EAGLE TWIN (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What’s currently going on with EAGLE TWIN?
We’re getting ready for our tour in NZ/Australia. Also writing some new material so we can try it out live. And building more amps and cabs for ourselves and others. Hex Cabs is our instrument building thing on the side.
– First off, how did this project get together?
We’ve know each other for 15 years or more and probably played together off and on for a decent part of that time. This band is the distillation of what is essential for us in music. Being a two piece presents certain challenges but it affords us a lot of freedom… musically and also logistically, it’s a one to one relationship.
– And why did you pick «Eagle Twin» as the band’s name?
It started as a side project. We were calling it ‘Evil Twin’ cause it was a duo playing evil riffs, then someone misheard it a Eagle Twin and I thought that was much better because we had started to do the Crow songs and you know, ‘The Eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.’
– Your first album, «The Unkindness of Crows» got an amazing feedback from the underground scene with awesome reviews. With this new album, did you work under more pressure due to this? Did you expect such recognition?
It was very flattering the way the “…Crows” took off! We toured heavily and worked on our craft and our tones non-stop between albums sure we were happy we could make another record equal to, if not surpassing, the first.
– And your new «The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale» came out just a few days ago; how is its feedback being so far? What are your expectations for this new record?
It seems it’s getting even better reviews than the first record so thats great. We get random messages from people who have been listening to nonstop since they got their hands on it. No real expectations, we have lots of cool opportunities to tour all over and play music, that’s all we ever hope for.
– I could say this is a more elaborated album, more mature in all possible ways. Could you say you have with this new opus reached your ultimate degree of maturity or is there always room for evolution?
Always room for evolution, always.
– Your sound sometimes reminds me to OM and a lot of people uses to compare you both, anyway I think you are way heavier and more powerful than them. What are your thoughts on this comparison?
I love OM! We love Sleep! Like many, I’m sure, we’d listen to Jerusalem/Dopesmoker nonstop in the van on long drives. OM has their own thing down and it’s had an influence on us for sure. Their archetype involves the repeated bass riff that underlines ever-changing vocal imagery. Our methods are many and varied, but we strive for unity in our variety. We’ll even do the inverse of the OM archetype where the words are repeated and the riffs are constantly changing and mutating underneath. Like on “And it cam to pass that birds fell to earth…” or to a different degree “Ballad of Job Cain part I”
– You have a really personal and particular sound, being impossible to categorize or to include you in a certain genre so, what are your main musical influences?
We grew up on Black Sabbath and Black Flag, but always had a desire to learn about different musics from times and all parts of the world. From our idols like Sonny Sharrock and Elvin Jones, to Wino or Matt Pike, to Tuvan throat singing and delta Blues, to Oliver Messiaen, to mystic Morrocan Gnawa music. Through it all is a common theme, myth and riff.
– In fact you blend elements from different music styles as Drone or Sludge with a special production sound as well. This way is difficult to come up with riffs and mix them all?
The riffs just come, the fun is putting it all together. We usually write in a way where things are constantly building or progressing. The structures are infused with constant theme and variations. This is what happens in nature as well.
– It caughts my attention the song entitled «Lorca (Adan)», as Lorca was a Spanish poet. What could you tell us about this tune?
I translated this poem myself… I originally came across a line from it in George Crumb’s Night of the Four Moons. It has such a nice internal rhythm that it practically writes its own riffs. It’s not about the snake but about Adam (and the Tree and the Apple) and the last stanza there is a dark other, perhaps the twin of ‘Adan’, who offers another, alternate reality, a new beginning (or end) perhaps.
– You’ve cut out the album with 10 minutes compared to the previous one, and that’s something important into your style. Was this something planned?
No it wasn’t planned, I just came out that way. We were trying to hone things a bit more plus we were trying to be conscious of the flow on the vinyl. We had some other things planned but they seemed extraneous to this record so we tried to have a more concise approach, and we wanted to end up back at the bird themes, back to the Crow.
– Due to these differences, has the songwriting process changed this time around?
It is still very similar. The words always come first and suggest the riffs and the structure, but we always look for places to expand and develop the music and the energy of the song.
– Could you share some light on some of the lyrical concepts?
The first part is from Job in the bible, it’s about suffering for the sake of suffering. Then we relate that to the bird being burned down by the sun into a black snake, that transformation. Then we deal with the Adam and his dark twin and a possible rebirth. Also a new look at the snake its role in the garden… being blamed for lust and human nature. With the snake horn snake we mix facts with native myths about the snake and it grows horns made of snakes with horns made of snakes, etc… That fractal expansion leads us to a new creation myth and we evolve back to the bird. This takes us back to Crow and he realizes perhaps God wasn’t punishing him. Maybe there are 2 gods, and the other god is much bigger and loves his enemies and has all the weapons. Maybe that’s saying too much. That’s a brief synopsis, there’s a lot in there if you dig in.
– And how does the cover artwork fit the whole record?
It was very fortuitous I walked into a local printing shop and Brian Taylor was working on this piece, a woodcut, and I thought this is perfect for the new album! All of it is there, the feathers, the snake, the skull (death), the self repetition. Some say myth the repetition through time and this endless repetition of death is how immortality manifests itself. Endless death becomes timeless myth.
– All this about «The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Mythic Riff Mutation
– You are hailing from Salt Lake City, a singular city compared to the rest in the USA. Is more difficult to play Metal there or it isn’t really have any effect?
The ‘culture’ creates a counter-culture which is very supportive. We have a beautiful natural landscape and extremes in climate which affect us and the music. It’s a special place and very interesting plus it has a low cost of living that lets us do more of what we want.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
Tour NZ/OZ with Russian Circles, tour the US with Earth in November, tour Europe in February. Make more Hex Cabs and Model T clone amps and write more riffs and myths and make more records.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks, that is all.
