You did very few shows? I read something
like 7-8 shows… was Twinkeyz more oriented to a practice room band?
A way to spent time with friends? ;)
The Twinkeyz were mostly geared towards recording. Even practicing was secondary to recording. Keith McKee, who played drums on all of our studio recordings, heard the songs for the first time when we got together in the studio to record them.
Yes, music was very much about spending time with friends, playing music, and also listening to and collecting records.
-The life of the band was also short, 3 years?
Yeah, about three years from the time of our first recording to our last. We never got together as a band again after our last recording sessions
-Was Twinkeyz your first band?
Twinkeyz was the first band I was in that actually played any gigs or did any recording. Previous efforts never got passed the practice stage, or maybe taking some pictures.
- And why did you disbanded?
I found it difficult to find 3 or 4 people willing or able stay in the band for more than a few months. That factor eventually killed the Twinkeyz.
-Probably the releases on Anopheless have give the band more popularity and people asking for you (just like us) … have you think to play again?
No, I don’t think the Twinkeyz will play any new gigs.
- Or have you get offers for shows, new releases…?
Nope, no offers for shows or new recordings.
- I think you were a real pre punk band , or proto psichedelic punk one (ein?).. but what were your main influnces back in the seventies?
My main influences during the 70s were the Glam Rock bands, Roxy Music, Bowie, mostly T. Rex. I also listened to The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, solo stuff from John Cale, Lou Reed, Eno, Bryan Ferry. And I also listened to some 70s era Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac. I think my main musical influence has always been the British Invasion music of the 1960s and the American music that started coming out in response to it, Stones, Kinks, Pretty Things, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, Paul Revere And The Raiders
- Were you trying to do like stooges but you were bad musicians and sounded punk ja,j,aj,a (I don’t think you were bad musicians!)
My musicianship never got far beyond rudimentary but Keith, Tom Darling and Dave Houston (who played on some of our songs) are all excellent musicians. The crude, punk sound was present because we never practiced together before we recorded and because I don’t really like most over produced sounding music.
- And the letters were about scifi , ufo..s, monsters, mysticism…
My lyrics sometimes reference girls, and day-to-day stuff, but I wanted to write about monsters, sci-fi, mysticism and fantastic things because those are the subjects that fascinate me.
- What scifi literature or films do you like?
I used to read a lot of si-fi, Pulp stuff like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, H. P. Lovecraft. I also liked some real scifi writers like Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Heinelin and Roger Zelazney. I think that H. G. Wells is one of the very few writers who truly deserves to be called a genius.
Currently I am more into reading horror fiction than scifi. I like to read Edward Lee, Brian Keene, Robert McCammon.
I like the Terminator movies. What’s not to like about killer robots from the future? The Matrix was great. Blade Runner, Mad Max, old movies like Forbidden Planet, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Thing original and remake
I don’t know if it’s science fiction or not, but my all time favourite movie is King Kong, the original version, followed closely be Frankenstein.
- About your paintings and your work with comic, paints… I think its amazing… I like much your style, its psychedelic, with an old touch like old superhero comics… what are you currently working in?
I work on comic books from time to time. My most recent comic work was on Alien Pig Farm 3,000, from Raw Studios/Image Comics. It’s kind of hillbillies meet Mars Attacks. My work definitely has a retro look to it, and APF 3,000 was a perfect project for me. It might be my favourite comic book work to date.
Currently I spend most of my time working on artwork for sale on eBay, oil paintings, watercolours, ink drawings and such. My work is still strongly influenced by Pulp fiction, comics and horror, scifi and fantasy movies. I am currently working on a series of books collecting my artwork, Window On The Weird. I’ve produced 3 volumes so far.
-About the sound of your records , its very special and “warm”, also like much the name of the studio: Moon Studio …
I like recording because music becomes both a subjective and objective experience at the same time. Moon Studio was owned and operated by Dave Houston. Dave is a pal from high school days. Way back in the mid 1960s, his band The Public Nuisance, recorded an amazing double LP, which didn’t get released until 2002. Dave was a big part of creating the sound of The Twinkeyz records.
-I read in that Italian fan page that you did an amp inside a coffe can… did you use to make your own instruments?
Tom made the coffee can amp. It was a funky little amplifier with a speaker inside a coffee can. It sounded just like you might expect it to sound. We put inside a baby grand piano and miked it to add a track of ambient sound.
