Two Steps Twice has organised plenty of swap shows before, how will this one be different?
Tun: The main difference is that the show is coordinated within the Rotondes so that every year, we as a collective can organise an evening dedicated to music. This time we’re working together with the Luxembourgish booking agency Uphillbookings, they’re two friends of mine that work with local but also foreign bands.
The concept is to set up an exchange between the local and international bands, and this time we get to work with Loivós, the Dutch The Mighty Breaks and the British Port Erin. It’s not a traditional swap show in the sense that the local bands eventually perform in the respective countries, but more of an evening that centers around the same idea, just in the framework of the Congés Annulés.
How do you decide which artists to bring together on such an evening?
Tun: Uphillbookings take over the booking part, but we all decide which bands to get together. What we usually do is sit together, look at which bands we are currently working with, which ones are motivated and more of a ‘hot topic’.
The goal really is to put together an event that is coherent in its sound, but also has some variations. So this time we decided to have more of an indie, guitar-centered show but the different directions of the bands will diversify the whole.
It really is about letting people discover new music, but also for the bands to learn and have fun together.
RTL Introduces TUYSHow do you feel about playing with two international bands?
Gilles: It’s really cool that there are people here in Luxembourg, like Tun, that engage themselves for such swap-shows and that we got this gig, because it might put us out there. We have been in the scene for a while now, but we don’t get the chance to play as much as we would like to.. mainly because we all live or study in different countries. So we’re really excited to get to play in the Rotondes, a location we’ve always wanted to perform at, but also to spend the evening with the other bands and the boys.
How do you get recognized as a Luxembourgish band?
Gilles: It’s quite tough to work on your own project here in Luxembourg, it’s mostly through connections. We haven’t done much with the TsT project before, so this is relatively recent. We’ve done some swap shows before, for example in Germany, but that was because we knew the cousin of this guy.. you get the gist. We also performed spontaneously in Loivós, because our bassist is from there and the whole town talks about it. It was the 5th time we’ve been there, it’s also where we got our name from, so we really have a connection to that place. We also write a lot of music there, because it is one of those few times we can be together as a band for a longer amount of time, and we really value that time together.
Why did you start a music collective?
Tun: Well, there’s a lot of people here in Luxembourg that are in the music sector and work on their own project, but there aren’t enough collaborations where people from different bands and different environments work together. So we as a collective try to make that happen by working with multiple bands, but also people from different sectors, so for example music or tech.
Unfortunately we’ve gone a bit more quiet in the past few months, because I myself study in Berlin, but we hope to become a bit more active soon. We might be going into label work at some point, I for example also use the collective to work with my own band, TUYS.
So the main idea was really to create some kind of framework that pushes the music sector and the different surrounding skills. We also don’t make any profits from this, so it’s always nice when we get to zero after a show.
What are you looking forward to most?
Gilles: So first the location, but also to get to play with the international bands. We’re also really excited to work with Tun and the boys again, it’s been a while! I also hope that a lot of people that are interested in our kind of music will attend and like our music. We also hope to get more recognition from this event.
On another note, we will also be releasing our latest single with a new music video on the same day, so stay tuned!
Tun: I’m completely on the same page as Gilles. I hope that it will be a great get-together, with people from our environment but also those that wish to discover new stuff. Generally, I think it’s going to be a great outcome, and I’m looking forward to more events of this kind.
Tun will also be performing with his band TUYS as the support act of Mando Diao on 25 August - read our interview with Mando Diao below!
Mando Diao - Down in the past and looking to the future
We are giving away two pairs of tickets to the TwoStepsTwice x Uphillbookings event. You know the drill: like our Facebook page, and tag a friend on the post. Winners will be announced in the comments.
More information about the event can be found on their Facebook page.
