Twin Peaks Play Fête on June 9

Hailing from Chicago, garage rockers Twin Peaks come to the senses with a shredding sound that few can match. The band – guitarists Cadien Lake James and Clay Frankel, bass guitarist Jack Dolan, keyboardist Colin Groom and drummer Connor Brodner – unleash unbridled passion with every song. Their latest album Down in Heaven that came out in 2016 garnered widespread acclaim. It’s hard to believe that these guys are still in their early 20s when they perform like seasoned vets. They’ll be bringing the noise and more to the lounge at Fête in Providence on June 9.

Ahead of their show with Nashville-via-Philadelphia transplant Ron Gallo and local garage punks Gymshorts, I had a chat with Dolan about the band getting their name confused with a popular television series, traveling to western Massachusetts, a new release series, the Chicago music scene and what the summer has in store.

Rob Duguay (Motif): Even though Twin Peaks got their name from a restaurant chain, has anyone gotten it confused with the TV series that just came back?

Jack Dolan: Yeah. Typically we’ve gotten confused with the TV show but it seems that we get more confused with the restaurant chain in the South. There’s only one in downtown Chicago but we didn’t really know about it until we started touring. Now that the show is back a lot of people try to tweet the show but they end up tweeting us. It’s been a thing for a while now but it’s starting to happen more frequently.

RD: It must be kind of weird when you see Kyle MacLachlan’s face on something and it’s tagging you guys.

JD: Totally.

RD: Last year the band put out their third album Down in Heaven and it has a New England connection due to it being recorded in a house by a lake in western Massachusetts. What made the band choose that particular location?

JD: It’s something that we’ve always wanted to do. We wanted to make an album in a house while recording it ourselves. It’s very freeing and it was a perfect place to do it. We already had that in the back of our mind, and we have a friend who worked with us earlier in our careers. First, we just offered it and, once we were about to record it, we made another offer and we were serious about it. He jumped at that and it turned out perfectly. The whole experience was great.

RD: There must have been a scenic and serene vibe while doing the record right by a lake.

JD: Absolutely.

RD: The band also announced recently that new music will be released every month for the rest of the year and the series will be titled “Sweet ‘17 Singles.” What can fans expect from it? Will it all be original songs?

JD: It’s another way for us to put out music, all original music, while we’re touring extensively. We haven’t had a real break to work on a full record so this is something for the fans so they can keep getting new music. The new stuff we got is some of the best yet that we’re doing right now, so that’s what people can expect. I hope people like it and, by the end of it and by the time all of the 7” and the full-length are out, it’ll be quite a treat for everyone.

RD: When it comes to what’s happening in Chicago musically, you guys are part of a burgeoning garage rock scene along with acts like The Orwells, Strange Faces, Yoko and the Oh No’s, and White Mystery. For anyone who’s not familiar with what’s happening in the Windy City, what are your views on the music scene there?

JD: When we first started playing in the scene when we were around 16, we were probably the only young band playing DIY shows and Chicago shows in general. The Orwells are another one that were there as well. Now it’s totally like a younger crowd which is really cool and we’re taking what we learned from those early days with a lot of people just helping us out early on, people that we looked up to at the time and who we consider our peers. It’s very community driven and, now that it’s super young, we try to take what we learned from that and we treat everyone with the same respect as well.

Right now it’s a lot of younger fans and stuff. Bands like Post-Animal and Knee High are great and there are a lot of different people coming out. There’s also a big variety too. There’s bands like Whitney who are becoming really successful out of the gate right now who can play with a band like us who are really rowdy. We’re not all the same but it works so it’s cool.

RD: After the show at Fête in Providence on June 9, what does Twin Peaks have planned for the rest of the year? Are you guys playing any big festivals?

JD: We’re going to Europe next month and wrapping up some festivals over there so that’ll be that. As far as festivals go, we’re doing the Taste of Chicago at the end of July. We’re going to be touring a little bit more and then we’ll probably start working on another record.

Grab tickets to see Twin Peaks, Ron Gallo and Gymshorts at the Fête Lounge on June 9 here: http://www.ticketweb.com/fb/7364425/fete

Twin Peaks’ web site: http://twinpeaksdudes.com