The Twang: 'Listening to Jewellery Quarter took me back to a moment in time which you can never get back'

Jewellery Quarter debuted at number 20 in the UK charts in 2009, with hits such as Barney Rubble and Encouraging Sign alongside live staples such as Took The Fun and Back Where We Started.

The tour has necessitated plenty of rehearsal and will see the indie-rockers bathe in nostalgia over a “crazy but beautiful time” in their lives.

“I hadn’t listened to Jewellery Quarter for so long until we began preparing for this tour,” lead singer and guitarist Phil Etheridge tells The Yorkshire Post.

“I don’t sit at home listening to the Twang – contrary to popular belief, probably – but I knew we were starting to rehearse so I was driving last week and thought ‘I better whack Jewellery Quarter on to learn the lyrics again’.

“I hadn’t heard it in its entirety for literally years and it took me back to a moment in time which you can never get back.

“The whole record sounds youthful and it just reminded me of what was a crazy but beautiful period in our lives.

“As a band we were young, without kids, and I really enjoyed listening to it.

“There are about six or seven tracks off Jewellery Quarter that we’ve never played live.

“It was a little bit nerve-wracking listening to it but all the tracks are coming together nicely and I’m excited for the tour.”

The Twang formed in 2004 and their debut single, Wide Awake, was released in March 2007 with the first of their five albums, Love It When I Feel Like This, reaching No 3 in the UK charts two months later.

The band have never had it easy, yet their sheer love for what they do has kept them going and they continue to let their music do the talking.

Recalling the making of Jewellery Quarter, Etheridge says: “We did that rock ’n’ roll thing of moving to Anglesey for a month in this cottage and setting up a studio there for writing.

“Got No Interest is one of the songs that came from that and it was a strange time for the band.

“That’s not to be negative, but it had all happened so quickly and the pressure was kind of on.

“I’d not felt it at all until we put Jewellery Quarter in at number 20 and then got dropped – that’s the truth of it.

“And I’m not complaining about that – it is what it is – but that record does remind me of that time when I didn’t really give a shit.

“Looking back, it was a mad time but it was good though; it was beautiful.

“Then we went to Granada in Spain with Youth (Killing Joke bassist and music producer) for a month and ended up scrapping the whole record.

“We kind of fell out with Youth because I sat on his guitar by accident – he’d had it since the 1980s and I’d been out on the p*** all day.

“I came back, listened to Another Bus, and they had turned it into this sped-up, housey version and I didn’t like it.

“I then went upstairs and sat on his guitar by mistake – it was all handbags and horrible the next day but I kind of regret not going home earlier.

“I had personal stuff I needed to sort but we did get a lot from Youth; he’s a legend, obviously.

“We did come away with Took The Fun and a version of Another Bus – we came away with about 25 tracks from Youth because he’s got this really great mentality.

“He gets you writing a new track every day and jamming, so we learnt a lot from him and took that forward.

“Then eventually we met Neil Claxton from Mint Royale and completed the album during a month in Manchester with him in Elbow’s Blueprint studio.

“Neil still mixes records for us and our friendship has remained to this day.

“Jewellery Quarter was a process, like all albums are, but it was a really good time making it.”

The Twang have played countless gigs at various venues in Leeds down the years and the city has a special place in Etheridge’s heart.

He and bassist Jon Watkin began studying there over two decades ago, at a time when the band was looking to take off.

Etheridge remembers: “We started at university there in the September and Jon had quit by the October; we both had jobs in a hotel in Leeds and he just worked there full-time.

“I thought I was going to give the course a go, so I did the first year.

“Everyone on the course was a wannabee rock n’ roll star and it was a good time.

“I remember watching the Doves live at Leeds Met and The Music at the Cockpit.

“I’ve got some good memories of living in Woodhouse and drinking in the Dry Dock and going to the Hi-Fi Club and the Brudenell.

“It was amazing, but Jon and I eventually left Leeds to come back to Birmingham and focus on the band properly because that was the right thing to do.

“That was the start of it, really, but of course I’ve got a lot of love for Leeds because we spent so much time there. We love playing in Leeds.”

Etheridge’s fellow singer Martin Saunders quit the Twang in 2018 and the current members include Etheridge, Watkin, guitarist Stu Hartland, drummer Ash Sheehan, and backing singers Cat McTigue and Rio Hellyer.

“I don’t see Saunds as much now but every year I ask him if he wants to come back and be in the band again,” reveals Etheridge.

“He’s got a couple of kids now but I rate the fact that he thought it was time to knock it on the head.

“I’ve promised myself the same thing and I’ve said in loads of interviews that as soon as I feel fake or like I’m blagging it then I’ll do the same.

“Martin actually wrote the chorus for Encouraging Sign and Back Where We Started in Jewellery Quarter – as well as Two Lovers – and the great thing about Saunds is that he really believed in us as a band, especially myself.

“He made me feel great from the word go and always had my back.

“He had real belief and that’s one of the strongest things you need when you’re making music.

“Even when he said he didn’t want to do it anymore, I totally got it.

“That’s when Jon and I started to write the fifth album and realise we wanted to carry on.”

The Twang are continuing to write music and Etheridge has been working on his own project with Jon ‘Simmo’ Simcox called This Rebel and the pair brought out their self-titled debut album in March.

This Rebel’s narrative took root in 2008 when Simcox crossed paths with Etheridge during his tenure as the monitor engineer for The Twang.

Etheridge says: “I’ve done my own project called This Rebel with Simmo who has produced The Twang for the last few years.

“We put a record out because we had this set of songs and thought we should document a very strange time in our lives during Covid and being in lockdown.

“It’s a great record but we haven’t played it live so much because Sim works and right now I’m concentrating on the Twang and this tour.”

The Jewellery Quarter tour includes a date in Sheffield at the Leadmill on December 20 before ending in the band's home city of Birmingham.

Etheridge adds: “We try and make these gigs special because people keep coming back, so we’re very lucky.

“I feel fortunate that we’re still doing it and we’re some people’s favourite band so you can’t ask for more than that, can you?

“I don’t take it for granted either and not that I ever did, but when it first happened you think ‘this will last forever’.

“And it has lasted for a while. You’ve just got to ride it all, try and stay friends and enjoy what you’re doing together.”

The Twang’s Jewellery Quarter tour kicks off at The Wardrobe, Leeds on December 5.