Kevin Twomey from Dublin told David Hennessy about fronting the French band Bigger, his new solo material and why he may be making Ireland home again after years living away.
Known as the founder and frontman of the French alt-rock band Bigger, Kevin Twomey from Rathfarnham in Dublin is now forging his own path as a solo artist.
The new project has stemmed from his musical partnership with guitarist Guillaume Amoureux.
Inspired by the likes of Kevin Morby, Elliott Smith, and Mac DeMarco, their EP Bloom Room is a blend of folk influences.
Through their music, Kevin delves into the depths of human emotions, exploring themes of trust, love, and the importance of companionship in overcoming life’s challenges while all the time aiming to sound as intimate as the night late chats and jam sessions it was born out of.
The recording process is also very different. In contrast to Bigger’s big band sound and production, Kevin records with minimal equipment.
The live experience will also be that way with Kevin and Guillaume being joined only by Philippe Lapierre in a three piece.
With the latest single By My Side, Kevin Twomey delivers a poignant message about everyday anxieties and the role of loved ones in helping us navigate through life’s uncertainties.
This track follows the first single Womb with a View, the first single to be released, is the best illustration of this technical process as the title was a lapsus from Kevin’s father in the last hours of the evening.
The band Bigger are still ongoing with the early stages of a new album underway.
What inspired the solo project?
“It’s just different songs come to you and there’s stuff that works for Bigger and stuff that doesn’t work for Bigger.
“We’ve toured the album for about two years so it’s a good time to do my own stuff as well.
“I wanted to do something less produced, more lo fi, home recorded and stuff, so totally different style again and just going more acoustic and sort of bringing a bit more Irishness to what I’m doing because Bigger is a band where there’s loads of different influences from the other people in the band.
“That’s what’s cool about that band but this is my own endeavour.
“It’s more me, I suppose.”
Was it always your intention to do your own thing?
“Yeah, I had loads of stuff built up over the years, stuff that I didn’t really know where to fit, just more acoustic stuff as well.
“It’s still quite electric sounding what I ended up doing but these songs were built up over a few years.
“I met Guillaume and it’s always nice when you sort of bounce off someone.
“It was really cool to meet him and he was sort of like, ‘Yeah, I’ll just help you record’.
“He’s ended up playing guitar.
“We’ve started a three piece and he’s actually in the band now as well.
“It’s sort of a natural thing but at the same time, there was also always someone there to sort of push me towards that which you sometimes need.”
Does it feel different for it being your name above the door? Is it different from being in a band even if you’re fronting that band?
“Yeah, it is different. It is totally different.
“In Bigger, three of us are sort of leading the band.
“It’s a shared process in Bigger and this is different.
“It’s, like you say, my name hanging over the door.
“It’s a big deal and I’ve worked with a lot of bands at this stage throughout my career, and it’s just nice to sort of just do something and sort of be like, ‘That’s my stuff’.
“And using your own name as well, it takes a lot of confidence to do it.”
And the first song was Womb with a View, did it come from a slip of the tongue from your dad?
“Yeah, we were drinking a bit too much in Dublin and he was talking about some hotel and it came out ‘womb with a view’.
“And it was like, ‘That’s funny’.
“The song could be kind of about anything you want but I was like, ‘What would a womb with a view look like?’
“So that sort of sparked that idea.
“It’s kind of piss taking at the same time, you know?”
That has been followed with current single By My Side which is more about everyday worries and anxieties, isn’t that right?
“It’s hard to say sometimes, because stuff sort of slips out of the psyche and you don’t really know.
“Sometimes I like that process as well where you don’t really know where lyrics are coming from.
“The lyrics that sound right are revealing so that song kind of wrote itself in a way, it kind of made more sense later.
“It’s about trying to be your best but being scared that you’re not gonna be able to achieve or be up to standard, self-confidence basically.
“It’s kind of what it means to me.
“There’s a bit of everything in there as well.
“It’s a lot of different images but I’d say what it ends up being at the end of the day is kind of trying to be good enough and feeling that you’re not basically.”
Timely to be writing about self doubt and other themes like that- That we can all relate to- As you embark on a new venture..
“Yeah, there’s that.
“I suppose it’s also a reflection of the age we live in as well.
“I’m always trying to be as honest as I can with the music I’m bringing out so with this solo stuff, what I’m trying to do is just be even more honest.
“It’s a great way to put things through music, being open about stuff. At least we can be nowadays.”
Is it true that after many years of living abroad, you are considering making Ireland home again?
“Yeah, it’s kind of omnipresent especially after- Not going down the political route of things but things have been a bit weird in France.
“You see in the news, sort of dodged a bullet there a couple of weeks ago with right wing stuff which is really scary, you know?
“So it’s kinda like to do with that and then, I’ve been away for 15 years from Ireland.
“I can go back and it’s great and the whole thing with this French system that’s awesome is you can actually live off being a musician.
“You can actually live off being an artist which is really hard to do in Ireland, near impossible.
“I’m going to go back to Ireland in October. I’m going to do the whole Irish Music Week thing and try to contact people and network a little bit so that’ll be cool.
“The project, my own stuff, the idea is to definitely bring it back to Ireland to play anyway.
“In all fairness, the sort of stuff I’m doing with this solo stuff, there would be more of an audience for it in Ireland or in England then there would be in France because there’s just not that many people doing this sort of style of music.
“It’s not a popular thing in France.”
You have played in Ireland with Bigger, haven’t you?
“No, we didn’t.
“We were supposed to and then it sort of fell through.
“We did a release in Tower Records when the album came out and stuff like that but that was about it.
