V-Twin

The sound of New York City proto punk (especially the Velvet Underground) began rearing its head once more during the early twenty-first century, as bands such as the Strokes, Interpol, and V-Twin dusted off their old vinyl records and learned a thing or two from their ground breaking predecessors. Unlike the other aforementioned bands, V-Twin is from Glasgow, Scotland, rather than the US east coast. With only two permanent members, Jason McPhail (vocals) and Michael McGaughin (drums), several other backing musicians have passed through their ranks. The band kicked off their recording career the old fashioned way, with a steady stream of singles for the Domino Records label, many of which were later worked over by a host of renowned remixers (Jagz Kooner, Gareth Jones, plus the bands Royal Trux and Cinema) for the 2001 compilation, Free The Twin. In the process, the duo made major fans out of fellow artists such as Belle And Sebastian, the Pastels, Alex Chilton. American songwriting legend Dan Penn also invited the duo to collaborate in the studio. V-Twin’s debut studio recording, 2002’s The Blues Is A Minefield, was recorded by McPhail, McGaughin, and guitarists Bobby Kildea and Dino Bardot. The album caught the attention of former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who flew from his home in Bogota, Colombia to catch a gig in London. Oldham was so impressed with the band, that he immediately began working with the band on new studio tracks.
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