Interview with Two Weeks In Nashville: ‘We’re just having fun making music’

Lingfield, Surrey classic indie rock band with a modern twist Two Weeks In Nashville will release their next single, ‘It’s Killing Me’ on 21 January, a track about being stuck in a dark place.

The band comprises frontman Billy LeRiff, Jonny Faires (guitar), Marc De Luca (bass) and Ian Wilson (drums). LeRiff and Wilson met at The Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey, and met Faires not long after through a producer. De Luca joined the band three years ago when he moved across from France and they were looking for a guitarist online.

A writing trip to Nashville actually inspired their name: ‘It was unbelievable,’ LeRiff said. ‘We were lucky to go there for two weeks, getting away from the rat race in London and Nashville has such a different atmosphere. We had a friend there –  Allen McKendree Palmer  – he saw us perform in London and invited us to stay. I don’t think he expected us to follow through (laughs)! That trip transpired into our music – our first 12 songs were recorded there – and we felt the need to pay homage to the city in our name.’

‘It’s one of those for when stars collide but your hopes become dreams’

LeRiff describes ‘It’s Killing Me’ as being about ‘when you’re stuck in a dark place and struggling to get out’: ‘It’s more of an 80’s blend, like ‘Overdose’, he said. ‘Chilled yet still has a rocky riff finding its way into the fold!’ Last month, they released their single ‘Pipe Dreams’, which has a brilliant back story: ‘It was about drummer Ian’s experience meeting a girl in London,’ LeRiff said. ‘He never got her name or number – they locked eyes when he was getting into an Uber (laughs). It was Halloween, she was wearing a red dress and had blonde hair and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. It’s one of those for when stars collide but your hopes become dreams. He never saw her again, imagine what could have been!’

One of their catchiest singles is ‘Sex In The Car’, which has more of a 80/90’s nostalgic vibe to it than their other tracks, which are heavily influenced by the 60’s and 70’s. It kicks off with a brilliantly fuzzy riff and I ask him what pedal they used: ‘I think it’s a tube screamer, it’s doubled to sound wider,’ LeRiff said. ‘I think we used my friend’s Marshall Bluesbreaker amp and a Gibson hollow body guitar. We had lots of different intro ideas but we got stuck and didn’t know what to go with. We sent it to our mix engineer, Kyle Mangels, in LA and he said “Let me try something” and he knocked our ideas out of the park! One of the part’s we had recorded was a single note with a slide, Kyle had the idea to reverse it, we love how it almost sounds like a car racing past!’

They made a hilarious video for it, where miniature versions of themselves are performing a gig atop the back seat headrest of the car, interspersed with funny shots of LeRiff sitting next to an oversized bra. I say that I love the humour present in many of their videos and he laughs: ‘Yeah, we like to do that. For the ‘Stripped Sessions’ (an acoustic set), we played ‘Don’t Look Back’ in the middle of a field and was a group effort to get the grandfather clock, armchair and a full on picnic to the location. We filmed it here but almost looks like we could have been back in Tennessee.’

‘Hasta Luego’, which they released in the summer, has a similar 80’s feel to it, complete with crunchy riffs layered over a jangly undercurrent: ‘It’s about when you’re in love with someone but you know it’s doomed from the start,’ LeRiff said. ‘I’ve always loved Spain and the Spanish language and we’ve had lots of listens in Mexico and Latin America, so the song is a tip of the cap to them, too.’ I ask whether we can expect a song in Spanish from them and he laughs: ‘Haha, if we do that, we’ll have to do one in French for Marc, won’t we?!’

As the chorus goes: ‘But you give me that rush, I know that I’ll regret it. And that’s what you want, I can’t shake the sweats, I’m in love. Even if I could, hasta luego, lost from the get go.’

‘If everything’s going perfectly, then I worry what could go wrong?’

