News & Star Twisted Wheel article - The Wheel Keeps Turning

The Wheel Keeps Turning Published at 11:31, Thursday, 24 September 2009 A MANCUNIAN drawl describes how his band has crowds gagging for it with their songs about working-class life. No apologies for getting the Oasis comparison in early. Twisted Wheel singer and guitarist Jonny Brown sounds a lot like Noel Gallagher, in his voice and in the words he uses. His Oldham three-piece hardly bat away the resemblance, having been talked up by Gallagher and supporting Oasis on their last – in every sense of the word – tour. Their final time warming up the masses was in Coventry on July 7, seven weeks before the band’s break up in Paris. “We were meant to play in Milan but that was cancelled, then they split up,” says Jonny. “Everybody knew there’d been a bit of tension but there’s always stuff like that going on since they started. It wasn’t expected that they’d split up. I was a bit gutted.” So no more stadium shows, for the moment at least. Twisted Wheel’s next engagement is at Whitehaven Civic Hall on Saturday. Smaller than a football ground but at least they will be on last rather than first. “When you’re headlining, the crowd’s come to see you. They’ve heard the records and as soon as you go on stage everyone’s going to be gagging for it. “When you’re supporting there’s always a few that know you but your role is to get as many as possible to come and see you at your own gigs. I wouldn’t call it pressure but it’s a buzz to try and do that.” Noel Gallagher is far from the only one to see something in Twisted Wheel. (The band is named after a Manchester Northern Soul venue rather than a Carlisle indie club). They have also been the support band of choice for The Enemy, Ian Brown, Pigeon Detectives, Kasabian, The Coral and The Happy Mondays. Jonny, 23, thinks these established acts recognise something of themselves in his band. “I think they sense with us it’s raw and it’s real. There’s not a lot of bands like that out there now. Everything seems to be posh kids trying to do something they’re not. “With us it’s straight from the heart. Classic British rock‘n’roll. It’s not just one select audience. It appeals to working-class people as well as the rest. That’s what the bands who like us understand because that’s where they come from.” Twisted Wheel will be back in Cumbria on December 3 when they open for Paul Weller at The Sands Centre. Jonny says Weller’s gigs “never go mental. There’s a lot of Jam fans. You don’t get people thrown up in the air like happens at our gigs.” The Jam, The Clash, The Kinks, The Who. Some of the legends who Twisted Wheel’s brash pop tunes have drawn comparison with. So many influences, so many famous admirers. But don’t they want to be known on their own terms? “If you’re watching a documentary on any band, the same thing happens,” says Jonny. “When Oasis began they were compared to the Stone Roses and the Verve. “But it’s nice because we’re being compared with great bands. I’d much rather be compared to them than bands who are rubbish. “I suppose you’ll get known just for your own sound when the writers get bored of comparing you with every band you could sound like.” And the comparisons and the support slots go some way to making up for the lack of Radio 1 airplay, which Jonny is not too chuffed about. “It [their music] doesn’t seem to be what the producers are looking for. We used to get played in the evenings but that seems to have stopped. I don’t know if someone’s got it in for us. “A lot of people see bands from Manchester as scallies and hooligans, which is ludicrous. We’ve been called ‘Lad rock’. “The people who know about us, they’re not people who like us for five minutes. I’d much rather that than be a scenester band that lasts five minutes.” Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk