Interview: TWO WAYS HOME, Nashville Meets London, Canary Wharf

At festivals like Nashville Meets London (the Day 2 review of which you can read here), we’re all about international influences, and you can’t get much better than Two Ways Home, who hail from Austria and the UK. In our interview, we caught up about where the band name came from, hosting Nashville style rounds, writing songs about prison, and working with NML alumnus, Logan Brill. Hope you enjoy!

Ciara’s Country (CC): Welcome back to Ciara’s Country! I’m here with Isabella and Lewis from Two Ways Home after their set at the third annual Nashville Meets London festival in Canary Wharf. Thanks both for taking the time to talk with me!

Lewis Fowler (LF): Thanks for talking to us! Very nice to meet you.

CC: So, Two Ways Home, that’s a catchy name. Where did it come from?

Isabella Mariee (IM): We really like this New Zealand artist called Kimbra, and she has a song called Two Way Street.

LF: We had the previous band name which will go unnamed, and we decided we needed a new band name, and I think we had the song on at the time. Issy’s from Austria and I’m from London so wherever we are, there’s always Two Ways Home, and it fit with the song we were listening to. I guess the idea just came after a long search for it, and now it feels like a proper name.

CC: And of course, you do have quite different backgrounds. Has that helped to influence the music you create?

IM: I think definitely. For me, I did listen to country music a little bit when I was younger, but not so much because in Austria, we have more RnB, soul vibes; and my parents listened to a lot of Michael Jackson and Prince – those kind of Motown artists. I brought those melodies in and then I think Lewis listened to more of The Eagles and that.

LF: Yeah, I grew up on rock and roll. Sweet Home Alabama was one of the first guitar solos that I learnt. That was as country as I got growing up.

IM: But then when we sang together, that’s when we saw that we sound a little bit country. We had a lot of American friends who told us that and to check it out, and then we found a load of artists and fell in love with the genre. That’s how we got into country music!

CC: Given we’re at a country festival, you certainly fit in and got a great reaction from the crowd. Country fans must think you’re country enough!

LF: I think that’s good. I hope we’re treading a nice line.

IM: Country, Americana, something along those lines.

CC: Aside from this festival, what else have you been up to this year?

LF: It’s been a great year.

IM: We host this night called ‘The Round Up’ every month which is a writers round in the style of a Nashville writers round, and we always get our favourite artists or friends to play with us on the round. We do that every month. We also went to Nashville in April.

LF: We had an incredible trip. We started off in Nashville writing some great songs, I hope! And played some shows. We played a show in Las Vegas which was quite cool. We watched the ACM Awards, saw pretty much every top ten country act we could think of. And then we checked out Austin, Texas which was also an epic music scene.

IM: We have festivals coming up, we’re doing the Long Road, and then we’re doing Millport Country Festival, and then we’re gearing up to do a new project I guess!

LF: Which we are on the cusp of announcing! A body of work…

CC: Any hints?

LF: It’s pretty top secret stuff right now to be honest! But definitely watch this space. Watch the next few weeks.

CC: And having played to both US and UK audiences, how would you say the two cities compare?

LF: It’s hard to say, and I don’t want to generalise, but I feel like sometimes if we play Nashville, people go nuts and are dancing on tables.

IM: Yeah, they drink a lot!

LF: And know how to party. And the Brits also drink a lot and know how to party.

IM: But they do it more in a sombre fashion!

LF: If we played shows like The Round Up in the UK, I find the UK audience are incredibly attentitive and listen to every word. But then we’ve had both in both neighbourhoods!

IM: I feel it depends on what kind of show you’re playing. Here, if you play a full band show, you want people to dance and be loud, but when you’re in a little writers round, you’re hoping for people to be silent and listening. I feel like we’ve gotten that down now.

CC: In writers rounds as well, lyrics are hugely important – where does your inspiration for good lyrics come from?

LF: I like to read a lot of cereal packages… No, I’m just joking!

