#sittings

Irish band Two Door Cinema Club was recently in Manila for the annual Wanderland Music & Arts Festival, headlining the first day of this year’s 2-day event. This isn’t the first time the band from Bangor and Donaghadee visited our shores; in fact it’s their second time to perform here in a span of two years.

  Being a band for more than a decade, Two Door’s signature indie pop tunes have helped them find their audience worldwide, and thanks to the several commercials as well as popular TV shows that feature these songs, they are now bonafide rockstars .

  With three albums under their belt and another one on the way, we talked with Alex, Kevin, and Sam right before their Wanderland set about their upcoming record, performing on the Wanderland stage, and the one song they just can’t stop playing live.

  How’re you feeling that you’re back in Manila?

Alex: It’s great! It’s still a very short trip, but it’s longer than the last time. I think the last trip was 24 hours; this one is 48, so we’ve had a little bit more time. I’m enjoying it!

  What made you say ‘yes’ to performing in Wanderland?

Kevin: We played in Manila for the first time, was that last year? We’ve been waiting to plan in the Philippines for a long time, it just hadn’t quite worked, so we’re really excited about last time. And last time was really good, but I think the festival we played, the lineup was very diverse, and it felt like lots of people were there for this pop thing, lots of people there for us, so it’s cool.

  I think to come back to this one feels a lot more ‘less’ diverse in a good way. It’s a bit more focused on indie music, which we’re really interested to see people in that sort of environment.

  You’ve been teasing us a lot about your upcoming album. Can you tell us more about it?

Kevin: No! (laughs)

  Alex: All I can say is we’re very excited. There is an album, it’s finished. There’s not much more we can say. There’ll be a single at some point and then there’ll be an album. We’re rehearsing it, so at some point we’ll start playing those songs live. It’s the same thing that happens with every new album. That’s as far as we can go right now.

  How will this album be different from your previous ones?

Alex: It’s just more fun that way to make. To do the same thing (to some people) can feel like a wise thing to do. It’s like you’re cashing in on something you know that works.

  It can feel ‘safe’, it can feel sensible, but it’s not exciting. The reason we all love music is for excitement, it’s because we find things interesting. Making records, making music is about following that instinct, about following the excitement and following the intrigue.

  This record, like the last and pretty much like every record, there’s a lot of different things. We don’t go to one place. It’s not like it’s a ‘rock’ record, it’s not an electronic record. It’s a lot of different things from song to song, there’s a lot of different things within each song. I can’t really sum it up in one way. I think it’s exciting!

  Whenever you create new music, do you always know that a specific track will be a commercial hit?

Sam: No, I think it’s the opposite sometimes. I think when we look back, when we were releasing Tourist History, there were songs that we thought “oh, people are gonna like this song, that’s definitely gonna be the first single.” And then What You Know became the breakthrough track for us.

  It’s good that we don’t know it because we don’t want to force it and think about that when we’re in the studio. It’s nice that we make music that we want to make and enjoy.

  What’s your favorite music video that you filmed?

Kevin: That’s a hard one! The results are sometimes really, really good but the experience when you’re filming is really painful. What You Know, that video is probably the most well-known of the videos; I don’t really remember, I think that one was fine, I think? (laughs)

  I think the best one that we’ve ever made was Bad Decisions. That was the best one to make!

  Alex: I Can Talk for me is probably my favorite. It was our first “legitimate” music video that we’ve made. We’ve made music videos with friends before, not to say that they weren’t legitimate, but this was the first one where we met with professional directors that we didn’t know and we had a budget from our record label; there were call times and costume departments.

  Also it helped us a hell of a lot as well, even if people weren’t interested in the music at first they would watch the video because it was a good video. Things happened with that video; Kanye West posted it on his website, a lot of people were drawn into that visual.

  What’s the one song you just have to play live?

Alex: There’s a couple, and I think that’s a great thing. We’re very lucky to have a few.

  Kevin: I don’t think in the past 9 years since Tourist History came out, I don’t think there’s been a gig where we haven’t played What You Know or Something Good Can Work or Undercover Martyn.

  Alex: Not that we’ve ever had a ‘hit’ per se, but if we were to have anything resembling a hit, it would be What You Know. I think we’d get a lot of angry people if we don’t play it.

  Are we going to see you back in Manila?