Thanks!
The Twinkeyz were mostly geared towards recording. Even practicing was secondary to recording. Keith McKee, who played drums on all of our studio recordings, heard the songs for the first time when we got together in the studio to record them.
Yes, music was very much about spending time with friends, playing music, and also listening to and collecting records.
-The life of the band was also short, 3 years?
Yeah, about three years from the time of our first recording to our last. We never got together as a band again after our last recording sessions
-Was Twinkeyz your first band?
Twinkeyz was the first band I was in that actually played any gigs or did any recording. Previous efforts never got passed the practice stage, or maybe taking some pictures.
- And why did you disbanded?
I found it difficult to find 3 or 4 people willing or able stay in the band for more than a few months. That factor eventually killed the Twinkeyz.
-Probably the releases on Anopheless have give the band more popularity and people asking for you (just like us) … have you think to play again?
No, I don’t think the Twinkeyz will play any new gigs.
- Or have you get offers for shows, new releases…?
Nope, no offers for shows or new recordings.
- I think you were a real pre punk band , or proto psichedelic punk one (ein?).. but what were your main influnces back in the seventies?
My main influences during the 70s were the Glam Rock bands, Roxy Music, Bowie, mostly T. Rex. I also listened to The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, solo stuff from John Cale, Lou Reed, Eno, Bryan Ferry. And I also listened to some 70s era Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac. I think my main musical influence has always been the British Invasion music of the 1960s and the American music that started coming out in response to it, Stones, Kinks, Pretty Things, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, Paul Revere And The Raiders
- Were you trying to do like stooges but you were bad musicians and sounded punk ja,j,aj,a (I don’t think you were bad musicians!)
My musicianship never got far beyond rudimentary but Keith, Tom Darling and Dave Houston (who played on some of our songs) are all excellent musicians. The crude, punk sound was present because we never practiced together before we recorded and because I don’t really like most over produced sounding music.
- And the letters were about scifi , ufo..s, monsters, mysticism…
My lyrics sometimes reference girls, and day-to-day stuff, but I wanted to write about monsters, sci-fi, mysticism and fantastic things because those are the subjects that fascinate me.
- What scifi literature or films do you like?
I used to read a lot of si-fi, Pulp stuff like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, H. P. Lovecraft. I also liked some real scifi writers like Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Heinelin and Roger Zelazney. I think that H. G. Wells is one of the very few writers who truly deserves to be called a genius.
Currently I am more into reading horror fiction than scifi. I like to read Edward Lee, Brian Keene, Robert McCammon.
I like the Terminator movies. What’s not to like about killer robots from the future? The Matrix was great. Blade Runner, Mad Max, old movies like Forbidden Planet, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Thing original and remake
I don’t know if it’s science fiction or not, but my all time favourite movie is King Kong, the original version, followed closely be Frankenstein.
- About your paintings and your work with comic, paints… I think its amazing… I like much your style, its psychedelic, with an old touch like old superhero comics… what are you currently working in?
I work on comic books from time to time. My most recent comic work was on Alien Pig Farm 3,000, from Raw Studios/Image Comics. It’s kind of hillbillies meet Mars Attacks. My work definitely has a retro look to it, and APF 3,000 was a perfect project for me. It might be my favourite comic book work to date.
Currently I spend most of my time working on artwork for sale on eBay, oil paintings, watercolours, ink drawings and such. My work is still strongly influenced by Pulp fiction, comics and horror, scifi and fantasy movies. I am currently working on a series of books collecting my artwork, Window On The Weird. I’ve produced 3 volumes so far.
-About the sound of your records , its very special and “warm”, also like much the name of the studio: Moon Studio …
I like recording because music becomes both a subjective and objective experience at the same time. Moon Studio was owned and operated by Dave Houston. Dave is a pal from high school days. Way back in the mid 1960s, his band The Public Nuisance, recorded an amazing double LP, which didn’t get released until 2002. Dave was a big part of creating the sound of The Twinkeyz records.
-I read in that Italian fan page that you did an amp inside a coffe can… did you use to make your own instruments?
Tom made the coffee can amp. It was a funky little amplifier with a speaker inside a coffee can. It sounded just like you might expect it to sound. We put inside a baby grand piano and miked it to add a track of ambient sound.
Thanks!