Formed in Quebec City in 2015, Twice on Tuesday delivers a well-oiled pop-punk sound, reminiscent of many of the genre mainstays and taking influence from the likes of Good Charlotte, Simple Plan and New Found Glory.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Brad Senécal: Lead Vocals + Bass. He also books most of our out of town shows.
Oli Leblanc: Lead Guitar + Vocals. He also produces our music, does our graphics and everything related to medias
Vince Hardy-Castéran: Rhythm Guitar + Vocals
Antoine-Olivier Nadeau-Pépin: Drums
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Twice on Tuesday? How long has the band been around?
Brad: he was only 16 years old when we started the band but he was in his High School band called “Twenty Nights Sun” that started about 3 years before “Twice On Tuesday” and lasted for about 6 months after our band was formed.
Oli: He has been in 2 bands before if we really can call them “bands”. His first “band” was called “Brain Surgery” and it probably sucked a lot more than you can even imagine and lasted for about 9 months. He then joined a lame cover band that didn’t want to play any original songs so he left it about 4 months later. That band didn’t even have an official name.
Vince: He played acoustic covers with a few friends before he joined the band but it wasn’t really an official band and he got sick of playing “Wonderwall ”. He also took violin lessons when he was young but he sucked and decided to pick up a guitar and learned to play “Wonderwall” instead.
Antonio: He played alone for about 2-3 years, mainly covering about 30 songs or so from various genres before getting a bit sick of it and wanting to do a little more than just that. That’s when he joined his first band alongside Twice On Tuesday a few months later thanks to an ad online. Thank you Internet!
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
This name comes mostly from our hate for Mondays and yes; we did change the name of our band before. We used to be called “Jesters & Fools” from late 2013 to 2015 but it wasn’t really the same band; Oli was the lead singer and guitarist, Brad was the drummer and Phil (our former bass player and Brad’s brother) was playing bass. We changed the line up and the name in 2015; around the same time that we recruited Vince and Phil left in 2016 at the same time that Antonio arrived. We don’t feel like what we’ve done before we changed our name should be considered as “Twice On Tuesday” though, so we always say that the band was formed in 2015.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
We do most of the writing together in the same room and we’re all involved in the writing process most of the time. We don’t really have a main topic that comes back in most of our songs, but a few songs on our first EP “Bite-Sized Bullshit” and our single “No Need To Hide” are about our disgust for society and how it’s run and our second EP “Lost At Home” is mostly about personal experiences. We just write about how we’re feeling at the moment and things we’ve got on our minds so yeah, that is subject to change.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Bands like Blink 182, Sum 41, Simple Plan and Green Day got most of us into pop-punk in the early 2000’s, changing our lives in the process, so they will always be our biggest influences. Right now, we’re also really into Neck Deep, State Champs, The Story So far, Seaway and Alkaline Trio just to name a few and they really have a big influence on the kind of tunes we’re writing.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Vince has been inspired by many skate punk bands from the 90’s (Millencolin, Pennywise, Bad Religion, Rancid and more). His first concert was a Pennywise show in Ottawa. He knew he wanted to be in a band ever since. It took him about 14 years to be in a stable band. Patience paid off!
Antoine was inspired by progressive rock and metal with bands like Dream Theater and Rush. But he was also into alternative rock like Weezer or Radiohead, or punk like Alkaline Trio and Millencolin. He started to expand his horizon and start listening to a large range of music genres with, of course, including pop-punk with bands like Motion City Soundtrack and Paramore. He pretty much likes any type of music there is!
Oli’s life was changed in 2004 when Green Day released “American Idiot”. He was 12 years old at the time and so amazed with that album that music became the most important thing in his life. At the same time, he discovered his father’s music instruments that had been gathering dust in his closet for almost 25 years... He picked them up, learned 3 or 4 songs from that record and played them over and over for months until he discovered Blink 182 (He wasn’t a cool kid back then, he didn’t have MTV and didn’t know Blink 182 until their 2005 hiatus). These guys had such an impact on him that his life #1 goal was now to be in a pop-punk band. It took him 6-7 years to finally find and form his first band and almost 10 years to form a real band with Brad that would become “Twice On Tuesday”.
Brad's inspiration came when he was about 10 years old. It was Simple Plan's “No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls” that started everything for him. He quickly started learning bass and guitar all by himself. It felt easy for him because he always kept his goals in mind. It only took him a year to start his first band at the age of 11 or 12. It was only 4 years later that he got to start an actual Pop-Punk band he believed in with Oli and that became “Twice On Tuesday”
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
Waking up and singing in the shower, does that count? Seriously, just before a show, we try to have some alone time to vocalise, jump a bit, you know just to get our bodies into it. We don't like starting a show without being ready for it. That's why we also avoid drinking too much before a show. Also, we always try to meet-up at least 3 times a week to rehearse, write or record, depending on what we’re focusing on. But when we’re getting ready for a show or a tour, we practice a set of songs we would decide together beforehand.
Depending on how much time we have for a certain show, we’ll have to add or remove certain songs to fit within the time limit we’re given. We think of things we could say between songs to engage with the audience without taking too long and sometimes we need to prepare to speak French between songs, sometimes English... Then we rehearse our set in our jam space a few times per night the same way we would play it on stage in front of an audience so that we’re as prepared as we possibly can when it’s time to get on stage.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We’d say our biggest highlight was probably the time we got to play for the ‘’Festival d’Été de Québec’’ (FEQ) last summer. It was a good spotlight for us and it gave us a lot of exposure, which we truly needed. It helped us to be seen and heard on different media outlets over the course of a few weeks, even a whole month. For the release of our newest EP, it was good timing to do both almost at the same time.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Probably NOFX because after seeing their Backstage Passport TV show, it's pretty clear that these guys are the funniest and wildest dudes ever on tour! Or 1999-2001 Blink 182 just to hear their dick jokes everyday on and off stage
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Sure, go check out our latest music video for our song “Monday Morning”! We worked so hard on it and we are proud of the result!