Kevin: I hope so! We’ve been a band for 12 years and we’ve never been to Manila until 2 years ago, and now we’re back. So it seems like we’ve done once and people keep approaching us again, so I’m sure we’ll be back very soon. Hopefully we do okay tonight and get asked back.

PSA: if you’re a girl who’s about to go on a first date with a guy you swiped right to or randomly met in a bookstore, then Netflix’s YOU is a required watch before you set foot on that said date. Trust us; you’ll thank us in the long run.

  But in case you haven’t watched Netflix’s latest offering yet, here’s a brief summary for you without spoiling much of it: a seemingly random encounter in a bookstore ends up with dead bodies and broken phones. With that aside,YOU tries to explore the different tropes of dating in today’s current landscape wherein social media dominates our everyday life and how it affects our future relationships with people.

  The stars of YOU, Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell, chatted exclusively with us to talk about the dangers of “digital stalking”, the proper way of using social media, and why you should put your Instagram on private mode.

  A Lesson or Two About the Proper Use of Social Media

Shay Mitchell: “Stop looking at other people getting FOMO, getting anxiety, comparing yourself to other people. Why?  I wouldn’t ever compare my life to that one photo that somebody’s putting out there. If you’re taking a lot of photos at a party are you really having fun? No, it makes me want to not be there! It’s all smoke and mirrors unfortunately, which is why I think it’s a blessing and a curse.”

  On Peach’s Similarity to Joe

Shay: “I think (Peach is) pretty similar to Joe. Given different circumstances, more time and a different scenario, who knows how far Peach would’ve gone to protect Beck or to kept somebody else away from Beck. You saw her going pretty crazy in that last episode!”

  On Why People Keep Romanticizing Joe’s Character

Penn: “Try watching the show again, knowing that from the first moment they meet that she’s dead. It’s so heartbreaking. It’s the story of a woman not escaping. If you see all of his charm as ‘unconscious manipulation’, which is the way most people do manipulate. It’s not conscious. A lot of people are trying to be good while they do terrible things.”

Shay: “I think if we replace Joe with somebody people didn’t know and way more unattractive, it would be a very different outlook. When my friends even say “I want a Joe”, it’s like no you want Penn Badgley to follow you! Let’s remember that this person is a bad person and that no one wants a stalker. There’s a difference and a very thick line between adoring somebody and being obsessed with somebody, and I think that no one wants that.”

  The Pros and Cons of Having Quick Access to People

Shay: “It does a bit of both. It can be great because you can use it to catch up on that other person’s doing in the relationship, it can be bad because you can obsess about what that other person’s doing in the relationship. At the end of the day it’s just letting it be, whatever somebody puts out there just take it for that. Don’t try to be a detective in social media.”

  On Memorable Scenes

Penn:  “The whole last episode. [On the masturbation scene:] I found myself surprisingly disgusted. I didn’t want to do it.”

Shay: “ I would have to say the one with Beck; the morning she walks out the house. That was just so powerful because I truly felt Peach’s hurt. That’s when you saw Peach really coming undone, and to play that kind of person who’s just like ‘twitching’ was really fun for me.”

  On Peach Being Beck’s ‘Ride or Die’

Shay: “ She had a gun! That’s for her protection, but still! I think there were a lot of similarities between her and Joe; she did her own creeping and stalking, the only difference was that she’s already known Beck for so many years. Both had this obsession with her; who knows, I think if it’s down to the wire she would go to great lengths to protect Beck and keep other people away.”

  Knowing When You ‘Crossed the Line’

Shay: “A stalker-ish is when you go finding out about their personal stuff; the fact that he (Joe) had her phone! I don’t like when people look through other people’s phone. The fact that you have somebody’s phone and are looking at it without them knowing? That’s not okay, and he crossed that line taking her phone and being able to read those personal messages with her and her friends.”

  How to Deal with Stalkers

Penn: “I don’t think I’ve had stalkers. Being a celebrity means you’re an object of desire or attention; you’re objectified literally, so I think maybe in that way I can relate to women. It gave me a sensitivity to Beck, to where I always feel bad for Beck. It enabled me to be really sweet when I needed to be. It enabled me to be heartbroken as Joe.”  

Shay: “Fortunately I haven’t (had any stalker) and I’d like to keep it that way. I think my fans and people that know me know the boundaries and know what’s acceptable and what’s not. I already give so much of myself a lot more than a lot of people on social media. I share as much as I can, but truly what else do you want!”

  Catch YOU on Netflix, now streaming!