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GlasgowWorld
  • 06/07/2025
Twin Atlantic are a dynamic alternative rock band hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, known for their blend of indie rock, emo-pop, power‑pop, and guitar-driven anthems. Formed in 2007, the original lineup—Sam McTrusty (lead vocals/guitar), Ross McNae (bass/keys/backing vocals), Barry McKenna (guitar/cello), and Craig Kneale (drums)—emerged from local bands and MySpace buzz, catalysed by a cover that earned them early attention.

Their debut EP, A Guidance from Colour (2008), soon led to their mini‑album Vivarium (2009), featuring gritty tracks like “Lightspeed” and “You’re Turning Into John Wayne.” Extensive touring followed, supporting acts like Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance, while landing spots at major festivals like T in the Park and Sonisphere

Their first full studio album, Free (2011), topped Scottish charts and established them as energetic live performers. However, it was their third album, Great Divide (2014), that broke through UK mainstream—led by the hit “Heart and Soul,” which reached #17 in the UK and won Best Independent Track at the AIM Awards.

Building on that momentum, they collaborated with producer Jacknife Lee on GLA (2016), named after their beloved hometown. The album debuted at #9 in the UK and was praised for its hometown pride, grit, and authenticity—earning spots on year-end rock album lists.

In 2020, the band took creative control again with Power, recorded in their own Glasgow studio under Virgin EMI. The DIY process, and collaboration between McTrusty and McNae, led to a confident, guitar-driven record reflecting their evolution beyond the pandemic and lineup changes.

Their most recent album, Transparency (2022), continued their rise, topping Scottish charts. In August 2024, they released Meltdown via their own Staple Diet label, celebrating with a return to Rockfield Studios and a raw, matured sound influenced by family life and a seasoned approach to music-making.

Across a career that grew from Glasgow pub gigs to major festivals like TRNSMT and Reading, Twin Atlantic’s journey reflects their enduring mantra: authenticity, sonic evolution, and Glaswegian pride. Their gritty energy, melodic hooks, and honest storytelling continue to resonate—solidifying their place as one of Scotland’s most compelling modern performers.