IM: You should actually write a song about cereal now. Or serial killers…eating cereal.

LF: Ease up now, this is backfiring on me!

CC: Is this the new project?

LF: Yeah, this is serious behind the scenes stuff! Seriously, I don’t want to say the cliché of ‘we right what we know’ because we don’t always do that. A lot of the songs are about personal experiences like anything relationship based, one of us has been through it I’m sure. I think everybody can relate to that kind of thing. We have a song in our set about going to prison which isn’t from personal experience.

IM: Although Lewis always says I’ve been to prison!

LF: She hasn’t, yet!

CC: Hopefully not pre-empting anything.

LF: Yeah, I’m trying to keep her on the straight and narrow. We tend to write a lot just the two of us, but just recently we’ve got more into co-writing. In a situation like that, somebody will bring an idea to the table and we’ll riff on it and talk about what that idea means to us.

CC: Speaking of co-writes, you’ve co-written with another Nashville Meets London alumnus. I loved her in the first year, so what an artist to work with!

LF: Yeah, whenever we’ve been to Nashville since we’ve known Logan we also go and write, and normally go for tacos afterwards.

IM: She’s coming to the UK soon, in September!

LF: Yes, we’ll be at the shows, for sure.

IM: She’s supporting an act at Bush Hall on September sixth – it should be fun.

CC: Is there any scope for a joint venture with you an Logan? Maybe a tour?

LF: I would love that! And last year at Country Music Week, she did get up and sing a song with us. Logan, if you’re reading this, we’d be well up for the tour!

CC: And in terms of your rounds, where do you find the artists to play for you?

LF: Mainly on the street…

IM: No! Basically we go to a lot of gigs, and then if we like an artist, we’ll ask them right then if they want to come and play. I think it’s very important for us to actually see the artists playing because it can be so different if you hear someone on a CD or the internet than if you actually hear them live. You know that they’re going to be great. That’s how we find our artists mainly.

LF: We’ve booked some friends who are always awesome. We’ve made some friends from booking them. It’s a great way for us to socialise. We’re trying to build the UK scene up, the London scene in particular, and get acts from around the country and around the world to come and play. If people come to The Round Up, people are starting to know everybody, it’s a really good social night as well as the music.

CC: Well I think you’ll be the perfect people to ask this question – festivals like this are great to introduce people to lesser known artists and I’m sure you’ve seen loads of artists who fit that bill. Who out there do people need to be listening to?

IM: In the UK, there’s a girl who I really love called Izzie Walsh. She’s still quite unknown but I think she’s going to be really big. She’s quite young still, so she’s still growing but I think she’ll be one who’s going to shoot up.

LF: I’m going to give a shoutout to a friend who’s already coming up, but I do feel he’s one of the best male vocalists in the country – Robbie Cavanagh, he’s incredible. I always say his surname wrong! I saw him in the crowd today, and he’s very supportive of us and a great songwriter. People should check him out for sure.

CC: I thought I saw him!

My Nashville shoutout is Shawn McConnell – I’ve fallen in love with his voice. He’s written some incredible songs. We saw a writers round a few months ago, and it was Lucie Silvas, who played Nashville Meets London last year; Shawn McConnell, who was incredible; an artist Shawn McConnell is producing; and Dan Tyminski, who’s playing today! It did feel like a full circle of a round.

CC: Thanks for your recommendations! Final question, what’s an interview question you’ve never been asked but wish you were?

LF: Oh, mama! I mean there certainly is. There’s definitely a question out there…

IM: I’d like to be asked what the height difference is between us.

CC: What is it?

IM: I’m wearing really high shoes today!

LF: Eight foot heels! I’m about 6 foot, so if we do the maths…

IM: I think it’s a one foot difference.

CC: Good for the readers to know! Thank you both for chatting with me!

Both: Thank you so much!

Thanks for reading today’s interview! If you enjoyed today’s interview, or have any questions for me, make sure to leave a comment below, and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry. More interviews and reviews coming soon, stay tuned!