Interview with The Twang
Please note this interview may contact some strong and abusive language.
The Twang came about on the scene back in December 2006, when they were being talked about in the NME magazine. And recently on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge Lead singer Phil Etheridge revealed he was a Aston Villa fan. And guess who got to interview him?
Hey Phil, thankyou for taking out time to answer our questions, for those who are unfamiliar with you please could you tell us little bit about yourself?
My name's Phil and I'm a singer in a band called The Twang.
You revealed on Radio 1 a while back now that you was a supporter of Aston Villa, how long have you supported and why did you choose Villa?
My team was chosen for me before I was even born, as everyone in my family is a villa fan. Supporting anyone else just wasn't an option - it was a villa shirt for my birthday each year! It will be the same if I ever have kids of my own - they'll defo be villa.
What was your first ever Villa game? And what was your experience of the game?
I really can't remember my very first game which is worrying as I'm realising I can hardly remember what I did last week but a game that does stick out for me from back then was Villa v Inter Milan in 1990 where we beat them 2 - 0 in the UEFA Cup, though they did do us at there place didn't they? Anyway great night getting crushed up against the old railings in the Holte with my dad and brothers going mad as Platty scored the second.
In fact I watched us beat them again in 94 when Bergkamp was playing for them which was a great night as well. To be honest I've been very lucky and seen many great villa matches and I'm sure I'll see lots more but standing on the Holte will always stay in my head.
One memory I have is seeing this really big geezer crying his eyes out with happiness when we beat Tranmere to get to the Coca Cola Cup final in 94 and then pushing my way down to the front to get on the pitch, standing on that little white wall and just looking back at the holte and watching them sing 'we're going to Wembley'. Amazing scenes! Then I went to Wembley and we Beat Man U, what a great year.
How often do you get to Villa Park now you are always busy with tours etc?
I have only been down twice this season (Charlton and Blackburn) as it all kicked off for us around November time but we won both games and for the Blackburn game I had took a load of kids I used to work with so hopefully I converted a few. Maybe next season I'll get to see a few more - who knows?
Who is your favourite all time Aston Villa player and why?
The Magic Man! Though McGrath is God. I just think Merson was amazing.
If you was manager of Aston Villa, and you could buy absolutely anyone in the world, who would it be and how would they improve the Villa team?
I think every team in the country needs that genius in midfield and I don't believe we've had one since Merse, so I would probably buy someone like Kaka or Gerrard or a fit Paul Scholes.
Things are looking great for the boys in claret & blue, are you looking forward to the future as a Villa fan and why?
It'll be great to get some new faces in over the summer and let O'Neil do his thing, then we'll just have to wait and see what happens but I always like to start the season thinking we can do well.
The Villa are in need of a anthem, The Twang are a local band. Any chance of you and the boys writing a Villa anthem despite them supporting other teams?
It would have to be a solo project as I'm not sure the rest of the band would be that up for playing on it but I don't know. Just to hear an advert for our band at half time or something would be like a dream come true let alone the crowd singing it.
With you coming from the Midlands, and the other lads supporting other Midlands teams is there much banter between you?
The season before last when we beat the blues both games and Cahill scored that wonder goal in front of the Holt was good times, so I'm sure I played Saunds up a bit but nothing he wouldn't've said if it was the other way round. Anyway they all know who the pride of the Midlands is so I don't need to rub it in.
You and the rest of the band, were very cheeky towards Jo Whiley when you was on her show, what's your opinion of Jo?
Radio 1 have been great to us in general and Jo even played one of our demo's when we weren't signed, so as far as I'm concerned she's ace.
The Twang came second in the BBC News website's Sound of 2007 poll after being hailed as Britain's best new band by the NME, is it important to the band to get recognised by winning awards etc?
It's better than them saying you're shit I guess and It is a big compliment when we have nice things written about us, but the main thing we wanted to do was be able to make an album and go on tour and we've achieved that. So if we get put up for awards and stuff then cool, but I just wanna make another record and keep doing what we're doing.
The remix of Either Way you did with Mike Skinner, is a big favourite of Avillafan.com and is used on our myspace page. Apart from Mike being a Nose, what's he like?
He is sound as fuck and is a genius!
What has it been like transforming into a famous band and always being in the spotlight?
I ain't really had chance to stop and think that much about it but all's good, we're doing what we always wanted to do and the coat collections growing so yeah its ace.
As a band, do the lads look for any particular inspiration from anywhere?
I guess Saturday nights when you've got some money in your pocket or Sunday mornings when you wish you'd just gone home.
And apart from your own music, what other bands do you listen to and why?
I love loads of music so I always answer these questions with the last thing I listened to was........and it was an album called Boxer by The National, which is amazing and I've been listening to the new Editors record a lot which is quality, but I love loads of stuff just depends on my mood or where I am.
Thanks for taking time to answer our questions Phil, is there anything else you would like to say to the Aston Villa supporters?
Love ya and UP THE VILLA!
Once again avillafan.com would like to thank Phil Etheridge for taking time out of his work to answer our questions and wish him the best of luck in the future. Discuss this interviews over at the Aston Villa Forums
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