Great songs can open doors, but keeping them open depends entirely upon those who sing them.
When Two Door Cinema Club entered the scene with 'Tourist History', an album released by French independent label Kitsuné in 2010, no one would have predicted a track with the humble placing of eighth on the album would have unlocked so much for the band, as 'What You Know’ exploded them across the world.However, what chocked those doors open is the band's relentless pursuit of excellence, both in song creation and in crafting their live shows, which have been so consistently in demand, Two Door Cinema Club have become well known for their touring ethic.
"We have lost sight of the fact that humans today, yes, we have phones, yes, our attention spans are lower, but we're the same humans as 1960 and 1660." - Kevin Baird
Chatting during a rare break thanks to the completion of their 24-show US tour, keys/bass player Kevin Baird reflects on the ever evolving live show. "We change it all the time. Every month or so, we do different versions of most songs," he confirms. "We believe the live show is a different kind of beast than listening to a record.
"When you're releasing music consumed through headphones, it's about being instantaneous, hitting you in the face right away. Whereas, in a live show, you wanna tease it out a bit more."
Constant evolution is both a matter of personal challenge and a form of entertainment for the band and its individuals, Baird confirms. "It becomes really easy to not try; to just go, 'should we do the same thing we did last time?'.
"That easy decision in the foreground makes everything in the background bad. We keep ourselves on our toes, always thinking about ways to change it, mix it up for the audience; and it creates better enjoyment for ourselves too."
Being the keys player poses some limitations when it comes to live performance, with the most obvious being the stationary nature of the instrument. Baird reflects humorously on his musical fate. "It's funny, the way our stage is set up, there's a little bit of an ego platform at the back.
"The other two guys have their moments where they go up there, but it's like, what am I gonna do if I go up there? I keep it real in the front, away from the ego platform," he laughs.
To suggestions he could take notes from The Wiggles and have a big red car drive him around the stage as he plays his keys, Baird smiles. "I will suggest it and no one will agree. They'll go 'how much for that Wiggles car? No way!'"
Kevin attributes a large part of the band's live show ethic to a fateful musical influence. "On our first American tour, we supported Phoenix when 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' came out [in 2009], and it was massive.
"We were young and stupid and messing around really; but we saw so many of the building blocks about how you should be a band, what you should care about, what is important.
"That goes so far beyond standing there, plugging in your guitar and playing the song. They cared so much about how it looked, it was theatre. It was so many things. So it was quite formative on us, as a band, to see another band have that – and then it happened for us a couple of years later, so it was good timing."
Two Door Cinema Club's most recent offering is 'Happy Customers', a delightfully warm sounding single released earlier this year, with the band stating it does not belong to a larger body of work.
Reflecting on this, Baird states albums have not lost their place in the industry, but their form needs to find its way home. "I don't think it's outdated. A lot of albums that people release now, they're getting longer. People are moving away from that awful thing we did to ourselves as artists under pressure from the people that tell us how to sell our music.
"There was a period from 2010 to 2019 where you had to have the four biggest songs at the start of the album, and once that fifth song came on and it's the slow one, we gave people less reason to continue on. We've been too smart and we tried to game the system.
"We have things that we care about and love, just the vehicle and how we get there is different. I don't think that the album is dead. If we want it to survive, we have to make it more like what it was, a journey from start to finish.
"In the same way as vinyl is tangible, the way it looks, the way it sounds. It's something that people can hold. We should approach albums in the same way."
Kevin argues consumption modelling can apply to certain genres, but shouldn't be thrown over everyone. "How we used to make albums 10, 20 years ago, we don't do that anymore.
"That's great for the creative cycle, where you can be in your own house or in your bedroom, and the gatekeepers aren't there for new artists, but the knock-on effect is, if you can create a studio quality recording, mixed and mastered and put it out every week, people are gonna do that.
"But you can't throw a big umbrella around everyone and say consumption is the way it is, and therefore people won't listen to an album. Take podcasts or audio books, they're three, four hours long and people listen to them. People have the time, it's just making it worthwhile."
The band will make their long awaited return to Australia with a run of seven shows in December alongside rising star Declan McKenna, with onstage collaborations confirmed as "maybe," from Baird, who smiles mischievously.
"I've never played the [Sydney] Opera House," he confesses, after confirming coffee and great food are high on his list of Australian treasures. "So yeah, very excited. It's a bucket list one."
Two Door Cinema Club & Declan McKenna 2024 Tour Dates
Wed 4 Dec - Ice Cream Factory (Perth)Fri 6 Dec - Sydney Opera House Forecourt
Sun 8 Dec - Margaret Court Arena (Melbourne)
Tue 10 Dec - University of Wollongong Gardens
Thu 12 Dec - The Station (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 13 Dec - The Riverstage (Brisbane)
Sat 14 Dec - Bar On The Hill (Newcastle)