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00Twin Atlantic are back at Transmit, and yeah, that's quite an exciting thing.
00:06Is it always still exciting to have a hometown gig?
00:09Are you immune after almost 20 years of this kind of stuff?
00:14No, I'm definitely not immune, no.
00:16It's very, very exciting, and it's a high that cannot really be described,
00:24and it's very addictive to, I mean, we're so lucky to have been so massively accepted
00:30by the people from our own city, so it's like this weird mixture of pride and disbelief and adrenaline.
00:45Yeah, I've been walking around after work and even during the day and stuff,
00:51and I think it's, unless you're really in the city centre a lot of the time,
00:57it's difficult to really appreciate how big the summer of music is in Glasgow.
01:03There's so many huge gigs, there's stadium gigs, there's arena gigs, there's gigs in parks,
01:08there's gigs at the normal venues that we have in the city.
01:11Coming from somewhere that really has music embedded in it,
01:16was that, you know, a part of why you ended up a musician?
01:21Yeah, it must be, man. I mean, and I kind of, I grew up right in amongst it all as well,
01:28so, like, out of my bedroom window, I could see and hear Hamden,
01:36like, the gigs that would happen at Hamden, like, out the front,
01:39is where everybody would be pouring past and trying to park their car
01:43or get dropped off by a taxi and all that chaos that happens around the stadium.
01:51So, I don't know, I think that planted a seed in my head of wanting to be involved
01:56in whatever was going on over there.
01:58And then my big sister, she kind of, my big sister Alana,
02:05she was a couple of years ahead of me at school,
02:08and so she kind of got into bands and stuff like that before I did.
02:12And then I just wanted to, do you know what I mean?
02:15You just want to do whatever your older sibling is into to try and be as cool as them.
02:21And so then I started, she worked at Bar Block on Bath Street,
02:29and then I wanted to get a job there because it was, I mean,
02:32I was probably being lazy because it was easy, oh, my sister will get me a job.
02:35And as soon as I kind of had one step into that kind of more local music scene,
02:40I never really looked back.
02:41I just, then I wanted to play a gig there, then I wanted to,
02:45I just kind of snowballed from those two sort of, like, jump off points.
02:49I think one of the great things about Glasgow is, you know,
02:53you can do a gig at Bar Block and you might not be able to envision
02:57going from that to Hamden, but you can certainly envision going from that
03:01to King Tut's to Barrowlands and just, you know, there's a trajectory
03:06that is possible to do.
03:09Do you think that that gives encouragement, you know,
03:11like just to have those venues that there is a kind of route?
03:15Definitely, definitely.
03:16And we're so spoiled in Glasgow and a lot of, for that reason that you've just said,
03:22and a lot of musicians, even some other countries,
03:28I mean, like Tudor Cinema Club moved over to Glasgow when they started
03:31to literally work that ladder route that you described there.
03:37And from all over Scotland, I know so many friends that moved from the Highlands
03:42or even from Edinburgh across because Glasgow does have that route
03:49that you're describing.
03:51And it's funny because when we started, I was so naive
03:56and just totally exuberant to get going that I actually did,
04:03one of the first ever interviews, I was like, oh, I want to play a stadium.
04:05I'd kind of skipped all, in my imagination, I was like, nah, I want to play a stadium.
04:11And I didn't understand why I was doing that in the beginning
04:13because it's mental and arrogant and almost embarrassing
04:18because of the type of music we play as well.
04:20It's not, it never, it was never really probably a realistic thing,
04:25but because it was literally outside my bedroom window,
04:28that's just the first thing, you know what I mean?
04:30I was like, oh, I want to do that.
04:31And so I've kind of, it's taken some time and maturity to realise
04:35why our band sounds the way it does and all that
04:40because we were always playing, like you're saying, in Block
04:43and then the Barfly and King Tut's and we did do that route.
04:51I think, what did we do after King Tut's?
04:52I think we did like the Classic Grand and then we did the QMU
04:56and then we did the Barras and the Academy and then the Hydro.
05:01So we definitely have taken every step on each rung of the ladder,
05:06but I've come to peace with, why did I at the start say I wanted to play stadiums?
05:12That's mental, but I've figured it out eventually.
05:14So a festival gig, a festival show, you know, like you'll have your own audience there,
05:23especially because it's a Glasgow show, but, you know, it's a mixed crowd as well
05:28and it's an opportunity to grab people's attention
05:30and the BBC will be there, it'll be a wider audience.
05:34It's, you know, so how do you, how do you kind of approach these?
05:39It's a different animal than, you know, like your own tour.
05:42Yeah, especially on, like, even more so when you're playing like a main stage
05:50because it is quite, it's obviously like the kind of mainstream audience
05:56plus the majority of them are there to see the massive headliner that's on that night
06:01and if it's a bit of a genre clash, like, which we have on the Friday at Transmit
06:07because it's 50 Cent headlining, it's even more so of a kind of hurdle to try and go over.
06:16But we've been doing it for so long now that we've kind of realised that rather than trying to fight it,
06:22we just do what we do and if people like it, they like it and if they hate it, they hate it.
06:27And that's kind of part of being a proper, a proper kind of rock and roll band.
06:33You're there to kind of, when you look at the bill that day, like, that's kind of our job
06:38is to be the kind of, the people that don't fit in.
06:43So we kind of, we kind of wear that as a kind of badge of honour now and we just do our thing.
06:48It's not as easy to crowd surf or dive into the crowd from the main stage as it is with some of the other stages.
06:56Have you asked for the dimension, Sam, to check out the, check out the scenario?
07:01So I've done it before, I've done it before there.
07:04I've definitely done it before.
07:07I think, aye, because this is our third time playing Transmit,
07:10so I've done it twice before, being in the crowd.
07:12Now you're an expert at this stage or you'll be fine.
07:14Well, the only thing is I'm like, what, I'm 10 years older now than the first time.
07:20So do I have the stamina to get, because it is, it's mad, it's really, really tall.
07:25It's, I've definitely had a punty off of the, because we,
07:31another benefit of having done this for so long and it being a hometown show
07:34is that we know a lot of the pit security and a lot of the state,
07:39like the stage manager, Dumbo.
07:40So he just goes down the front and he's, I don't know, he's like 60 or something like that.
07:47So he kind of helps me, giving away my trade secrets here.
07:51He helps me get back on the stage.
07:53I was thinking about what you were saying about, you know, like listening to music
07:57and often you do get it from your uncles or your aunts or your big sisters
08:02or your big brothers and stuff like that.
08:03It kind of gets passed down.
08:04A lot of the Glasgow music that I listened to, I kind of inherited in that way.
08:11I was wondering if there was any particular Glasgow artists or Glasgow bands
08:15that you heard growing up that got you going and kind of tuned you into the music of the city?
08:23Good question.
08:24It might not even be music that you actually liked, but you know, like music that was around in the background
08:32or that you were aware of.
08:34I mean, I can't, this is the thing that's sticking in my head.
08:38Because funny enough, I got into music to kind of escape where I was from.
08:44So I never really actually listened in the beginning to that many artists from Glasgow.
08:49I kind of then went back once, once I was kind of entrenched in it and, no, I think probably
08:56the earliest memory I've got is like, would it have been like Deacon Blue or something?
09:02I think it's probably Deacon Blue in like my dad's car.
09:06It's not, it's not, it's not like a cool answer, like Orange Juice or like Jesus in the
09:13Medi Chain or something like that.
09:14But I'm just being honest, I do have this massive kind of pop streak in a lot of my taste and my songwriting
09:21because I grew up with, that's what I grew up with.
09:25Yeah.
09:26It's probably, funny enough, we had an, we had a, our third album, Great Divide, got reviewed once.
09:37But I think it was by Karang saying that it sounded like Deacon Blue and I was like dead
09:47proud, but I think it was meant to be a slagging.
09:50It was meant to be a slagging and I was like, oh, class, they've got, they've got massive
09:54songs and they're a globally known band.
09:56That's a massive compliment, but they weren't being polite.
10:01It was probably Deacon Blue.
10:02Perfect.
10:04Well, best of luck and look forward to seeing you at Transmit, Sam.
10:08Thanks.
10:09Thank you, Paul.
10:09Cheers, mate.
10:10Bye now.
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