new for us. We churned through the back catalogues of our favourite bands and we also got into country music over 2020. Going into the studio and working with Brookfield gave us a new more clinical edge to recording too.

- Another congratulations on your recent album launch show in Hoxton! How did it feel to finally play the new songs in front of a live audience?

Thanks again! The feeling is honestly hard to find the words for. It was an incredible night! To see our fans come together, singing the words and supporting the album was really surreal and a very special moment. A music critic and now good friend of ours, Sleeve Saturday, even flew in with his friends from Ireland for the show!! Craziness, right?! It felt great to play the new tracks and see how they were received in a live setting too. We'd been playing the older tracks for the last couple of years, so freshening it up only added to the buzz.

- You seem to have a busy schedule coming up over the summer, are there any shows you're particularly excited about playing?

Yes, for sure. It's really nice to have a great bunch of shows and festivals coming up over the summer! We feel very lucky and can't wait to get back into the British sunshine and tear it up. We're excited to be back at Pub In The Park in Bath and Brighton; Tom Kerridge makes a mean jacket potato on the rider. OceanFest, on the Devon coastline, is also probably going to be the most romantic; I think we'll pack the surfboards for that one. Also can't wait for BigFeastival, CarFest and Walled Garden Festival supporting Jethro Tull. Let's go!!

- Do you have any favourite memories from live performances you've done in the past?

Yeah, when we had our headline show a couple of months ago in London (at Hoxton Underbelly) and that was a really special night. One specific moment was huddled backstage waiting to go back on for the encore, hearing a room full of people you don't know that are brought together from music that we've made. That feels pretty good. Aside from that, we opened for Craig David at Pub In The Park last summer and the whole thing felt like a surreal fever dream.

- What does the future look like for Two Weeks in Nashville?

The future looks purple with a hint of yellow! We've got a lot of new music on the horizon and always plenty of live shows coming up. We're looking forward to playing to new faces and pushing our sound further; we don't want to be constrained and put in a box. We're also excited to develop our clothing brand, Purple Heart, that we launched in recent months! There's a lot of work to be done but we're loving the ride.