The Watson Twins: Interview

by Dan Worth

Twins prove twice as nice

"Because we’re family it lets us be a little more honest. There’s an understanding that we can critique each other’s work and it’s purely professional"

They say twins have special abilities so that when one feels pain the other does too. The Watson Twins, identical sisters Leigh and Chandra, certainly give off a sense that unspoken communication is going on between them. Utterly disarming with their friendly American accents they banter back and forth, finish each other's sentences and make each other laugh as well as knowing when the other wants to speak. Sitting in the fantastically ramshackle Bar 12 on Demark Street before they go on stage to perform an intimate showcase of new songs from their new album ‘Fire Songs’ they discuss the joys of being in a band with your sister, the pain and pleasure of recording an album and how they came to spend a year in Grantham, Lincolnshire – the birthplace of Margret Thatcher…

Leigh, Chandra, how’s things?
Great thanks. It’s great to be the UK. We’re only here for three days but it’s always good to play some gigs and see a bit of London.

Excellent. Have to ask this – what’s it like being in a band with your sister? Don’t you ever just want to get away from each other?
Leigh: Well I think because we’re family it lets us be a little more honest, you know? There’s an understanding that we can critique each other’s work and it’s purely professional.
Chandra: I think because our career has been so organic, we’ve never really had a set plan of "we must be here by this point" - there’s not that pressure that other bands may have. SIblings in bands aren’t really a new thing – look at Oasis, Tegan and Sara, they’ve made it work.

New Noise is tempted to point out that the Jackson 5 have ended up living in North Devon but decided to press on…

You’ve already built up something of a following through your collaboration with Jenny Lewis – did this mean there was an extra pressure in ensuring you pleased existing fans as well as gaining new ones?
Chandra: I think this record is different enough to bring in new fans, but similar enough to please the existing ones…
Leigh: I think every time you put out any work it’s a delicate thing. I mean it’s a part of you that you’re putting out there for people to listen to, your soul on the line. So I think whether you’re well known or not it’s still a pretty-nerve wracking experience.

Was it an enjoyable experience?
Leigh: Definitely. I mean it was exhausting too, but also very addictive. When you start and see the list of songs you’ve got to work on and get each one as good as you can you realise it’s a long process. But when you get to the end and hear the results, you just want to do it all again.
Chandra: I don’t know if the producers are ready for us to do it all again straight away - I think they were happy to see us off on the road!

Simple question, but why is it called ‘Fire Songs’?
Chandra: Well there was one track on the album called ‘Only You’ that was originally called 'Fire Song', but the title got changed. I think we both liked the phrase so it stuck.
Leigh: The album is the sort of thing we want people to be able to listen to around the campfire and so a nice warm sound, like the record’s production, is what we wanted the title to capture.

So was that the concept from the start – the theme of the album - to be a warm, communal experience?
Chandra: Yeah definitely. We wanted to make something people would enjoy, not to shock or offend. It’s very much reminiscent of that classic rock, 1970's California sound, and there are some influences in there like Otis Reading that we wanted to nod too.
Leigh: The whole album is recorded in analogue as well to give it that retro sound. The vinyl for it came out the other day and it really sounds great played through that but it’s so nice to touch and feel as well.

Is that something you think is important – the entire package of a piece of music?
Leigh: Well with people downloading so much now the act of owning something has reverted in someway to the past. CDs are easy to break but a vinyl is so nice and artwork is easier to appreciate if it’s bigger. Of course moving them is far more of a problem because they’re so much bigger! But yeah, I really like being able to touch and feel and hold a piece of music.

How involved were the musicians in the process of the album’s recording?
Chandra: Well they’re a full-time band called Everest who are signed on Neil Young’s record label. It was very much a band effort; we listened to ideas and encouraged everyone to suggest stuff. I mean some of it would be ludicrous stuff but it’s all about trying things out.
Leigh: We like good guitar solos and nice bass lines and things like that so wanted to make sure we left room for that on the album from the other band members.

So what’s the plan now then?
Leigh: Well we’re back to the States tomorrow and then it’s just more promotional work. The States is so big it takes ages to get anywhere. You guys over here think driving five hours is a long drive but that’s nothing. It can take four days to cover the States!
Chandra: When we lived over here it always made us laugh that people wouldn’t travel to see each other because it was "so far away" when to us it would be a normal drive.

When you lived here?
Chandra: We did a school exchange when we were younger, to Grantham. We had lessons on English culture and lots of things like that. We probably know more about England than you do.

That’s probably true. Do you know you don’t have a Facebook group? How can this be?
Leigh: I know! Our friend is always offering to run one for us but we don’t like the idea of not being in our control. We still operate our own Myspace and like being able to connect with our fans. It’s nice to have the engagement with people and know they are appreciating the music.
Chandra: Yeah we like the control.

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