Their second most popular song – with over 105,000 hits – on Spotify is ‘Be Happy (You Got Something To Be Sad About)’ and it’s easy to see why, erupting as it does with a massive, glam rock, stompy riff. ‘It’s got that fun noughties bounce to it and a strange single note guitar part,’ he said. ‘It starts off almost mono and then flips into stereo, another display of Kyle Mangels’ wizardry! If you listen closely you can hear it. We didn’t know how well it would go down but the reception has been brilliant,’ he said, looking delighted. ‘It’s usually the second to last song in our set. Ian the drummer sings the second verse. It’s about being happy in general and frustration we’ve had with friends and friendship groups that aren’t getting along and focussing on the positives. My grandma actually once said to me, “If everything’s going perfectly, then I worry what could go wrong?” and she’s right. It’s healthy and ok to have something to be sad about, so just be happy that you’re present and able to acknowledge that!’

As the chorus goes: ‘Go to my friends, go to your friends. Try to pretend, try to befriend. Just be happy you got something to be sad about.’

He is ‘dying to get back to Nashville and play some gigs there’ and has been very impressed by the diversity of its music scene. I say that I’ve interviewed a few bands from Nashville across different genres and that it has an incredible scene and he agrees: ‘There really is, everyone assumes it’s just country music but that’s not true at all, although there are some great country bands. I really love Morgan Wallen and I love Rascal Flatts, they’re a very fun country band there. Big & Rich are a great country band, we’d love to tour with them if they’d be up for it.’

Of their own songs, he singles out two: ‘All About Now’ (2020) and ‘Pipe Dreams’ (2021): ”All About Now’ has a lot of resonance for me,’ he said. ‘It takes me back to the incredible experience of Nashville and shooting the video in Budapest with some great friends. ‘Pipe Dreams’ is a current jam though.’ Musically, The Rolling Stones, The Killers, Kings of Leon and Coldplay have been big influences.’ ‘I love Coldplay for their positivity,‘ he said. ‘We’re just having fun making music and not thinking too much about it for once. It’s classic indie rock with a modern twist.’

‘Jamie Cullum, he’s one of my favourites’

I ask him what his dream line up would look like. ‘Ooooh, that’s a cool question! Queen and The Stones have to be in there. I love Free with their original members. Jet would be on the line up, so would The Temperance Movement, although they stopped playing a year ago. They’re classic rock/blues. Their singer (Phil Campbell) is in a new band, The Byson Family. Oooh, INXS would be great on the line-up. And Jamie Cullum, he’s one of my favourites, his Christmas album is the best I’ve heard and it’s so good you don’t just play it at Christmas.’ I say that I am a big Cullum fan and that I play the album in question – The Pianoman at Christmas – all the time and he gets very enthusiastic: ‘The Jolly Fat Man’ on it is really fun, isn’t it? I really love the track ‘The Pianoman at Christmas’ as well.’ They have a few gigs lined up, starting with a show at Hoxton Underbelly in London on 29th January and again on 18th March followed by Horley at The Tavern on 9th April and The Bear in Horsham on 16th April.

LeRiff grew up in a musical household: ‘Me and my two siblings were always playing music around the house,’ he said. ‘My mum would also be playing a range of music from Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones to Jamiroquai and Oasis. I had a couple of piano lessons when I was very young but I was more interested in the drums (laughs). I played the drums in a band at school and when the singer left, I thought maybe I could give it go, even though I hadn’t been a singer before. The first song I sung was Jet’s ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’! I then went on to studied vocals for a year at ACM, where I learned various techniques and how to use my voice in different ways. If I’d continued to sing the way I used to, not warming up properly, I probably wouldn’t be singing for much longer! In the studio, I’m thinking about my technique and approach but jamming and writing, it’s not on my mind so much.’

They’ve had some hilarious moments as a band, most notably over lockdown last year: ‘We’re all good friends, like brothers. We all live together and we had all been in the same space for soooo long,’ he said. ‘We were celebrating a birthday and Jonny thought it would be a funny idea to remove himself from the celebrations in the garden and go into Marc’s bedroom to let off the fire extinguisher. I don’t think he realised it was a powder one until he let it off! It went everywhere. To this day, you can’t take something out of the cupboard without brushing the powder off it and it was over a year ago!’

If money were no object, he’s got a dream musical instrument: ‘Maybe I’d buy a church organ for the pure outrageousness of it (laughs). You’d need the church to go with it! Imagine the inspo you’d get from one of those bad boys!’

(Photo from left to right: Jonny, Billy, Marc and Ian.)

‘It’s Killing Me’ pre-save link: https://twinashville.com/itskillingme