“We did a good bit of promotion in Ireland and we got played on RTE and stuff like that but it’s hard to get a gig in Ireland even when you live there.
“But it’s gonna happen.
“It would be easier because it’s easier to move this band around.
“Bigger is a big band: There’s six of us on the road.
“This solo stuff, there’s three of us and that’s it, so it will be easier to sort of tour it around which is awesome, kind of a sign of the times because touring has become so expensive.
“It’s just easier to go around as a two piece or a three piece.
“With my own stuff the idea is to come back to Ireland eventually.”
How would you describe your sound? It’s certainly mellower than Bigger..
“Yeah, that’s the best way I can describe it really.
“There’s five songs on the EP and there’s acoustic guitar all over the whole thing, loads of mellotron.
“More mellow but at the same time, it’s dissonant.
“There are eruptions.
“It’s like boiling the tea pot, sort of crescendo all the time.
“Definitely more mellow, more ballad-y. I’m not trying to go down the whole full ballad road but it is more like that.
“They are more ballads than they are anything else really, I’d say.”
Were you thinking of any Irish influences with it?
“This stuff sort of just slipped out, I didn’t really think about anything.
“I suppose maybe like a bit of Fionn Regan or Damien Rice, stuff I listened to when I was kid.
“That obviously made its way in there somehow and has sort of just snuck out now years later.
“There’s definitely that in me and I can assume that a lot more nowadays, I suppose than when I was younger.”
When did you know you wanted to do music? Was it when you got to France?
“Yeah, totally.
“I was living out in the middle of nowhere in the Jura mountains.
“I was there with my ex-girlfriend.
“There was nothing to do but there was this big warehouse.
“I was like, ‘What’s in that huge warehouse in this little town?’
“I just saw these guys hanging out at the back.
“I started chatting with them, they were all musicians and at that time, they were actually looking for a singer.
“They were all real pro musicians and they sort of took me under their wing and we did load of touring around little dive bars all over France sleeping on floors, mattresses.
“After a few years of doing the touring thing, you get really good at it.
“It’s like a job basically, you get used to conditions and you sort of get used to maybe losing your voice or breaking a string.
“You do get road worn in a way and you become pro sort of through that.
“It’s like a trade or something.
“I managed to meet these guys and they were really great.
“They were teaching me stuff all the time which isn’t actually something that happens a lot between musicians.
“It depends on where you are in the world but to meet musicians that are willing to sort of teach you the ropes, that was a lucky strike there.
“I was probably about 24 or something when I started doing it.
“It became more than a hobby and I was with really good serious musicians that knew how to fix an amp or a guitar if it broke down, just the whole thing.”
But those musicians you saw outside the warehouse quite by chance and fell in with weren’t your now bandmates in Bigger, were they?
“It was a different band called Monsieur Pink.
“That was my first band.
“Actually that’s how Bigger started because one of the guys that they used to play with was Damien, the guitar player from Bigger.”
You have toured all over Europe, what have been particular highlights?
“Over the last few years, we sort of started a project with the local orchestra here and we got the drummer from Nick Cave’s band, The Bad Seeds.
“He rearranged the whole album, wrote all these amazing arrangements.
“He came four times from Berlin.
“He drove down and worked with us in our venue here so it was 17 people on stage with Larry Mullins, the drummer for Nick Cave.
“We became really good friends with him over the last two years which was just awesome.
“Then we did three gigs with the orchestra which is a huge, powerful thing.
“We’re gonna do another one (orchestra project) actually.
“There was that and then there was a load of other cool gigs, especially those Zenith gigs: Zenith de Paris, Rouen, Zenith Rennes and Limoges.
“You’re playing to six, seven thousand people a night, three nights in a row.
“It’s just crazy when you go to play somewhere else after that.
“The next day you might be playing in a club or something in front of 200 people and you’re like, ‘There’s no one here’.
“It’s so different.
“That’s the fun experience as well.
“You get to play sometimes these crazy things and then next day, you might be playing in front of 50 people.
“That’s the thing.
“It’s like that’s the real life of the road.
“I love it.
“There’s always something you can get out of 50 people.
“You can always get something out of two people.
“You’re still there, you’re still getting to play which is the best thing.”
You have been supported by outlets like RTE and Hot Press, have you felt that support from home even though you have been overseas and not forgotten?
“Yeah, totally. It’s really nice.
“Even now the last two tracks have been picked up by RTE which is just absolutely lovely.
“It’s kind of unexpected and then at the same time just really, yeah, not forgotten.
“It’s a really positive thing. It’s good for self confidence as well.
“It makes me feel positive that I can go back and play there which is awesome.”
Do you think you would be a musician now if you had not gone to France and met those people who gave you such a helping hand?
“Yeah, I think I would by some other means.
“Because I was always playing music before that.
“I had songs.
“I was trying.
“I think there’s a lot of young, talented musicians out there.
“To get to the next level, the next step, it’s not just about being able to play the best song or being able to play the best chord or whatever.
“You have to kind of live through it to sort of be able to get to that level, by gigging and stuff. You see what works and you see that what doesn’t work with people.
“I was lucky to meet those guys but I think I would have met someone else.
“I think when you have the power for whatever kind of art form you’re taking on I think if you let it in, it’s going to find some way out.”
What do you miss from Ireland? “Irish breakfasts. Cup of tea. Proper pint of Guinness.”
What would you miss if you left France? “The wine.
“The food is awesome, it’s just crazy.
“And the people are lovely, I have made a life here.
“There’s always good things everywhere, there’s pros and cons for everything.”
By My Side is out now.
The Bloom Room is out now.
For more information, click here.
