Twin Temple
Twin Temple
Members and Influences
"We performed a destruction ritual in 2016 and destroyed our previous incarnations and Twin Temple was the magical child that was birthed out of that ritual."
Their macabre sound is a mix of 1920's blues with the familiar twang of classic guitar riffs made popular in the 1950's and 1960's. Through a doo-wop delivery, Alexandra's vocals are strong, sultry, and mysterious. Zachary writes the musical arrangements and Alexandra writes the lyrics and vocal melodies. [17]
Zachary was heavily influenced by punk rock and the essence of 1950's rock 'n' roll. In an interview published on November 27, 2019, he told The Aquarian Weekly,[45]
"I got tuned in and turned on to rock ‘n’ roll at an early age through my parents, and whatnot.
Then I got into punk rock and started playing music then.
Punk rock that was released in the seventies, they were doing their interpretation of fifties [rock ‘n’ roll], as they grew up on it, and then as soon as they were in their twenties, they started their own band.
So, I feel like it’s kind of always been the seed of rock ‘n’ roll.
It’s always been that kind of fifties, early-sixties spirit."
Alexandra lists artists like Anita O'Day, Billie Holiday, Roy Orbison, and Cab Calloway as musical inspirations. She also enjoys Egyptian jazz performed by Salah Ragab, satanic spoken word such as Anton LaVey's The Devil Speaks (& Plays) and funeral classical music like Chopin's Funeral March.
Debut
Official video for "Sex Magick"
TWIN TEMPLE Las Vegas, NV.
The duo independently pressed 666 copies of their debut album Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound. In keeping with the tradition of classic rock n' roll and doo wop, the album was recorded in mono. In 2019 Twin Temple's album was picked up and re-distributed by Rise Above Records.[9]
On the recording process and why they chose mono instead of stereo, vocalist Alexandra stated,
“Something we’re sick of is all the overproduced records.
It just takes the soul out of music.
With this record, we wanted to get rid of all of that.
We looked at how all our heroes made records in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
They weren’t even mixing in stereo back then, so that’s why we made the record in mono.
We did everything, including the vocals, live to tape.
We went in the studio, played the songs two or three times and chose the best takes.
The whole record was done in a day and a half.
It has a rawness to it because we wanted to capture the human element, instead of overproducing everything.
Perfect is boring.”[15]
Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound
The debut album has a total of ten tracks with a runtime of 35:15.
The tracks are titled:[18]
| Track No. | Title | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1.) | The Devil (Didn't Make Me Do It) | 04:41 |
| 2.) | Lucifer, My Love | 05:49 |
| 3.) | Sex Magick | 03:35 |
| 4.) | I Know How To Hex You | 03:04 |
| 5.) | I'm Wicked | 04:44 |
| 6.) | In Lvx | 01:20 |
| 7.) | Santa Muerte | 03:10 |
| 8.) | Let's Hang Together | 04:11 |
| 9.) | Femme Fatale | 03:26 |
| 10.) | In Nox | 01:15 |
Philosophy and Sound
Prior to Twin Temple, heavy metal music was the genre that was most associated with the occult and Satanism. On the unconventional blending of doo-wop and Satan, Alexandra describes the history of music and the dark lord,
"We both practice magick.
It was just a crazy idea– ‘Why can’t you love Roy Orbison and hail Satan at the same time?’ Satanism has been relegated to the metal scene for so long, but we are Satanists and listen to The Platters and Buddy Holly, you know?
We love metal too, but this is a reflection of who we are as people."
Alexandra James is a feminist who embraces Satanism, a scene and religion she believes the masses have the wrong impression of,
"I feel that this term is widely misunderstood.
Satanism for me is refusing to be defined by stereotypical, patriarchal norms of what it means to be a woman: an obedient, pious, silent, sexual object.
Instead, I claim Satanism as a way to reject old-fashioned, oppressive ways of thinking.
Satanism is about the fierce worship of the individual: "to thine own self be true."
of being who you want to be.
I feel like "rebellious" women throughout history- women who let their voices be heard, women who harnessed their own inherent power- have always been called “witches” or accused of being in cohorts with “Satan.”
So I choose Lucifer.
I call myself a witch, a feminist, a Satanist.
It represents a reclamation of power and a symbol of my disgust with many of the old societal norms that continue to be propagated and perpetuated today.
Solve et coagula."[15]
On Tour
2020
On February 3, 2020 it was announced by Loudwire that Twin Temple was joining Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats on a month-long United States tour. The tour kicks off in May of 2020 in Asbury Park, New Jersey and concludes in June at The Rialto Theatre in Tucson, Arizona. Stops on the tour include venues in Hartford, Connecticut, Rochester, New York, Omaha, Nebraska, and San Diego, California.[56] On June 10, 2020 Twin Temple announced from their official Twitter that due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the tour with Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats was cancelled.[59]
2019
In fall of 2019 Twin Temple went on tour with shows scheduled all across the globe.
The tour concludes in April of 2020.[40]
See Also
Shannon Shaw
The Nightmares
Abjects
Arctic Flowers
Jail Weddings