I only discovered Twin Temple a couple of weeks before this show after a chance encounter on my Facebook feed. They looked rather awesome so I went down the rabbit hole, watching YouTube videos and reading up on them. There's something wonderfully exciting about discovering a new band you really like and immersing yourself in their art.
The core of the band is a real-life Satanic married couple, singer
Alexandra and guitarist
Zachary James. Their music is a blend of 50's and 60's Rock n' Roll, but with occult lyrical themes, which they call
Satanic Doo-Wop. I can see how on an initial listen, they may seem like an evil version of
Amy Winehouse, but there's so much more to this act than that. They tap into the timelessness of classic Rock n' Roll, giving it a contemporary spin, yet managing to retain the vintage aspect of the music in both terms of performance and production.
Being such a genuinely interesting and unique act, I couldn't miss out on the chance to catch them live. The retro-looking
Deaf Institute in Manchester was the ideal venue for such an experience.
The support band,
The Violent Hearts, reminded me a bit of that evil band from the movie
Jennifer's Body. Seriously though, they were actually pretty cool. Imagine a mix of
The Smiths,
The Cure and
Creeper and you'll be somewhere close. They seemed to go down well with the audience too, so I'm sure they chalked this gig up as a success.
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| The Violent Hearts |
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| The Violent Hearts |
Twin Temple began their set with a Satanic ritual, involving a skull, ceremonial swords and the denouncing of sexism, racism, prejudice etc. It's as theatrical as it is empowering, and the positive messages and passion are lapped up by the audience. The band then broke into
The Devil (Didn't Make Me Do It), and the whole room simply sizzled with energy. It was a truly euphoric start to the show, and the audience was clearly captivated.
As far as I'm aware, they played every song they've released so far. That's everything off the debut and the two new songs,
I Am A Witch and
Satan's A Woman, from their 7 inch. All of these, with the occasional ritual thrown in, lasted over an hour, and every minute was engaging.
Twin Temple really is a great band. The performance was slick and, dare I say it, perfect. It's also been a long time since I've seen a band with a saxophonist on stage too, which I enjoyed a lot.
Alexandra's voice is mesmerising, and on the same level as any international mega-stars in this genre one could mention.
Finishing up with an extended version of the brilliant
I'm Wicked, they left a lasting impression. Tonight's show was nothing short of superb, and I'll be keeping a close eye on where the band goes from here.
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| Waiting for Twin Temple |
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| Twin Temple starting their show with a ritual |
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| Twin Temple |
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| Twin Temple |
They rocked my fuckin world back in October 2019. I really need to see them in Seattle this Spring.
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