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Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Twiddle shares insight gained from touring, music inspirations

Jam band refers to their unique genre as ‘orgasmic fuzzbubble music’
Twiddle+shares+insight+gained+from+touring%2C+music+inspirations
Courtesy of Jay Blakesberg.

Madison may be ready for summer, but it’s hard to say if they are prepared for Twiddle. This hilarious quartet of men is making a trip back through the town on their recently announced tour.

Twiddle formed at Castleton State College, Vermont, and captured the eyes of many right away. With the jam-like nature of Mihali Savoulidis (lead vocals, guitar), Ryan Dempsey (keys, organ, synth and vocals), Bill Comstock (bass) and Brook Jordan (drums, percussion and vocals), there was a bright future for the band.

Their new member, Zdenek Gubb, came on board after he received a call from the band. He took over the bassist spot after watching the band perform while he was in high school.

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“I didn’t want to lose the interest in music by going to school for it, and watched the band perform for over a year prior to the phone call,” Gubb said.

https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2017/04/06/local-natives-blow-majestic-fans-away-with-intense-energy-emotion/

Now that the band has grown and matured for years, the genre has been a topic of constant conversation. Gubb described it as, “Three-dimensional, there is a fusion melody of reggae, rock and blues.” This is how they classify themselves on Facebook and the fact is most of the live and studio performances involve a lot of improvisation. One of the members went on to give the musical genre the title of “orgasmic fuzzbubble music.”

The band spoke to the fact in a phase of growth, “some luck is involved, but the fan base has been incredible and they will continue to provide fresh tunes.”

Gubb said the band itself was an inspiration for him growing up. Also, bands like Black Sabbath and Rage Against the Machine as well as many other live performances, have played a role in the musician he is today. He reflected on their recent Jam Cruise tour, and the inspiration the band gained from live performances.

“The energy of other great performers like, Kamasi Washington, Lettuce, Survivalist … is great to feed off of and resonate with,” Gubb said.

Each member of the band offers a unique perspective that adds to their sound, Gubb said.

“Mixing and mastering is often done in house or with the full band in the room, along with the fact that food is always involved recently,” Gubb said. “People often would bring in parts they wrote for the whole band to play, but now have moved on to writing their own part and allowing the other members to create another piece of the puzzle.”

https://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2017/04/04/fkj-amazes-majestic-audience-with-intoxicating-saxophone-solos-downtempo-electronic-sound/

They have came a long way since their first few projects were released. Natural Evolution of Consciousness was released back in 2007, and was based a lot on the individuals’ instrumental capabilities. Many of the members have many different instrumental talents along with their vocal capabilities. A few years later, they released their next project, Somewhere On the Mountain, and Gubb went on to explain, “there are a few characters present, and the stories and lyrics became more present throughout the project.”

Twiddle has since put on many live performances and has been working on the second part of their album. The first part, Plump Chapter 1, was released two years ago. This project was funded as a Kickstarter campaign, and was not widely known. It received great reviews and the touring that came after massively grew the band’s name and reach.

“These songs have meaning and sort of gave people what they wanted … but play into the fact that the studio albums usually go more unnoticed, and we as a band are capable of much more,” Gubb said.

There has since been a large amount of anticipation for the follow-up project which is conveniently titled Plump Chapter 2. This is described as “a high-energy, and high-involvement album … we are taking full control of all capabilities and working with the balance of instrumental and lyricism.”

Twiddle will be letting loose this masterpiece on tour, and it is available to preorder on April 14 through iTunes.

Their full album release is April 28, but don’t miss Twiddle in Madison on Saturday, April 15 at the Majestic Theatre. They are performing with Midnight North, who will support most of their tour and are sure to bring high energy.

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