Arriving at Twin Forks: A new generation of folk music
There's something poetically
apropos about the momentum that
American folk-pop group Twin
Forks is enduring, because it so
closely mirrors their formation in
Florida in 2011. Still celebrating
their EP release last month on Dine
Alone Records, the band has
toured across the United States and
back, including Canadian stops
like their performance at EdgeFest
2013 this year.
Recently, the band enjoyed a short break following Halloween and kicked off the Canadian leg of their tour on November 7 in Montreal. After a dozen stops — including a performance at Call The Office on November 12 — Twin Forks then carries on to Australia for select dates in December.
Something of a folk supergroup, the band — frontman Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever, Suzie Zeldin of The Narrative, Ben Homola of Bad Books and Jonathon Clark — marries folk and indie styles with popular sensibilities in a way that both establishes them in the same arena as monster folk bands of recent years and also sets them substantially ahead of the pack.
While some might find the project surprising, Carrabba indicated to the contrary that this new path represents a new musical freedom, one in which he is free to explore his new music without playing too closely to the chest.
“In the beginning, when I was doing Dashboard, this kind of (classic folk) music was a big influence for me,” he said. “I grew up listening to what my mom was playing on her cassette player — a lot of that was Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac ... music that was based in folk and post-folk, if there is such a thing.”
“I was inundated by them, that music shaped my ideas about melody,” Carrabba continued. “Which of course is natural — you have an acoustic guitar, you play singer-songwriter music. And it may not have been the case, but to me, the influences were really evident; as a younger person, I felt like that was a kiss of death — if you weren't blazing new territory and hiding your influences, then you were doing something wrong.”
Instead, Carrabba took a cue from his experience in the hardcore and punk scenes, molding his Dashboard Confessional sound after more of an acoustic rock model. And of course, the rest is history.
“It was the long way around me trying to avoid catching myself sounding like I was working in the trappings of these big influences in my life,” he explained. Years later, his work with Dashboard left Carrabba ready to place himself in new, unfamiliar territory.
“I felt very comfortable at that point that I not only allowed the influences to show — which feels more like the right thing to do now, to honour those who influenced me — but also realized that there is always new territory, there is always new ground to blaze. Choosing to use the templates of influences without shying away from them led me to a braver point of view.”
Twin Forks began as organically as they come. Not one to rest, Carrabba was occupying his time writing new music for a variety of projects — he released his solo record Covered In The Flood in 2011, reunited with Further Seems Forever to slowly record and release Penny Black in 2012, and even wrote and demoed a new Dashboard Confessional record, sadly now lost to time.
Released in September, the Twin Forks EP marks the band's second body of recorded work — they took their Tour EP Vol. 1 on the road with them this summer, a mix of highlight songs and cover tunes prepared by the band — and hints at a coming full-length album that will make a strong mark on the scene in the next year.
But no one is more optimistic about the group's future than Carrabba.
“I can't deny the connection I have with my bandmates, or the honest place the songs are coming from,” he said. “You don't have to put yourself in a place to make a song happen, just pick up a guitar and there's a song hiding in it.”
Twin Forks perform at Call The Office on November 12, doors open at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are $20 and available online via ticketscene.ca until midnight on November 11. Released September 17 on Dine Alone Records, their Twin Forks EP is now available in physical and digital formats everywhere.
Recently, the band enjoyed a short break following Halloween and kicked off the Canadian leg of their tour on November 7 in Montreal. After a dozen stops — including a performance at Call The Office on November 12 — Twin Forks then carries on to Australia for select dates in December.
Something of a folk supergroup, the band — frontman Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever, Suzie Zeldin of The Narrative, Ben Homola of Bad Books and Jonathon Clark — marries folk and indie styles with popular sensibilities in a way that both establishes them in the same arena as monster folk bands of recent years and also sets them substantially ahead of the pack.
While some might find the project surprising, Carrabba indicated to the contrary that this new path represents a new musical freedom, one in which he is free to explore his new music without playing too closely to the chest.
“In the beginning, when I was doing Dashboard, this kind of (classic folk) music was a big influence for me,” he said. “I grew up listening to what my mom was playing on her cassette player — a lot of that was Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac ... music that was based in folk and post-folk, if there is such a thing.”
“I was inundated by them, that music shaped my ideas about melody,” Carrabba continued. “Which of course is natural — you have an acoustic guitar, you play singer-songwriter music. And it may not have been the case, but to me, the influences were really evident; as a younger person, I felt like that was a kiss of death — if you weren't blazing new territory and hiding your influences, then you were doing something wrong.”
Instead, Carrabba took a cue from his experience in the hardcore and punk scenes, molding his Dashboard Confessional sound after more of an acoustic rock model. And of course, the rest is history.
“It was the long way around me trying to avoid catching myself sounding like I was working in the trappings of these big influences in my life,” he explained. Years later, his work with Dashboard left Carrabba ready to place himself in new, unfamiliar territory.
“I felt very comfortable at that point that I not only allowed the influences to show — which feels more like the right thing to do now, to honour those who influenced me — but also realized that there is always new territory, there is always new ground to blaze. Choosing to use the templates of influences without shying away from them led me to a braver point of view.”
Twin Forks began as organically as they come. Not one to rest, Carrabba was occupying his time writing new music for a variety of projects — he released his solo record Covered In The Flood in 2011, reunited with Further Seems Forever to slowly record and release Penny Black in 2012, and even wrote and demoed a new Dashboard Confessional record, sadly now lost to time.
Released in September, the Twin Forks EP marks the band's second body of recorded work — they took their Tour EP Vol. 1 on the road with them this summer, a mix of highlight songs and cover tunes prepared by the band — and hints at a coming full-length album that will make a strong mark on the scene in the next year.
But no one is more optimistic about the group's future than Carrabba.
“I can't deny the connection I have with my bandmates, or the honest place the songs are coming from,” he said. “You don't have to put yourself in a place to make a song happen, just pick up a guitar and there's a song hiding in it.”
Twin Forks perform at Call The Office on November 12, doors open at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are $20 and available online via ticketscene.ca until midnight on November 11. Released September 17 on Dine Alone Records, their Twin Forks EP is now available in physical and digital formats everywhere.
