The Twang

The Twang are a great little band from Britain. I first noticed them when one of my favorite grime bands from Britain did a remix of one of their songs. Their music is almost spoken word at some points but always melodic.

The Twang are a baggy-influenced indie rock band from Birmingham, England.The band was formed in Quinton, Birmingham by Phil Etheridge and Jon Watkin.The Twang originally performed in and around Birmingham under the name "Neon Twang". However, this was allegedly changed due to numerous scuffles between the band's fans and punters in various pubs. These events prevented them booking gigs in some venues, hence the need for the name change. The band have been quoted saying that they don't promote violence at their performances and have criticised the lack of doormen and security at local venues.

In the early days before Stuart Hartland joined the group, lead singer Phil Etheridge and bass player Jon Watkin swapped instruments on numerous "Neon Twang" tracks ("Cloudy Room", "Push The Ghost" and "Aimless With An Aim" being surviving tracks from this period). Etheridge frequently played bass guitar and sang, whilst Watkin played lead guitar. The addition of Hartland in late 2005 enabled Watkin to take over Bass duties permanently and allowed Etheridge to perform songs live with much more enthusiasm, although the frontman's trademark dancing was still evident whilst playing Bass.

During the "Neon Twang" period the band's sound was very similar to how it is now, some very early track names being: "See It Thru", "Big Day Out", live favourite "Shoot To Kill", "Time Waits", "Push The Ghost", "Aimless With An Aim" and the reggae influenced "Fake ID". "Aimless With An Aim" later turned up as the B-Side to the bands first single "Wide Awake".

Lead singer Phil Etheridge is an Aston Villa fan, Saunders is a Birmingham City fan whilst the rest are West Bromwich Albion fans as stated in a Live Lounge Session on Radio 1 presented by Jo Whiley.