Two Door Cinema club is the indie-rock band that produce the tunes that are bound to get every man and his dog dancing. The Irish three-piece emerged in 2010 with their first studio album, Tourist History, which would change the way we would think about indie-rock forever. Placing what can only be described as their own ‘succulent melodic twist’ on what the genre was previously defined by, Two Door Cinema Club demanded that they be heard.
And heard they were. In fact, they were more than merely ‘heard’. Tourist History very quickly went platinum and the band sky-rocketed to fame, which would see them follow with extensive touring and eventually, the production of a new album. With this came their second studio album, Beacon, which was both a mature and melodic consolidation of their sound, with the addition of some newly inspired beats.
The success of Beacon would continue the whirlwind that would proceed to lead Two Door Cinema Club around the globe, without really giving the trio a chance to catch their breath.
In 2014, the moment would come where every loyal fan would feel their heart skip a beat, as the band made the unanimous decision to take a break. However, at the time, fans didn’t know that they needn’t worry, as this break would be just what the doctor ordered for Two Door Cinema Club.
In 2016, the trio returned stronger and better than ever, with their third and most recent studio album, Gameshow. Coined as their most experimental and diverse work to date, Two Door Cinema Club guitarist Sam Halliday explains how the band came back together again, with such a creative fire in their loins.
“I feel like the thing that inspired us most to make this album [Gameshow], more than anything else, was a bit of time off. I think, you can go through the motions a bit when you’re in a band, just feeling like you have to make music because there’s a time frame and what not, and you don’t particularly feel too inspired to make it; especially if you’ve just been on tour for a year and you just want to forget about music for a second. I think it was nice just having a bit of time to just live life outside of being in a band and feeling like you’ve had some experiences to go and write music about,” he says, “We all kept making music in the time off, but not necessarily just for Two Door, so I feel like it allowed us to experiment with making music in different ways and I think that definitely gave us a new perspective going into the studio.”
Alongside being coined as their most experimental and diverse work to date, Gameshow has also been titled their most ‘enthralling and danceable record yet’. In coming back together, the trio have challenged themselves to push their previous boundaries to new heights, enveloping themselves with a vast range of styles and influences, which has led them to delve far beyond the more traditional Two Door Cinema Club sound.
“In Tourist History we were young teenagers and everything had to be a hundred miles an hour and it definitely sounds like that. I feel like now, we’re a bit more confident in what we’re doing… we’ve always wanted to make danceable music and I feel like before we did that by making it really fast. Now, I think we’re just experimenting with different rhythms and being influenced by a lot more music. When you’re younger, you have a few bands that you really love and you just try to recreate that – now, I think we’re just doing that but with a much bigger pool of influence, that people can’t really notice hopefully,” he laughs, “Before, we were all very much into the same thing, now we love different music to each other as well. Again, the pool is even bigger and sometimes that leads to arguments and sometimes it leads to really great moments, but I think it definitely works for us.”
The band are set to return to Australia for their upcoming string of Splendour in the Grass shows, as well as a handful of sideshows, where they will be able to continue their long-forged love affair with the country.
“It’s always different touring in Australia, because we fly over there and we don’t get a tour bus or anything, like we normally would in Europe or America. So, already it doesn’t quite feel like we’re on tour; it feels a bit more like a holiday, which is fun. We fly between the cities every day and usually we’re there doing a touring festival, so you turn up to the airport at about 8am and there’s always like 10 bands in the airport, all on the same flight and you see the same people every day, some worse for wear than others,” he laughs, “We’re just super excited to come [to Australia], it’s been a while. We had to cancel the last trip unfortunately, so we’re just dying to get back there and hopefully it comes across in the shows.”
When & Where: Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay – July 21 – 23 & Festival Hall, Melbourne – July 25.
Written by Helena Metzke
